Golf School By Jim Mclean

Before I start; I would like to make it clear that I have chosen this book to write about it because I consider Jim Mclean one of the best golf teachers I have ever read about. It has been a pleasure to read and inform myself about the technique that Mr. Mclean explains us in his book.

Personally; I have thought of the short game as the most important part into this game. This is one the pillars in golf, simply because if we are not able to control these fundamentals we cannot expect driving a ball 250 yards or over. When I play golf I am confident in myself if my approaches stop by the flag, if my bunker shots spin back or forward to the flag, but essentially if I make putts. I don't have the power to hit a ball 275 yards, so I have to rely on my short game to get a good score. These ideas here are my way of thinking about the short game and concord with what Mr. Mclean says in his introduction. Now, I will go into every facet of the short game: putting, chipping, pitching, and bunker play. The book is quite technical, but I am not going to go in that way; nevertheless I will comment those parts where I agree or disagree with his point of view.

Mr. Mclean says that putting is an art, and I think it truly is. He goes on saying that exist ten commandments about putting that we must follow if we want to be good putters. Here comes the first disagreement I have with him, this does not mean that these commandments are wrong, by no means. What I am saying is that everything is permitted in putting if the ball goes in. When I watch a tournament on television I can observe that every player has his own posture in front of the ball, some have the putt face square, others have it open, some players have their hands forward, and so on. I agree that every player tries to follow a routine so this makes things easier to repeat. Later on this chapter; he assumes what makes a good putter is the ability of getting the ball into the hole, so he understands that must not be so rigid on these commandments.

As he well said; chipping is simply a long putt where the ball must go most of the time rolling on the ground rather than flying in the air. I cannot stress enough how important is to keep the ball down, during the execution of this shot; the ball is safer on the ground than in the air. Professor Mclean maintains the same grip when chipping as well as putting; I differ from this , my grip when chipping is different as my grip when putting. However; I pursue all the other characteristics that he explains thoroughly, like having most of your weight on your left side, positioning the ball slightly back on your