"Golf My Way" by Jack Nicklaus

[R7Player]

I am going to watch it today to see if I can pick up a swing thought. I didn't know he was a fade player until I heard him say it. Watching him on tv for years I thought there was no way I could play like that. But with all the instruction you can play golf that way and get it up there in 2 shots, it's not impossible, and thanks to Jack we can all play like that or at least try.

[shortgamewiz]

I just came across a used copy of this book. The first thing that jumps out is the drawings, and how much different they look than the ones in Hogan's book. The swing style is totally different.

Think of the longest hitters of the golf ball these days: Zuback, Sadlowski, Bubba Watson.. they all have two plane upright swings. Watson -- upright/ two plane. Love was very upright to start out and I think he's still two plane. Couples is upright/ two plane, Daly is upright / two plane. More and more I am finding that stuff that I once dismissed from Nicklaus' techniques I am finding myself coming back to and reexamining.

[shortgamewiz]

I find it interesting that Hardy commented in his video that Wood's was mainly a one planer on his irons but couldn't understand why he switched to more upright two plane on his driver. Well.. I suspect it's because you can hit it further with an "upright" two plane swing.

[Yukari]

Like many people on this thread, I too read this book when I started to play golf. While there are tons of information, you have to take one item at a time. The first thing I practices was the grip, then the stance, then the take away. His low and straight take away advise is the one I still use today. After many years, I still recall somethings in the book to help me get better.

Like yesterday when I was at the range. For some reason, dispersion of my driver shots were too much. Then I remembered what I read in "Golf My Way" by Jack Nkcklaus. On the downswing make sure your right elbow touches the right hip. I tried that and sure enough, my down swing got more consistent and my driver dispersion got narrower. Before remembering that tip, my arms were out of sync with my lower body, so sometimes my arms would out pace my lower body, and sometimes it would trail too far behind thereby leading to a wide shot dispersion. When I concentrated on having my right elbow brush against my right hip just before impact, my shot dispersion tightened tremendously.

[WUTiger]

I bought "Golf My Way" the year it came out (1974), and tried to base my swing around it.

Things were OK until I turned 40 and had a bout of back trouble. After that, the extremely upright swing pattern seemed to be very difficult to keep "in the groove" in years I couldn't play a lot.

Anyway, I got to my current area and took a golf lesson with a veteran pro. After three shots, he asked me if I had patterned my swing after Nicklaus or Watson.
I said Nicklaus. He had too, but found it was too physically demanding once he turned 40, and he had to rebuild his swing.

I had been trending to a shorter, flatter swing for several years, and got Hogan's book about 18 months ago. I hope this flatter, 3/4 swing will finally take hold for a full 18 holes this spring.

N's stuff on working the ball, imagining your shot path, etc., all still help me. But, his overall swing I just couldn't maintain. Basically, Nicklaus' book tells you how to be a tournament golfer, Hogan's book tells you how to hit a golf ball. Both are well worth reading.

I think you have to be a fairly gifted athete to swing Nicklaus-style. Any thoughts on this?

[shortgamewiz]

I bought "Golf My Way" the year it came out (1974), and tried to base my swing around it.

I think it makes a lot of sense to make the change. esp if you had back prob. I also highly recommend Bikram yoga if you could do it (although you need to be very careful and take it very slow for the first few months). I hurt my lower back and have done this for a few years and don't worry about my back any more. And I also based my swing on Nicklaus'.

Have you gotten into Hardy? If not buy his DVD set. Its very affordable. He got famous for turning two planers (i.e. upright) into one planers (i.e. flat).. sorry if you already know these terms. Jacobsen was his prime protege. Also.. just for yucks, check out www.taly.com and take a good look at his videos and rhetoric. I think you might find it very useful in your current quest for a more efficient, less painful, one plane swing. His stuff is so intelligent and sensible it's confounding. -- thanks for reading my rant - Jerry

[Aqualung]

WoW! just ordered his dvd golf my way...really ez to follow and he goes through all parts of the game. I have lots of dvd's but this one is by far the best...also considering that its 30 years old!!!

[BigMikey]

I've read so many books in the last 1 1/2 years. After boiling it all down, I would say the "Golf My Way" and "Five Lessons" are the only two I wish I had purchased. Both Jack and Hogan explain how there swings worked for them. The best part of this book though is that jack covers golf from the infant level to retirement. How he approaches the shots by 'playing a movie in his head' and how he defines ball flight is critical for any new player to the game.

[Slammin' Sam]

I learned to play golf watching the VHS version of "Golf My Way" checked out from the base library at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I modeled my swing after Nicklaus' based on the video, and I have to say that it's always worked well for me. After hip replacement surgery last year that Jack's swing style feels even more fluid and natural to me than before and I'm actually hitting the ball straighter and longer.

[Fatphil]

read it back in the '70's...screwed me up for years.

[Da Caddy]

This was the first instruction book my dad bought for me. As a kid, I was constantly reading this book. Even made notes in the margins and circled things that sounded good to me. As for the swing itself, like someone said earlier, it's how Jack played. While the aspects discussed in the book regarding the swing itself are largely out dated, the mental aspect still rings true. My original copy is 'well weathered'. The last year Jack played, what is now The Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am, I was lucky to find another copy with the original cover and managed to get myself in position near the door leading into the clubhouse and got my golfing idol's autograph.

[Sante TwoGloves]

I read Jack recommends to always place the ball at the inside heel of your front foot for every club. Why does that not sound right?

Did you try it? After skimming through the book that's the one thing I decided to try and I have been more consistent with my ball striking. I'm more of a picker or sweeper than a digger and doing that seems to fit my swing better.

[Golfingdad]

Did you try it? After skimming through the book that's the one thing I decided to try and I have been more consistent with my ball striking. I'm more of a picker or sweeper than a digger and doing that seems to fit my swing better.

The guy you responded to only made 6 posts on the site and they all occurred back in August of 2009 ... so he's probably not going to see your question.

Golf My Way is one of my favorite books - I read it many times as a teenager and it helped me get started playing decently.  It's been many years, though, but that is not one of the things I picked up.  That seems much too far forward for the wedges and it seems too far back for the driver.  My irons start just slightly forward of center with the wedges and progress to about the left heel for my 4 iron and hybrid.  3 wood is middle of left foot and driver is left toe.

But ball position is also a bit of a personal preference thing as it fits each swing, so maybe he was just going for the simplest "one size fits all" approach he could find for the book.

So if it works for you, then great!

[Jack Watson]

Classic book.

[golfdu]

I just finished reading this book and what I felt was the most important thing was him explaining his practice routine, he really goes into detail about how he practices.

He doesn't spend more than an hour practicing his full swing at the range and he believes playing 9 holes is better than playing 18 for practice. He treats each shot at the range as if he's in a tournament so I have to assume that he only hits less than 60 balls in one range session. 

Jack was at the peak of his career when he started and wrote this, back in 1972 so the way he practiced then was how he almost got the Grand Slam that year.

Everyone says practice, practice, practice but he writes that he only spends one hour on each part of the game (putting, short game, and full swing) and then he plays 9 holes (I bet he played worst ball format as well) nearly everyday.