The Anatomy of Greatness: Lessons from the Best Golf Swings in History

If you are tiring of the excesses, omissions, detours and contradictions in the innumerable books and videos about the golf swing, you can find some relief in this concise and committed distillation of wisdom on the topic. By identifying and clearly explaining what the greats discovered over 100+ years, this book provides a highly valuable context for understanding today's swing instruction and provides an unambiguous roadmap of what has proven to work and why. If you have seen enough to suspect that golf swing instruction is often damaged by invented trends and gimmicks, these 120 pages with plentiful photographic evidence will leave you convinced. The stuff that works became known long ago and still works today.

OK, so I'm not the best person to revue a book on golf. Over my lifetime (I'm 68 now) I've played the game at a multitude of levels. There was a brief period of time in the early 2000's when I broke 80 regularly. Had a few nine hole rounds at even par on some decent layouts. But I love to study the golf swing and so when this book came out, the title intrigued me so I bought it. I also read the article in Golf magazine by Chamblee. I should say at this point I'm not playing due to some health related issues - new titanium hip in February of this year preceded by 6 months of pain where swinging a golf club caused me major pain. So at this point, when I do go out and just hit balls, it may be a while. But I can't wait to try some of the things Chamblee talks about in this book. I have one of those short weighted training clubs you can swing indoors and I've tried swinging they way Chamblee says he's started to and that he says all the greats of yesteryear did. And I can now remember that when I was growing up hitting those rock hard balls with persimmon head clubs, I was swinging that way too. Left heal off the ground at the top, big hip turn, full shoulder turn, and I was really pretty long. Not really, really long, but I could poke it out there 260 - 270 with the antiquated equipment we played back then. But over the years, I began to change my swing the way Chamblee said he did - keep the left heal on the ground at the top, restrict my hip turn, try to generate "torque". But as Chamblee correctly states, this is a myth - the body is not a spring and the tension you build (yes, it's tension you build up in your back and hips, not "torque") leads to getting "stuck" because your lower body shoots ahead because it can't stand the stress. But you lose all the distance the clubhead travels by restricting your hips (and thus your shoulders) and it can never make up for that by adding all this tension. So you have to make a violent move back to the ball to generate any kind of power and this leads to all kinds of problems - getting stuck, blocks and hooks, loss of rhythm and tempo, and never mind what it does to your back. Today's tour pros are terrific golfers, no doubt, but they do it by unusual athleticism and sheer strength, qualities that recreational golfers typically don't possess. And how many of them will remain great when they reach their 50's and 60's (never mind their 40's - anyone seen Tiger lately?). Heck, Nicklaus won the Masters at 46, Tom Watson came within a heartbreaking whisker of winning the Open Championship at 59, Sam Snead won a regular PGA tour event at 52. And what do all of these golfers have in common? Big hip and shoulder turns with their left (or lead) heal way off the ground at the top. So, when my hip heals I'm going to be out there with that heal off the ground, turning my hips as far as I can, and generating some speed and power I haven't been able to do in many years. I highly recommend this book.

Brandel Chamblee takes the great golfers of all time and breaks down their swings to explain what is best done in the golf swing. A good book. Good illustrations.

This was wonderful instruction. Having read many of the books highlighted by Chamblee myself, he broke down all the essential moves from the greats of the past and condensed them into a few fundamentals that one could reasonably hope to learn. Isn't that all that can be hoped for in a golf instructional? So what are the fundamentals? Strong grip, wide stance, stand tall to the ball and play it close to the body(no reaching...let the arms hang naturally). Kick in that right knee to trigger the swing. Take it back low and LET your wrists cock late unconsciously. Keep the weight on your right inside heel...don't sway....but forget the nonsense of keeping your right knee bent during the backswing. Also don't try and restrict your hips from turning freely on the backswing. Let em go but remember to keep the weight from going to the outside of your right foot on the way back. The transition and downswing are also explained in depth but the most compelling instruction deals with the setup and backswing fundamentals.So did this book actually help me. Yes. Especially my setup. I was standing too far from the ball. Also forgetting about keeping that damn flex in the right knee is very beneficial. By standing closer to the ball and widening my stance a smidge this stopped my sway, my big problem. My swing speed jumped immediately. The thing that was a little hard for me to grasp was that when I stood closer, I wanted to naturally increase my forward bend. Which increased the hinge between my hands and the club at address. Standing tall to the ball was key for me to be able to adopt a stance that was closer to the ball. It was a panacea for tanking the club inside too early and also for the aforementioned dreaded sway. Lastly, practicing the knee kick on every single shot brought rhythm to my swing that has now led to consistent strike. Although this is not a short game instructional, this knee kick has transformed my short game. TRANSFORMED. I use the knee kick for every shot now but my god, such a small nuance that I've never seen taught is a revelation. I can chip now. I can pitch now. There is no fear with the kick because everything is now in rhythm. The funny thing is, it's not taught. I have all the Pelz' books. No mention, but after learning this I've watched Pelz himself on YouTube and guess who has a very pronounced knee kick? Pelz himself. Hopefully Brandel highlights this in his new short game book, which is apparently in the works.

Nothing new here but a well put together account of how the golf swing used to look before it got hijacked by a million swing gurus. You don't need a degree in biomechanics to understand these principles which served such greats as Jack Nicklaus and the early Tiger Woods. Have a look on YouTube at the marvellous swing of Mickey Wright and then try and copy it, you won't go far wrong. Definitely helpful I would suggest.

Whether you are looking for missing pieces in your golf game then this book is right for you, simple and yet so powerful observations! Definitely a book worth recommending.

For the supposed scholar with the fancy airline pilots voice, I felt this was poor. Yes he referenced his work, and debunked some swing fads of yesteryear. However, a shift from golf commentary and gloss, would have produced a book about learning the game. Brandel showed his full hand!

I have read many golf books but this stands out as a brilliant instruction book, excellent photographs, and a historical perspective that I found fascinating, particularly where it conflicts with some modern theory. If you can implement what it says you should be able to play good golf.

If you are a golf swing junky read this book!Emphasises the importance of the transition that leads to the holy grail of solid impact conditions. So subtle is the move that is often missed and not achieved by most of us.Also like the fact that the author outlines that it is the old school top players giving the lessons and the author is just passing on that there skills worked 50 years ago, but in the modern age these skill sets are dismissed as idiosyncratic.