Customer Reviews

The Slot Swing: The Proven Way to Hit Consistent and Powerful Shots Like the Pros

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a five handicap and have read an insurmountable amount of golf instruction books. However, I have never read a book that freed my mind up more than the Slot Swing. I have always though that the backswing was so important and that you had to swing it back on the same plane that it comes down on. The vivid pictures and great imagery in this book really helped me understand that all great players had their own way of finding the slot. I thought a lot about this and realized that I had always played my best when I felt like I took the club a little up going back and then dropped it back under coming down, but I always went away from it because I thought it was wrong. Jim McLean provides incredible evidence that there are three ways to find the slot and that there is no one perfect backswing!!!! I am so glad I ordered this book it has had a huge impact on my golf game. I highly recommend it.

I am a self-taught 11-handicap (20+ rounds in the 80s) after starting to play 11 months ago. During the never-ending process of trying to "figure" out the golf swing I stumbled upon many things that "worked" and many, many more that did not. This book discusses and explains many of the things I remember "discovering" but could not explain, recall properly, or repeat.

Other books (and I read at least a dozen) mostly focus on ONE PRESCRIBED way of doing things, a set of hard rules, and a plethora of tips. Unlike them, "The Slot Swing" explains a very simple swing FRAMEWORK within which all great swings can be identified. One is free to "customize" and "personalize" how to do things as long as he stays within the described parameters. Very liberating and super-intuitive.

I personally never liked how specific swing rules and tips were -- swinging that way lacked "freedom of expression" and just could not account for so much variability of good swings on the Tour. If you agree with this statement or at least wonder about how one tip works one day but it summarily disappears the next this book is for you.

It might be better to learn and understand this framework instead of worrying about superficial aspects of the swing that work for someone but may completely wreck YOUR swing. Learn and then apply it in your unique way. It will work, I am absolutely convinced.

Over the years I`ve purchased my share of golf instruction books sold on Amazon but never considered writing a review. This book is different because it holds the secret to the pro swing and it's pictured right on the front cover.

Mclean explains by comparative analysis that the only thing a golfer needs to accomplish on the downswing is to get on a shallow downswing plane. Jim refers to this movement as getting into the "slot".

Jim is without question the best golf analyst of the modern era. In many ways this book is an update to Ben Hogan's original ideas regarding the Plain of the glass concept however Jim goes all the way demonstrating the many more variables that Mr. Hogan didn't consider. In defense of Mr. Hogan he didn't have access to high speed film.

I warn you, once you get the feeling of the slot swing you might want to kill yourself for wasting all those rounds of golf you played hitting over the top.

If you're ready for this material, you won't need any other book. In my opinion this is the most valuable contribution to improving the full golf swing that has ever come along!

Just decided to read some books on golf this year after almost 40 years of playing the game off and on and never reading any books on it, just a few dozen lessons over the years. I will comment on the others I have read only after actually playing rounds using the methods. I am a 16-18 handicapper so have some serious swing flaws, namely over the top and don't finish the swing - hit instinct. Have had a few magic low rounds and one hole in one. Why am I reviewing Jim's book before 'taking it to the course' ? Because for me this book is not only good for helping you to find your own swing, it is in general just a great reference on the golf swing. I think getting into the slot is pretty much the most important thing, as far as mechanics/postions go for average golfers. As others have commented, the illustrations are top notch and the text very well done. I will be experimenting with Stack and Tilt as well as the Don Trahan PPGS swing this Spring 2010. But no matter the method, even a 3/4 swing method like PPGS, understanding what Mclean teaches here is, IMVeryHO, important. I know the feeling of being in the slot. I have to get there to have a good inside to online swing path. And if I do anything this year it will be to develop the inside to online swing path. It is the only way, I think, to give yourself a chance at a powerfull, non-slicing, golf shot. Being able to see the various planes and have an expert describe them is great. I have purchased a dozen books here over the winter months and am struck by how many of them have comments like "this is it - the holy grail of golf books - Eureka!". I am learning to take all the 'over the top' reviews with a grain of salt. Seems like some are family members or associates of the author in some cases. So, to keep it real, my summary here is "A wonderfully illustrated and well written book on one of the key aspects of the modern golf swing".

