The Golf Swing: It's easier than you think Paperback – September 16, 2012

This book, based on science and research, focuses on five key skills that can help everyone swing the golf club more efficiently and more effectively. Professor Riddoch focuses on important neuromuscular motions that, when leaned implicitly, become part of our subconsciousness. Additionally, in a couple of sentences, the professor strips away the unnecessary clutter that does not implicitly impact the golf swing in the same way with every player. Think Trevino and Hogan. Using the five key skills explained in the book allows a player to set up to the ball, focus on the target and make great contact time and time again. Trust the research, trust the process and love the result.

As a golfer confounded by mechanics and swing thoughts, I found this book to be a great help. First of all, as someone with a tendency to try to hit the cover off the ball, resulting in a lot of mis-hits, I found the science very compelling... the power in the swing comes from a chain of events and trying to hit the ball hard, using muscles, inevitably breaks the chain... hence the mis-hits, shanks, and diminished results. Knowing the chain and sequence of events in the golf swing, and the science behind it all, gives me confidence to relax and let my swing happen naturally.The author also provides a few helpful swing thoughts, and since I began incorporating them into my game, I have been hitting the ball further and more consistently than before.It's refreshing to read a book that makes golf simpler, backed by science and focused on just a few key points.

I have read them all, well most of them anyway, and without a doubt this book had the most impact on achieving my golf goals. Which at the time, was to shoot in the mid 80s. Which I ended up doing. Now after a 5+ year hiatus I am getting back into the game and had forgotten about this gem of a book. Even at my advanced age of 65 I am confident I can get back to my old form...and scores, applying some of the techniques and logic found in this book.Giving it a read right now and just wanted to throw my hat in the ring. I would also recommend Ben Hogan's Five Lessons. It is a much more complex breakdown of the swing dynamics, but IMO a good companion book to this one. Although a completely different approach to learning what makes a good golf swing.

This is really two books in one: a 5 Star book about the mental approach to golf and a 1 Star book about golf technique. Buy the book for the sections dealing with execution, external focus, and deliberate practice. Skip the chapters on golf swing technique. Most other books on mental approach to golf that I have read focused on controlling emotions and creating positive images while playing. This book has unique insights regarding the way your thought processes control your execution. It isn't happy talk about "thinking like a winner" either. Beginners have an internal focus (positions, body parts, motions, etc) while experts ave an external focus (target, trajectory, environment, etc). Anytime you start focusing internally you put yourself into "beginner mode", no matter how much you practice or how long you have been playing. This is a brilliant insight and I think it explains why many mid level golfers fail to continue to improve their scores.

PURE GOLD. Chris Riddoch declutters the golf swing. First things first. if you do not have a passive wrist release in your "swing", you are not swinging the golf club, you are hitting, just like almost every other golfer on the planet. Riddoch emphasizes the use and development of the centifugal force. This is a result of a tight initial downswing radius and then allowing the club to release without any effort by your hands. He also cites an article that identifies bringing "the clubhead from a position of trailing the shaft to a position abreast of the shaft at impact." He gives great non-technical explanations of the physics involved and provides some additional explanation of these ideas at the end of the book. I might add that his comments on the physics involved it totally accurate. The only other book that I have ever seen do this in both its emphasis and accuracy is Joe Dante's "Four Magic Moves." These books share a lot in common, but Riddoch's is more straight forward and less complicated. Another thing to note is that both of these men are golf instructors. They are not pros telling you how they got to be so good. This is reflected in their books.To me a beautiful thing about this book is that he doesn't even bother with grip or stance. He solely emphasizes the correct forward swing path and how to achieve it. It is accomplished with the double pendulum as describe in this book with a passive wrist release. You don't have a thing (or much), if you ain't got that swing.Probably best for golfers with some experience. I think I can safely say that I have advanced from a "hitter" to a "swinger" of the golf club with incredible results as a result of this book. If I can do it, so can you.

The Golf Swing: It's Simpler than You Think is a great book. Buy it! This book fits into the modern approach to teaching golf: namely, that mechanics must give way eventually to "intuition," "instinct," or whatever you want to call it. Intuitive Putting by Dave Stockton, and Instinct Putting by Alpenfels, Christina and Heath (both by Gotham Books and both available from Amazon) are other examples, as is AJ Bonar's masterful The Truth about Golf. These authors don't agree on everything, of course, but they all do emphasize your "instinctive" ability to play this wonderful game if you just free your mind of all the clutter that's holding you back. The Golf Swing is very well-written, and everything the author says is supported by a lot of research in the academic literature. The golf swing really is simpler than you have been told by old school teachers and mechanics-oriented instruction. Get the book, do the swing!