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Swing Like a Pro (Hardcover)
by Ralph Mann
| Category:
Golf, Sports |
| Market price: ¥ 328.00
MSL price:
¥ 288.00
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 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A direct result of 17 years of research on the mechanics of the golf swing, this book is a real deal for golf lovers. |
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Author: Ralph Mann
Publisher: Broadway
Pub. in: December, 1998
ISBN: 076790236X
Pages: 256
Measurements: 9.6 x 7.7 x 0.9 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00602
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0767902366
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- Awards & Credential -
An excellent book from a leading expert in the biomechanics of sports performance. |
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- MSL Picks -
Golfers have waited hundreds of years for an instruction book which utilizes science in undestanding the golf swing. Every other golf instruction book is strictly a function of subjective swing theories: supination, swing in a barrel, connection, swing your arms, ad nauseum. What this book does it tell you where the club and your body should be in an ideal swing. The "Pro" in Swing Like a Pro is a consensus 3-D model formulated from 70 of the best golfers in the world - and it shows the ideal golf swing as composed from these great golfers. This is not an artist's rendering of where they think the body or club should be; rather, it is an actual computer model of this consensus "Pro" and therefore proves scientifically, not in a subjective theory, the correct golf swing. This book debunks all the "theory" of where/why/how one should swing the golf club.
This accessible book takes a step by step approach to the swing; like all good prose, it is intelligently written without being self-consciously intellectual. "Having the right information is essential to having a good swing," they say in the preface. Swing Like a Pro has the right information. This book is essential for any person who cares about the game of golf.
(From quoting an American reader)
Target readers:
For all serious golf players.
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Renowned as a leading expert in the biomechanics of sports performance, Dr. Ralph Mann received his Ph.D. in Biomechanics from Washington State University, then taught for seven years as an associate professor at the University of Kentucky. Using his expertise as a silver medal-winning Olympic hurdler and world record holder, he developed his composite model concept while working with Olympic athletes to improve their performance. Subsequently, he has developed models in baseball, football, and golf while working with elite athletes in each of these sports. In 1983, he founded CompuSport International, a private sports research company.
Golf magazine has recognized Fred Griffin as one of the Top 50 Golf Instructors in America. He was previously awarded Teacher of the Year honors by the North Florida Section of the Professional Golfers Association. He regularly contributes instruction articles to both Golf Digest and Golf magazine. He instructs players on the PGA, LPGA, and Nike Golf Tours, and is the director of the Grand Cypress Academy of Golf in Orlando, Florida.
A highly respected golf writer, Guy Yocom is a senior editor at Golf Digest. He is the co-author of Corey Pavin's Shotmaking.
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From Publisher
In a labor of love, novice golfers and professionals alike take to the practice tee to pursue the most coveted element of the game: the perfect swing. But even with a wealth of pros to model your swing after, the secret of the swing remains elusive. Should you grasp the club with a neutral grip like Jack Nicklaus, or use a traditional Vardon grip like Nick Faldo? If only someone would compile the best elements of the pros' swings to show you how to master the techniques for yourself. Dr. Ralph Mann and Fred Griffin did, and now they're sharing the secrets in this groundbreaking book.
Joined by premier golf instructor Fred Griffin, Dr. Ralph Mann captures the essence of the skills of golf's greatest champions in Swing Like a Pro. For seventeen years, CompuSport International's biomechanics expert Dr. Ralph Mann devoted himself to studying the swings of more than 100 PGA and LPGA Tour players to uncover the keys to a better game and a lower handicap. The results: a breakthrough learning tool, the computer-generated composite Pro.
Drawing on CompuSport's extensive research, the Pro embodies the mechanical elements of the holy grail of the golf swing--efficient, effective, and now achievable. Illustrated with 175 animated 3-D stills of the Pro that pinpoint the exact motions of a body executing the perfect swing, Swing Like a Pro provides accurate, consistent information about how to play the game properly. Dr. Ralph Mann and Fred Griffin break down the exact steps you can take to develop and refine your skills at performing every aspect of the shot. They examine and explain the setup, how to grip the club properly, the seven characteristics of a great backswing, how to impart energy to the club via a powerful transition move, and achieving distance and accuracy through a perfect downswing and timing following the Pro's example.
With its unique cutting-edge, scientific approach and the expertise of its authors, Swing Like a Pro promises to be the best golf Pro you ever consulted to help you improve your swing and shave strokes off your handicap.
