The A Swing: The Alternative Approach to Great Golf

Okay. I like Leadbetter. Maybe I just like the way he speaks-- but of course I can't hear him in the book. Anyway, he has come up with what he believes is a simpler backswing for those of us who are older and/or set in our ways and don't want to or can't change to the Adam Scott beautiful backswing. It works and but takes some work. After several trials of this new compact, broken elbow backswing, I decided to go back to my swing. But I can see how it might benefit golfers if you stick with it. I tried it for 2 weeks and stopped using it. I probably did not give it a fair effort.I prefer Michael McTeague's method of the Keys to the Effortless Swing. It seems easier to me in my old age. I also like to keep my elbows as close as possible on the backswing. That seems to force me to turn my shoulders a bit more without much effort.But I have no real complaints about the A Swing. I've often heard Leadbetter say that to get faster swing speed, you have to move your arms faster. You can't just swing easy and expect to hit the driver a long way. But of course, he means that you also have to do the other things like have the right path and clubhead angle into the ball and hit the ball in the right spot on the face of the club. I just found that the Effortless Swing handled most of that and that I didn't really seem to have to use much effort to get good speed, but more importantly, good contact through the ball.

If you learn these basics you will be amazed at the results. The improvement was evident for me first round after trying the A Swing. It feels funny at first but you cannot argue with improvement.

Easy to understand with great illustrations.

This book is EXCELLENT.Leadbetter is very learned, and shares his wealth of knowledge in a very logical, accessible, easy to follow format. If I were asked to recommend just one golf instruction book to someone, this is the one.His basic philosophy is that the main challenge of the golf swing is syncing the pivot motion of the body with the arm swing. His experience has taught him the most difficult part of the swing for people to learn how to do this is the backswing. And he supports that by citing that the majority of a lesson is often spent on the backswing. I know this to be true too, as for years I have been working on perfecting the backswing. Trying to ignore it's importance and thinking just any old method to get it back, as long as you have a good transition and downswing is, IMO, fool's gold.Lead's approach to this dilemna is to come up with a backswing that's both STEEP and CONNECTED. Typically those words would seem in conflict as a steep swing is associated with arms disconnecting from the body (separating) on the backswing. With the A Swing the arms stay very connected, and the arm swing is relatively compact; however the shaft plane is very steep (i.e. approx. perpendicular to the ground) halfway back. This is accomplished by keeping a cupped lead wrist, setting the wrists with the trailing wrist, and not having any rolling (pronation) of the arms. That last part speaks most directly to the amateur's most common backswing mistake ... fanning the clubface open and whipping the clubhead behind them, which necessitates a difficult over-the-top series of adjustments to get the club back on the plane on the downswing. These's also something more subtle here: from the top, the natural tendency is to want to shallow the swing plane on the downswing, so even an on-plane backswing runs the risk of producing a too shallow downswing, and again a series of difficult compensations to try to get back on plane before impact.The A Swing backswing is great because you can't really overdo the steepness (i.e. don't have to hit the perfect "slot"), and puts one in position to allow the natural shallowing instinct to take over from the top.A secondary element that helped me is how he wants the wrists to revert to the cupped lead position post-impact into the follow-thru. For years I had been trying to retain a (somewhat) shut position into the follow-thru. This is both nearly impossible, and costly due to the other compensations one must make to try and retain this angle. Allowing more freedom of movement in that angle has helped my short game too, as now I'm less steep on my chips.All-in-all, it's a comprehensive review that will provide the beginner with the much needed background info he/she needs, but not so much as to bore those who've spent years studying the swing. And for the latter, it's very refreshing having a guy with Lead's confidence challenge conventional teachings.

As is true for any golfer, I am always looking for a more simpler, effective way to improve ball striking. I believe I really gave this a try. I worked on it for three weeks, even taking notes to practice. I have to admit that the farther I got into the book, the more skeptical I became because of some very drastic divergence from what I view as sound mechanics. The grip was somewhat peculiar but the lining up the feet to point far right of the target but then have the shoulders lined up on line with the target was a major red flag. He says it would be explained later on, but I never got an adequate explanation. This swing is WAY more complicated than he leads you to believe. I would never expect a beginner to be able to employ it with the aid of just this book, maybe with additional professional golf instruction. I do understand his theory and his many comparisons to the baseball swing but the swing seems to have so many points in it where it is a matter of degree and with that comes variability. Most significantly, how much do you rotate the club at the start of downswing to get it into the right "V" slot. He claims this is a repeatable swing that does not require lots of practice. I did not find it true for me. I am a 15 handicap and biggest challenge at this point is consistent ball striking. This did not help. I would have given it 1 star because I really don't know who I would recommend this book to, however, there was good discussion on the pivot and loading of the right side that I thought was good for any golfer. But don't buy the book for that.

