11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Informative but needs more illustrations, June 27, 2009
This review is from: The Eight-Step Swing, 3rd Edition (Paperback)
I purchased this book based on the reviews here at Amazon. At the time of the writing of this review 30 of 30 reviews are 5 star reviews. I think I have to be the odd man out on this one.
The basis of this book is Mclean's analysis of the golf swing. Through his years of video analysis he has come to understand the purely essential elements of the golf swing. He transmits this knowledge by identifying 8 steps of the golf swing to the reader. In each step he clearly states the fundamentals (must haves)to the golfer. He clearly knows his stuff and it is written down meticulously in this book.
Just a quick note about my golf experience. Basically, I'm starting fresh from a 20 year absence from the game. I think it fair to say, that I'm at the beginner stages. It has always been my desire to have proper golf instructions, however, they are very costly and not in my current budget. Hence, I decided to buy a book on the golf swing in lieu of lessons. I chose this book because of all the favourable reviews.
What I liked:
Jim Mclean qualifies himself as one who has researched golf swings since the 1960's. I believe him; he has researched the golf swing using a scientific approach to video analysis. I really like the way he has researched the book, it is clearly his life work.
He makes separate lists of both the fundementals and non-fundementals in the golf swing. His research has indicated that many of the popular fad tricks and swings are actually quite bad for the swing. He gives a clear list for both.
Every step of his golf swings are clearly itemized. I really like this format. As I develop and practice my swing I can mentally go through these items much like a checklist. It is a very thorough analysis of each step.
What I didnt like:
Lack of illustrations/photos. The illustrations provided are very good, the photos are lacking in that they are black and white. I learn both by reading and viewing the photos/pictures. There are not even close to enough pictures in the book. I did note that his website has downloadable videos (at a cost), that Im sure clarifys everything, however, I would like to have seen these either in picture or the form of a dvd movie with the book.
He assumes the reader understands golf jargon and linguistics. Terms like open and closed club face, and the "hogan plane" may not be familiar to readers. I found no explanation or diagrams for these terms.
The book assumes that you will use a video camera and analyze your swing using the video. I was not made aware of this prior to buying the book.
Frequent mentions of his golf school leaving me with the feeling that what I really need is the golf school and this book is only a supplement to the classes.
Finally, I'm sure the drills that he offers are very good, however, all of them are explained in text and have no accompanying pictures. Most of them I was guessing at what I was supposed to do, because I just could not picture it.
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All these negatives and yet I give the book 4 stars! The reason for this is the obvious completeness of his analysis which is clearly transmitted to the book. Of all the negatives I put in this review, the most glaring to me is the lack of demonstration of the drills in the form of pictures or photos. A good book with a few minor shortcomings. In my opinion, the book provides only part of the teaching method, the remainder can be picked up on his website at additional cost. Because of the thoroughness of the material, I can see myself making these purchases to complete my knowledge. However, I wish the book would have said this at the onset. It has come as somewhat of a surprise to me.
Thanks for reading my review.
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