Swing Like a Pro ushers in a new era of sports instruction that combines the traits of every golfer's unique, individual swing with the subtle, techniques all great golfers have in common. Featuring CompuSport's computer-generated "Pro," who shoots a 50 every time, Swing Like a Pro embodies the best tactics known to golfers today. Readers match the Pro's scientifically proven tips with their own movements to create a swing mirroring golf's most talented players. Topics include:The Pro Setup, with the secrets of body balance and club alignmentThe backswing's seven essential elements, with drills for improvementThe downswing for distance and accuracy, and how you can have bothTiming and tempo, when the Pro puts it all togetherSwing Like a Pro's dynamic 3-D images far surpass traditional sports photography, making this an unrivaled approach to golf instruction and proving there is such a thing as a perfect swing.
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Golf Information - Opinions vs. Facts
Information used in golf instruction has been opinion dominated for so long that both teachers and golfers, more often than not, assume that these opinions are somehow based on factual information. The opinion of a successful instructor or player may be accurate, useful, and valuable; however, it should be regarded as exactly what it is - an opinion.
Science is very specific and deals only in measurable, quantifiable facts. By examining these facts and determining explanations for why they are so, scientists make theories that explain behavior. The role of the scientist in sports, therefore, is to determine facts that point to the key features that makes a successful performance.
Opinions and Pseudoscience
Opinion-based instruction articles are fine. Many of the most innovative approaches in teaching have come from such sources. A major problem arises, however, when such articles purport to be "research based." I have a folder full of articles that make conclusions on the golf swing that are "based on ten years of research" which, under close examination, translates to "I videotaped a lot of swings and I've looked real closely at them for a long time." In the world of scientific publications, any research information is closely scrutinized by other scientists before it can be accepted for publication in any professional journal. This guarantees the quality of the information and protects the credibility of the scientific profession. Currently, no such checks are in place in the golf publishing community, and the term "research" can be utilized without any kind of scrutiny.
For any profession to achieve credibility, its research must be monitored and above reproach. When opinion is presented as research, people have no way of determining what is good and what is bad in the area. Unfortunately, this is the state in which golf instruction currently finds itself.
Research
By accepted scientific standards, relatively little proper research has been done on the golf swing. There have been a few interesting publications, such as The Search for the Perfect Swing by Alastair Cochran and John Stobbs, and a few conferences on the science of golf; however, little of this information has been related to the human component of the golf swing. Our research on the full swing seems to be unique, which is unfortunate because the best science results when researchers confirm and build on the work of each other.
Sports research seeks to understand the movement elite athletes make in producing a superior performance. Defining that movement in mathematical terms of space and time is the problem to be solved. The solution process lies in making precise measurements - ones that cannot be tainted by individual opinions and prejudices. The final result will determine the common features that are essential for superior performance.
The scientific research process is complicated by the fact that individual skeletal and muscle structures are not the same, which affects how people move and how their bodies perform. So these variables also need to be studied using the same rigorous measurement and analysis methods. Despite these physical differences among people, it may surprise you that we, as well as other sports researchers, have found an astounding similarity in how the better athletes perform in every sport analyzed. Despite the complexity of the human body, the evidence is overwhelming that there is one best way to perform any given sports activity.
The Biomechanics Approach - The Model Swing
Whether the sport was track and field, tennis, baseball, or football, by combining biomechanics and statistics, we have been able to determine a list of things that elite athletes do to ensure a superior performance. The most surprising thing is the long length of the list and how far above the average athlete the elite performers operate. For each of these sports, we have combined these elite movements into what we call a model performance.
Golf is no different. In 1982 we began filming tour players, and to date, the list has grown to include over one hundred PGA, LPGA, and Senior PGA Tour players. Along with the increase in the number and quality of our athletes came a similar improvement in the sophistication of our analysis and our ability to represent the model. Over the years we have progressed from a stick-figure representation to three-dimensional models of world-class male and female golfers (fig. I-2).
The "model" swing concept does not lack controversy. I constantly hear the comment from golf instructors that since all golf swings are so different, there is no such thing as a model swing. Rather than try to convince them with research and statistics, I simply ask them if they teach every one of their students to stand on both legs to hit the golf ball. Since they all do, I point out that they have just described the beginning of their concept of a model golf swing. I quickly get them to agree on other components, such as using both arms, holding the club with the hands, and placing the ball on the ground. They laugh and tell me that these things are obvious - it's the complex parts of the swing that are different.
In any aspect of life, things become complex when you encounter the unknown. Knowledge allows the complex to become simple. That certainly is true in golf instruction; the more you know about the golf swing, the easier it gets--provided your information is correct.
Building a True Model
The model golf swing, like all other sport models we have developed, is much more than simple averages of the elite athletes. A true model identifies the best characteristics of the entire group of athletes, then channels all of these traits into one performance. Thus, both our men's and women's tour model not only has the best strength, flexibility, and body build to play the game, but also all of the movement patterns required to hit the ball long and straight.
