Practical Golf

I found this book to be the very best of all golf instruction books, yes, even vs. the current ones (I am a 6-handicap). John Jacobs was the longtime greatest teacher in Europe whom Jack Nicklaus and so many others recommended most highly. The absolute fundamentals of the swing and game are all in this great book, and it has the best illustrations available--to this day-- by the gifted golf illustrator, Anthony Ravielli, who did similarly fantastic illustrations for Ben Hogan's Five Lessons. Jacobs, a former top European tour player from England and THE acknowledged top European teacher before anyone ever heard of David Leadbetter, discusses WHY you are to do certain things, and emphasizes throughout the book how the ball flight shows you what you are doing right and doing wrong. He builds from the all-important grip and stance. When things get complicated in this manual, he then submits them to the reader in more simplistic fashion, such as this: The swing is "two turns and a swoosh." He uses this simplicity throughout, but provides plenty of rationale and detail on top of that--all the detail you'll ever need-- as he explains the "why." In this way, you can correct your own faults on the range or golf course, not needing a "swing coach" at all times as so many of today's tour players need to have at each tournament, something Jack Nicklaus always scoffed at. Another example: The proper stance, accompanied by a beautiful Ravielli sketch, early in the book-- shows a golfer taking his stance on train tracks, the feet and the clubface direction being parallel to each other, with the clubhead on the far rail facing the target and the golfer's feet on the near rail--parallel to the target, NOT pointing at it-- is priceless. Just one of many examples of the fundamentals being explained with simplicity and with beautiful illustrations.If I had to recommend two golf instruction books, it would be Practical Golf and Hogan's Five Lessons. If just one book, then Practical Golf. Both are great for brand-new beginners and low-handicappers alike, with Practical Golf being even better for beginners than Hogan's book, which, while geared toward the fundamentals, explains them in rather deep detail-- maybe a bit more than a beginner would enjoy learning right away. Not so with Practical Golf. BOTH books focus on the fundamentals that will make you a great player, and NOT on the latest fads (such as "hitting late," which Jacobs briefly addresses as to why it's a bad idea).Practical Golf was recommended to me in 1976 by Rick Werner, a club professional then at Quaker Ridge Golf Club (he had a scratch handicap or even a bit lower), with one of the most beautiful swings & sweetest tempos I've ever seen (a la Fred Couples and Ernie Els), who hit the ball a mile and seemingly perfect every time. He used to hit balls on the range, alone, when no other balls were out there, and the balls he hit all ended up in a straight line between him and the target about 300 yards away. Rick used to play with famous Golf Channel teaching professional Jim McLean, who was then the assistant pro at Westchester Country Club. (I know, because as a young man then, I luckily joined them twice to play a few holes.) I go back to this book to this day (2015).Enjoy this absolute classic!

I picked up this book after determining to spend this winter digesting everything I could in an attempt to improve my golf game. After reading an article about John Jacobs in a recent issue of Golf Digest I looked into his books. This one seemed to be what I was looking for. I'm trying to be realistic here. I don't want to turn pro, but I just want to stop being so embarrassed on the course with my golf buddies.The way this book has helped me is to better understand what is happening with my swing at the moment of impact. Just understanding this has made my practice more productive and helped me to make adjustments on the course. Another way this book has helped me is in my attitude on the course. Jacobs urges high-handicappers to hit high-percentage shots and stop 'going for it' on each shot. This kind of makes your game boring when you're playing with 3 other guys that are 'going for it' on each shot while you lay up, but on the other hand you aren't the one looking for your ball in the ditch, woods, or along the water's edge. At the end of the round this attitude pays off.The only drawback for this book is the passive voice, English spelling (i.e., practise not practice), and the illustrations could use some updating. However, the illustrations are very well done.Finally, one ironic thing that Jacobs points out in the book is that today's golfers have learned golf through static images. For instance, the use of high-speed photography capturing the different positions that a golf swing 'should' go through rather than video of the entire golf swing. Despite all this, there I was looking at static images in a golf book.

I wanted to take a moment to review this great book. I got it earlier this week, and I started reading it right away...I'm new to golf, but I have STRUGGLED really badly. If you can imagine a bad shot on a golf course, I have hit it. I hit bad slices, shanks, topped shots etc etc etc. But I LOVE the game. I read Hogan's 5 lessons, didn't really help, I read 'keys to the effortless swing' and it just didn't connect. I've taken a few lessons, not much help either...I don't know how to explain it, but this book is doing the trick for me. I went golfing last week before I read this, and I shot horribly, all my usual problems...I sat down this week and read through half of this book (I haven't even finished it yet) and I went out to the range for an hour and I played a 9 hole round...I literally hit 12 shots better. That may sound unbelievable, but it happened.Here are the reasons why I think this book is great:1. The explanations are really simple.2. This book stresses how to change common errors, and it really describes these errors beautifully.3. This is the first book which acknowledges that a really good swing leads with the left hip, but that a pretty good swing can lead with the arms, and this was my major problem, I was so focused on what other golfers advocate, that I was blind to trying something else.4. This is the first method where I didn't feel like I was thinking about 10 different things standing over the ball, in fact I was thinking about very little in my swing and while that may be completely obvious to some golfers, it certainly wasn't obvious to me.So, if you are a duffer and a hacker like me, this is a great book to try. I didn't feel like I rebuilt my swing and I felt really comfortable with the techniques found in 'practical golf'! Thanks!

When top instructors says this book is important, it bears consideration. Some may say the book is too simplistic but it gives a fine overview of the golf swing and what makes it work and how to diagnose your big misses. This is a good addition to my golf resources. Age 70; 20 handicap. Serious student of golf for five years.