A well thought through and written book , with lots of excellent illustrations, by a charismatic and highly respected international coach.But the alternative technique in this hard-back book or e-book?Very subjective but not much of it for me despite giving it a serious try.I much prefer the somewhat similar (and the original Alternative Swing) Stack and Tilt system which I suspect Ledbetter has borrowed elements from.And with Stack and Tilt there are a number of accredited teachers in the UK and USA. And online too.But if you are seriously struggling with your game maybe The A Swing is for you.

My first Amazon review :)Was slightly sceptical (is there really a "new" golf swing?) but I am something of a closet David Leadbetter fan, so thought "let’s give it a go!"The good:-Great style, nice clear presentation and use of graphics.-Very understandable, technical yes, but my girlfriend (a recent golfee) found it digestible and could easily follow the instructions.-Some great drills and "fault fixer" sections, the "7 minute practice sessions" in particular are very effective.The less good:-It's David Leadbetter, the marmite golf instructor.....I suggest the DL haters open their minds…Some back history of me, and why I found the book useful.-Playing golf for over 20 years, predominantly as a 28 handicap occasional weekend "hacker"-I have had two “this time I’m for real” moments, one 10 years ago where I got down to 9.5, another about 3 years ago where I am working my way back down from 20 but struggling to really get the “bug” again.-Suffering constant frustration at the minute and on the verge of giving up (once again)-Current handicap 15.0-Lifetime fader/slicer.-Great short game / putter which masks a myriad of faults in my “full” swing.A few specifics of my swing:-“over the top/across the ball” slicing golf swing, which no PGA coach/book/DvD has ever managed to cure.-I overswing the golf club, with the inevitable left arm collapse leading to inconsistent ball striking/swing path faults.I am not proclaiming this book as the second coming, but after reading it through twice, practising the drills for a few hours, and two range sessions, the difference to my swing (and in turn, my ball striking) is tangible!Learning points:-At last a book that isn’t obsessed with my swing matching Tigers/Rorys/Faldos (I wish!)-I am AT LAST taking the club away correctly (or at least closer to correctly) I am the happiest with my “halfway back” club position I have ever been.-My overswing/left arm collapse is significantly reduced.-I have hope.Highly recommended!!

People's opinion of a golf help book will depend on whether or not it struck a chord with them and not all will do so. With this book, however, I found it a revelation as I had been working on something similar on my own and this filled in all the missing pieces and gave the confidence that I was on the right track. As someone that is very fit but has flexibility/shoulder mobility issues, I found the backswing position a game changer. Nothing short of a shoulder dislocation would ever get me close to the high arm position of a tour pro and staring at endless pictures of Rory McIlroy and co was more depressing than helpful. The A swing approach allows me to create the correct positions within the confines of my own mobility. I had plenty of time to practice the swing in the garden under lockdown which helped groove the feeling. In my first nine holes back I managed two birdies while missing two ten footers which could have made a lifetime best result! I am a 14 handicap so these results are great encouragement to continue on this path. This book won't help everyone but I found it incredibly useful and would encourage anyone that doesn't have the flexibility of a gymnast to give it a go if they've been struggling with a consistent swing.

I bought the A Swing book a few months back and have become a huge fan of what David teaches in it. After 20 years as a devoted (but not especially talented - handicap 10) golfer and avid student of the swing, I can honestly say that I believe he has created a masterpiece in terms of how all the pieces of the A Swing fit together. For example, the simplification of the back-swing and making it basically impossible to 'overdo' it, especially in a game that can feel so finicky at times, is amazing. I continue to study it closely and get better all the time. I am hitting shots I would never have believed I could and it feels so easy! The biggest challenge (for me) was to really commit to and STICK WITH what he says. It is not a method so much as a lucid connection of the various elements that make a swing efficient and synchronized and repeatable. That said, just taking on certain parts of it to start can create results - I bought the book for a friend who is striping it after simply adopting the 'prayer grip'! For me it is also 'tonic' for indecision. What I mean is, if you find yourself confused about certain moves and what goes with what (e.g. grip strength relative to swing plane or body action), or if you feel you flip flop between techniques a bit, convinced you have the answer one week and then lost in the wilderness the following week, the A swing is a proper joined-up base from which to work. Thanks David, am not easily won over by golf instruction books but you've done it here!!

Good read, and a new thought on simplifying the golf swing. Still a working process for me, but the results are looking promising. But its like all things when teaching yourself from a book. Are you really doing the drills correctly??The book is written to hopefully everyone can follow the instructions easy.Time will tell if it works as my goal is to lower my handicap 24 to 16 this year, fingers crossed.