Individualizing the Model Swing
When we first began applying our research information to teaching, an obvious problem manifested right away - most people aren't built like the typical tour pro. In fact, we noticed considerable adaptations even in the professional swings due not only to body height and width, but to seemingly minor differences such as arm and leg length, the ratio between the length of the upper and lower body, and shoulder and hip width. While we were able to eliminate these differences during our analysis, we were now faced with the problem of reinstating them so we could use the model information to instruct people of all body types.
The ability we developed to adjust for body type not only allows us to use the model to teach any individual, but also provides great insight into the way swings change due to the wide variety of human beings we encounter in the teaching process. It is comforting to know that, although many subtle alterations are made in the swing due to the difference in body build, there still remains an extensive list of movements that must be produced if a quality golf swing is to be created.
Exceptions
Whenever I present our research results in golf, someone will invariably disagree with at least one of my points and offer, as proof, some well-known professional whose swing is at odds with my findings. What many people don't understand is that research is not concerned with the exception, but rather the typical. Our goal is to find out what the majority are doing because that's where the true success story lies. If one hundred of the best players in the world align their 3-irons down the target line at the top of the swing, and Jack Nicklaus aims his 30 degrees across the line, this position is probably not one of Jack's strengths. In fact, much of what he does in his swing is done to minimize his tendency to hook the ball from this position.
Applying the Model Swing
Over the past seventeen years, we have been using the model to help instructors in their effort to teach the golf swing. In turn, the experience has given us numerous new avenues of research opportunities and a better understanding of the game.
The Myths of Golf
Golf is replete with myths--stories that are widely believed but are not based in proven fact. There are myths about how to swing, myths about equipment, myths about how to improve. Our research enables us to shed light on some of these myths.
Swing Myths
This book describes what needs to be done to develop a proficient swing. There are several popular ideas, however, that need to be avoided by those hoping to improve. The following are commonly held beliefs that I find insupportable by the information gathered in our research on the golf swing.
1. One Move to Better Golf
Any number of people claim to have discovered the "one move to better golf." The fact that so many have been proposed is a strong indication that none really exists. The one move that Greg Norman needs to use to keep from pushing the ball to the right under pressure and the one move that Tom Lehman needs to avoid pull-hooking the ball under the same circumstances have no relation to each other.
As much as we would like it to exist, there is simply no one move that will make everyone a successful golfer. If you want to improve your game, you have to understand the causes for your particular problem, then take the time to correct them.
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| View all 9 comments |
Ben Crenshaw (PGA Professional) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-09 00:00>
The information that Fred and Ralph have discovered has helped me in the past. I highly recommend it for any golfer who truly wants to improve [his or her] game. |
Davis Love III (PGA Professional) (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-09 00:00>
My father and I spent many productive hours working with the information provided by Dr. Mann. I'm glad that golfers of all levels will now be able to benefit from this work.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-09 00:00>
My wife recently asked "how many golf books do you own, can there be that many ways to swing a golf club?" My answer after reading this book is this is the last golf book I'll ever buy, at least on the full swing. The information in this book has helped me to improve my game dramatically. I am hitting all my clubs twenty to thirty yards longer and straighter. I used to hit my 7 iron 135 yards and I'm now hitting it 155 to 160 yards. Since taking up the game four years ago, I have taken lessons and read as many books as possible on the full swing. The information presented by this book has demistified the grip, setup and most importantly the transition into the downswing. I've reduced my score at least 10 shots per round in the last three months. The information is presented in a crisp manner with lots of diagrams. Follow the drills and you will see a huge difference in the quality of your shots. Combine this with Dave Pelz's book on the short game and you should see a dramatic overall improvement in your game. |
Larry Yuzda (MSL quote), Canada
<2007-01-09 00:00>
This Book beats anything I have ever read on the "secrets" of the golf swing. I found that the book, while a bit technical, explained the golf swing in plain jargonless language. It demistified the swing immensely. The paragraph on the transition from backswing to downswing was, for me, the highlight of the book. Sometimes so much mystery is connected with transition by golf instructors that the average golf has trouble comprehending it. Yet this book clarifies the concept, and gives excellent exercises to ingrain the mechanics of transition. Using its methods increased my accuracy and distance. Whereas I used to hit my pitching wedge 100 yards, I can now coax 120 yards out of it. My distance with other clubs increased as well. I am a high handicapper, 60 years old, and 5'6" tall. If this book can help me it can help anyone. Although I found the exercises to be generally helpful, I thought some of the explanatory text to be lacking in detail. |
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