Colin Farquarson’s blog at Scottish Golf Review caught my attention with the headline, “Best golf instruction book I have ever read”.
 
Am I interested or am I interested? And hopefully you will be too.
 
The quote comes from James Achenbach of GolfWeek and since he’s been around for some time, he has to be listened to when he makes such a bold statement.
 
Jim McLean’s “The Slot Swing” has the sub title, “The Proven Way to Hit Consistent and Powerful Shots Like the Pros”.
 
Ummh! Must say the sub title is a bit of a turn off.
 
Achenbach writes.
“Why is it the best?
Because anybody can understand it. Very little mumbo jumbo here.
Because it clearly defines the notion of a “slot” on the downswing and offers three different methods for achieving it...
 
In short, the slot is a path to the ball, or a position just before impact in which the golfer feels the downswing plane flattening out and the club working from the inside.
Why is the book so honest?
Because McLean repeatedly admits the difficulties of teaching the golf swing. In the process, he does a masterful job of simplifying the concepts in this book.”
 
No mumbo jumbo sounds appealing and this too; “The reader receives plenty of visual assistance in this book, thanks to gifted illustrator Phil Franke. If you ask me, these are the best and most helpful illustrations since Ben Hogan’s famous “Five Lessons,” which first appeared in 1957.
 
Best illustrations since Ben’s book. Sounds like it’s worth the money just for the illustrations.
 
Whenever I’m considering buying a book, regardless of the genre, I go to Amazon to read the customer reviews.
 
In my experience the first review(s) strike me as being written by a friend of the author.
Yea mea culpa on that one.
Then comes the inevitable bad reviews for the book.
 
Inputting “The Slot Swing” in Amazon and clicking on the link to the book. I’m presented with the opportunity of watching a 2.45 minute video clip of Jim McLean saying a wee bit about his (latest) idea – Not his first golf book by any means, and to be precise, nine before this one.
Not wishing to sound cynical, but if James Achenbach has got it right this will be Jim McLean’s last one.
 
The video clip is an OK overview but the moment of truth is always “the inevitable bad reviews for the book.”
Uh Uh! Now there’s a first in my experience.
There are 19 customer reviews and not one bit of bad-mouthing.
Now that is impressive.
 
Christmas is coming and this could be an ideal gift for someone who likes golf instruction books without the mumbo jumbo and has lots of nice pictures, sorry illustrations, sounds more scientific.
 
Colin Farquarson notes, “I have no idea if and when this book will be on sale on this side of the Atlantic.”
 
I’ve checked with Borders and the lass who answered my call says, no chance getting it in before Christmas. The lad at Dymocks said 5-10 days and he’d have it here.
 
Here’s the link to the book at Amazon.
 
Thought for the day has to be about the golf swing.
“The golf swing is like sex. You can’t be thinking about the mechanics of the act while you are performing” – Dave Hill
 
Slainte
 
Stan