Customer Reviews

Lights-Out Putting : A Mind, Body, and Soul Approach to Golf's Game Within the Game

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an absolutely fabulous little book about putting. From choosing the right putter to holing more of the nasty, little three-footers--and everything in between--the author writes in a clear, easy-to-understand manner about all you need to know about golf's "game-within-a-game." This is no high-tech, mumbo-jumbo treatise, rather it's a simple, even approach to what is a simple physical exercise. The photographs complement the text perfectly. It's a pity everyone can't take a lesson from Todd Sones. I can understand why he's in such demand from magazines, televison, and touring professionals. Read this book and you'll begin holing more putts--just like I did. Highly recommended.

Todd Sones' book is right up there with the greatest putting books of all time -- George Low's The Master of Putting, Dave Stockton's Putt to Win, and Arnold Palmer's Complete Book of Putting. Sones is two-time Illinois PGA Teacher of the year and a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher in America. Like Rik DeGunther in his Art and Science of Putting, Sones tells you what works best and how you can do it. The writing is clear, and the explanation suits the general golfing public. This book is much better than a book like Dave Pelz's Putting Bible, where you get tons of stats about how average putters don't putt so well, and next to nothing actually useful by way of HOW to putt (other than to buy Pelz's gizmos). Sones goes to the heart of the matter every time, teaching the optimal techniques in terms the average golfer can apply daily. That's what teaching is really all about! Great job, Todd! ...

Does a good job of covering both mechanics and psychology of putting. Touches on a lot of aspects of putting that other books don't, or maybe I should say that the way in which the author discusses subjects such as ball position, alignment, etc. is better at anticipating problems average golfers encounter when trying to follow the standard advice than many other books I have read.

I had bought Dave Pelz' Putting Bible earlier, thinking that would be the only book I would ever have to buy on putting, but was quite disappointed in the approach of that book. Sone's book gives much more useful information.

At the same time, it is a concise, quick read, and is arranged in a way that makes it easy to go back to certain chapters at a later date for a refresher.

Highly reccommended.

The book only contains very very basic stuff. There is only a very poor analysis of different grips' plusses and minusses and very poor (to no) instruction on how to actually do each kind of grip. The different schools of how to make a putting stroke are weakly compared and explained (for some strange reason author Todd Sones didn't feel any need to explain or discuss the stroke type that is most widely accepted as being the "correct" one namely the pendulum stroke!!!!. There is no real analysis (numerical or "scientific") of how the ball rolls or behaves on the green. Green reading instructions and conscepts are weak weak weak... It seems like he just summarized a few starters articles about putting and threw in a few references to some pros' putting technique. What a waste of money and time! If you wan't to learn how to really improve your putting and learn the proper and correct technique forget this book.
If you wan't to learn how to master the mind's game of golf forget about this book too and get "zen golf" (which is very good and intelligent). Peltz might be an alternative if you can stand his manic habit of endlessly repeting himself (which I can't)...

I have studied putting books for many years. I have been searching for a putting method that makes sense and works.I'm giving copies of the book to my friends and recommending it to anyone who wants to listen to me.

I've only read and practiced the advice in the first three chapters, but I've already seen improvement in my putting. Having confidence in my setup does seem to produce results.

Todd Sones' advice to position your hand underneath your shoulder appears to work best if you have a straight arm without an elbow. If you have an elbow, the arm's center of mass seems to force the hand slightly ahead of the shoulder, if you let the arm hang naturally.

Also, the front-view photos of different grips on page 18 aren't sufficient to understand what the text refers to.

But these are quibbles that don't prevent this book from getting five stars from me.

This book has clarified the remaining loose ends I had in my putting. I have been bouncing around with styles and putting keys for 45 years and have been an average putter relative to the rest of my game; I have been between a 1 and 5 hcp over the years. The advice per arm stroke and tempo ideas coupled with alignment, i.e. hands below shoulders, eyes over ball, etc. have filled in the blanks once and for all. I was touting another putting guru at a USGA Mid Am qualifying round awhile back and another fellow recommended this book. There was something about his confident enthusiasm that caused me to go ahead and order the book, to take a chance so to speak. I'm glad I was paying attention.
----------- "Lights-Out?"........... More like 'Lights-On' in my case. And, the author wrote it in such a simple and easy to understand style. Says so much with an economy of words. This is good writing, good teaching, the final word on putting in my relatively learned opinion.

Todd Sones book is one of the best two books on putting in my library (the other is Dave Stockton's Putt to Win). Sones covers setup, pre-putt routine, the stroke (he advocates a simple arm stroke -- in comparison to Dave Pelz's pendulum type stroke and whatever you would call Stan Utley's forearm rotation arcing stroke). I have found this book to be the best of the lot for this mid-handcapper.

We use this book in our teaching in Americas Favorite Golf Schools and would recommend it to high or low handicap