Customer Reviews

Secrets of the Short Game

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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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.

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

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.

I received the DVD's for Christmas and they are great. It really breaks down the short-game and explains it so anyone can understand. I really believe this is a great instructional tool and I am sure that it will help.

Phils's the best at the short game. Here he gives you some good instruction as to how he hits certain shots and why he does it that way. Reading this along with watching the DVD has helped my short game. Wish I had this book earlier in the season.

This is probably the best golf book I have ever bought! Phil takes you through all the shots of the short game. The key is to hinge the wrists on all shots. Many books and pros have taught keep the wrists quiet during certain shots and that is what I did. Phil puts feel back in your shotmaking. I have spent weeks on the practice range practicing Phil's techniques and have seen the results in my scores. I have gone from a 12 handicap to an 8. Phil also gives excellent coverage of the putting stroke.

In my opinion Phil es the best golf player and in this book he explain how to be a master in the short game as he is

If you want to be better player you need to learn it

This is an interesting read about Phil's approach to his short game. His technique has obviously been very successful. Here he describes and applies his "hinge and hold" technique which works so well for him. Interestingly, he congratulates his current short game coach, Dave Pelz, for his recent progress and success, even though Pelz' "Short Game Bible" technique is very different. And, in his forward, Pelz congratulates Phil, stating that he has learned as much from Phil as he has tought him.
Worth the read.

This was a very good book. Great illustrations and good instruction. Love Lefty too!

My Dad watched this 5 times between Christmas and New Years. He loves it. He is a lefty golfer like Phil and he said it was nice to see how he did things.