Wednesday, November 10, 2010

THE STACK AND TILT SWING: The Definitive Guide to the Swing that is Remaking Golf

Gotham Books (Pendant Publishing)


By the time any golfer becomes  “of a certain age” he’s heard every golf theory at least twice and as many contradictory opinions, so that despair and resignation are often the result. I myself find that not only would actual golf lessons make my game worse with the myriad of picayune swing thoughts imposed on me, but even should my eye fall casually upon one of the instruction articles in a golf magazine, I lose three strokes to par.

So then, the casual, uncomplicated (not to say, simplistic) approach of The Stack & Tilt swing seems like a very new idea. Although there may be some scientific foundation to it, the breezy message conveyed in their book is a duffer-friendly, conversational approach.

Right away, they give you their fundamentals, which are unlike fundamentals offered by other teachers . . . the common-sense and plain language seems like a shortcut to mediocrity to those of us inculcated in the esoterica of modern golf theory, but Stack & Tilt offers endorsements and explanations from various pros that tend to dispel that misconception . . . it is a whole new way of thinking about the swing, and it is controversial, but the rationale is very compelling.

Their learning method is so heavily skewed towards improving the golfer that it seems completely within his grasp – possible – unlike the “normal” instruction full of unique nomenclature and seemingly impossible gyrations. This sample training lesson – a 30 minute progression – illustrates their plain talk.

Scattered throughout the theoretical point-by-point discussions are some real-life testimonials from pros that re-inforce and illustrate what the authors are getting at.

Should I have given the impression that this is a light-weight, superficial training method, I include this tidbit to savor, a sample of what expertise lies ahead for the master of the basic training . . .

So, if conventional golf instruction has left your game unimproved – or even dis-improved! – Stack & Tilt will be worth investigating . . . it is so far outside-the-box that some of the fundamentals they teach are in fact recognized as swing flaws in those traditional methodologies.