How to Find Your Perfect Golf Swing

Smith, the guru behind two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen, offers a simple suggestion to get your swing on course: find your own. If it seems obvious, the sad truth is that it's obvious to all subsets of the human species other than golfers; golfers tend to want to ape the mechanics of whoever's on top of the leader board for the week. Smith preaches that you begin with an honest assessment of your own skills and ability. From there, his instructional tees up theory, drills, and exercises geared to getting you into what he calls the "ideal impact position"--the connection of club face to golf ball--so that regardless of whether you resemble the liquid Fred Couples or the spastic club hacker, you can at least strike the ball with confidence. Smith fills Swing with useful photos and understandable mechanics, and ends with an agreeable chapter on lessons he's learned through the years from others, including such pros as Janzen, Jack Nicklaus, David Duval, and Phil Mickelson; good teachers should always tip a tam to their own sources of inspiration. --Jeff Silverman