Stan Utley " The Art of the Short Game"

[5iron]

Although i am about 100 pages into it, and i have another 50 or so, it has sofar been a very good read. THe only discouraging thing about the book, is that it does not address putting.

[raven34]

Good to know. Is there no putting section coming up? Strange that it isn't covered.
How have you found it useful, are there drills and stuff?

[Bignose]

Putting is in his other book The Art of Putting.

I liked the short game book much, much more than the putting book. I don't like the putting method Utley advocates. But, for some people it really speaks to them, so it is probably worth a look.

[DrivetheGreen66]

I have read The Art of Putting and have The Art of the Short game but have not read the latter

[cwo2lt]

Stan has helped my short game tremendously and I agree with the comment on the Art of Putting, was not as helpful as the Short Game book.

As an example yesterday I had one 3 putt, four up-n-downs and hit 33 putts for the round. And I owe it all to Stan the Man!

BTW, it really helps to get the motion down by hitting whiffle balls onto the couch

[Augster]

The Art of the Short Game is the best book I have ever read on the short game and it helped my game immediately. The key to it is that he makes everything so easy. He simplifies everything to be almost exactly what you are doing with your normal swing, only in miniature.

It just makes sense.

The Art of Putting is a great book also. I have always though about "straight back-straight through" and Stan's putting book tells you why that is a farce and, really, not physically possible. The arcing, toe-heavy, stroke is just physically more correct.

It is the stroke Tiger uses. Case closed.

[5iron]

Originally Posted by raven34

Good to know. Is there no putting section coming up? Strange that it isn't covered.
How have you found it useful, are there drills and stuff?

Yeah like the other people said, there is his other book " The Art of Putting" which i have not read. I found it useful because it has in detail help on how to perform short game shots. It has pictures for most of the shots, and it does have drills. THe drills arent really involved with hitting shots, they are more after what it feels and looks like to perform the different shots. Like putting all of your weight on your left leg( if your right handed) and haveing only your right toe on the ground. You then rotate around the left leg, which shows the correct pivot or movement for a chip shot. ( Thats almost the full way to do it though, but im missing part of it) I dont know if it was just the book, but i had it for a night, i played the next day, and i felt a lot more confident with my short game, which felt a lot better. http://www.golfdigest.com/instructio...g/utley_gd0706

[5iron]

THat link is one of the tips, and i think its the good detail he has on how to perform different shots that has helped me a lot. Im not sure, but in a PGA Tournament i think he holds the record for having only 6 putts for 9 holes.

[Bignose]

Originally Posted by Augster

The Art of Putting is a great book also. I have always though about "straight back-straight through" and Stan's putting book tells you why that is a farce and, really, not physically possible. The arcing, toe-heavy, stroke is just physically more correct.

It is the stroke Tiger uses. Case closed.

Oh, I don't that one (albeit extraordinarily good) instance closes a case. While Pelz and his training devices do try to force a perfectly straight line -- which while it may feel unnatural can be done -- I think that most "straight-back-straight-through" teachers will fully admit that there is some arc to the swing. But, the SBSTers want it to be a wide arc and no wrist roll so that the face of the putter is perpendicular to the arc at all times.

I like Geoff Mangum's Optimal Putting myself. He is a wide-arc SBSTer, and really emphasizes the role gravity has in a putting swing.

The real key to good putting, no matter what method you use, is practice. Unless you are blessed with amazing touch, the touch is learned through practice and repetition. And the real key to putting is to be able to hit the ball in the direction you want with the speed you want. It doesn't really matter how you do it. It's not like a full swing where the mechanics need to be perfected in order to ensure you don't have any power leaks or loss of acceleration. So long as you can putt in very close to the same way very close to the same time every time, you're good to go.

[5iron]

Well your right about the pratice makes you a better putter Bignose, i should stop trying to convince myself on buying a new putter. I think some of it is the putter, like just to be comfortable and confident, but if you can putt, you can putt with a chair. And by the way guys, this is not an invitation for shottalkers to go and buy more clubs, lol. I just dont want you guys to go overboard and lose a lot of money. And thankyou for the recomendations on the instructional putting book, "Optimal Putting: Brain Science, Instincts, and The Four Skills of Putting" Which i Googled, so i think that is the full name of the book. And here is the link to the book order if anyone is interested
http://puttingzone.com/Info/bookorder.html . Since my putting needs a lot of help, next time in a bookstore hopefully I'll see it and maybe even buy it.

[5iron]

And by the way that webiste i posted with the link in my last post on this thread, has other things like putters, putting aids, podcasts, etc. Its a full site, not just about that one book.