I am an avid golfer and I try to keep up on my knowledge of the game. I carry a scratch handicap so I know good advice when I see it. This whole book is packed with phenomenal information, all of which has been researched and proven by Jim McLean and his staff. To supplement this information, there are many beautiful illustrations to help the reader really understand what it is that sets pros and amateurs apart.

This book is a must read for anyone who is serious about the game of golf!

If you come over the top on your down swing creating a slice or a pull than you need this book. The concept of the slot has been around forever sometimes stated in a different way. Golf Digest about 20 years ago touched on this concept with a spread picturing dozens of pros from every era showing their right elbow attached to their hip on the downswing. Regardless of their back swing they all achieved this critical position. It wasn't called the slot then, just "right elbow close to hip". McLean has expanded this magic move with simple explanations and great illustrations. One drill he covers is called the "figure 8". Study that drill, practice it endlessly and prepare yourself for crisper contact and a more boring ball flight. As a side note, why can't more golf instruction books have the quality of illustrations as presented in this book by Phil Franke?

One thing I have learned is that reading too many hints, tips, theories, etc. can finally turn your swing into such a mess that sometimes it becomes a minor miracle that you can even hit the ball! THIS BOOK CHANGES ALL OF THAT!

Jim McLean, as one of golf's most qualified instructors, gives you permission to take the club back with a lot of leniency in how you do it. He analyzes, with accompanying illustrations, the swings of some of history's best ball strikers, and you see that they all do the takeaway a little differently - BUT - to a man, they all find "the slot" on the way down, and by the time they are halfway down in the downswing, they all look virtually the same, with a powerful, inside approach to the ball.

What I really liked about the instruction in "The Slot Swing", is that it doesn't require a lot of thought! Setting yourself into the slot will happen naturally with your initial hip slide back at the start of your downswing if you haven't taken the club too far back to the inside, initially. Unlike many other golf books' ideas that I've taken to the range without much success, THE SLOT SWING GIVES YOU IMMEDIATE, BETTER RESULTS!

I've been hindered for the last few months by not allowing myself to do the things that I want to naturally do for power in the swing, i.e. taking the club back initially to the outside and letting my rear arm fly away from my side on the backswing. I learned from this book that IT IS OKAY TO DO THESE THINGS! In fact, you will probably slot the club better if you do! One of the most effective things I learned from this book is the concept of taking the club head away in such a way that it is most gravitationally balanced. Fighting the weight of the club head because it is tilted off plane, too far forward OR backward just makes it that much harder to deliver the head to the ball with maximum energy and consistency. Before reading this book, I would say that out of a bucket of about 120 balls I hit at least 10% of them too fat or too thin. After reading "The Slot Swing", I totally mishit maybe three out of the whole bucket! Better yet, you start to realize after you have found "the slot", that bringing full, confident power down through the slot is the most consistent way to deliver a dead-on strike on the ball! If, like me, you have thought in the past, "No, I don't want to really hit it with full power - I need to control this shot and make good contact", this fantastic book will improve your swing to where you not only won't be thinking that, you'll be thinking the opposite - "I need a dead on shot, so deliver full power down through the slot!"

Reading this book may be the simplest step you will ever take to truly "finding your groove", which, as it turns out, is "the slot", and "the slot" is the same for all great ball strikers, no matter how you manage to get there. I can't recommend it highly enough. READ THIS BOOK! IT'S A GAME CHANGER!

Quite possibly the greatest swing book ever written. Literally transformed my golf game. Quick summary...most amateurs take the club back to the inside and around the body...then come back to ball "over" their backswing plane. Over the top is the common term. Professional Golfers do the opposite. They take the club back on a steep plane..clubhead well OUTSIDE the hands. And on the downswing, they drop the club into a far less steep plane...hitting the ball from the inside. Sergio Garcia is an example Jim uses in the book. I like the example of the new young kid...Rickie Fowler. He takes the clubhead WAY outside his hands...drops it down into the slot on the downswing. Its really easy to see even for someone not versed in swing mechanics.

Again, possibly the best swing book ever written. Period.

During the past two years I have been reading and studying every golf swing article and book available and this is by far the best I have seen. It is not for the first time beginner as it gets technical with a lot of the terms. If you are an intermediate or advance golfer this book will take you to the next step.

So good! The pictures are awesome, they are all drawings. The slot swing clears up so many things and was interesting from start to finish. I loved It!