5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding. This can help anyone with the short game, September 11, 2010
This review is from: Secrets of the Short Game (Hardcover)
I bought this for my wife, who had asked for it, but we were soon competing to read it. I have read it cover to cover a half dozen times and in parts many more times. It is on my bed table, competing with several other books, and I often read it for 15-20 minutes before going to sleep. It often makes the trip to the breakfast room table on weekends. In short, it is not a book to read once and put on the shelf.
As other reviewers have noted, the key concept is the very sensible hinge and hold method, but it also emphasizes other sound principles, including accelerating through the ball and properly using bounce of the club. Phil demonstrates that in most cases, it is not necessary to make a perfect contact with the ball to have a good stroke, and he tells how to give yourself a margin for error.
He describes the many variations in pitching and chipping, including ball position in your stance, ball trajectory, choice of club (with a strong recommendation to learn to hit many different kinds of shots with a 60 degree wedge rather than using many different clubs for different situations).
This book (rather, the careful study and digestion of it) have helped me enormously. I have practiced the principles in the book, and I am now much more confident when I encounter a short shot, knowing that I understand the principles that apply to various situations and that I know what to do, based on the sound principles set forth in Phil Mickelson's book.
An extra bonus was that Phil is such an appealing character, and I couldn't help but enjoying his descriptions of his memorable shots.
One modest suggestion for a second edition: the photography in the book is great, but a good illustrator could also add illustrations to show things like contact of clubhead with ball and exact trajectory of swing in various situations.
In short, this is a great golf book, and it merits its space on my bookshelf with the only two other golf books that I own, namely, Ben Hogan's Five Lessons and Jack Nicklaus's Golf My Way. Study this book and apply it to your game. You will not be disappointed.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Phil Can Help Your Short Game, August 3, 2010
This review is from: Secrets of the Short Game (Hardcover)
Phil approaches the short game in a relaxed and sensible manner. The key takeaway from the book is the "hinge and hold" method. You'll find him using it in chipping, pitching, sand play,.... It's a worthwhile read. I've benefited from it greatly.
Grace and Peace,
JRM
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Short Game Guide, December 2, 2010
This review is from: Secrets of the Short Game (Hardcover)
This book is valuable because it has excellent pictures combined with descriptions of the pictured technique. There are points here for everyone but readers should keep in mind that Phil Mickelson is a professional golfer who has developed and honed his technique through now a couple decades of play and surely thousands of hours of practice. Interestingly, the book criticizes (indirectly) the short game system taught by Dave Pelz, who has served as Mickelson's short game strategy coach for a few years now. Avid golfers will find this useful.
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