Like James Sieckmann’s last short-game instructional, the timing of the recent release of Your Putting Solution is problematic in that it’s beginning of the golf season for many of us: There’s no time to put the program to the test.
But having completed Sieckmann’s first how-to Your Short Game Solution, and its accompanying regimen, I can testify to its effectiveness. Of course, there are ample more prominent examples of his persuasiveness on the PGA Tour. After all, the sub-title of Your Putting Solution is “A Tour-Proven Approach to Mastering the Greens,” and he engages several of his clients to demonstrate points in the text.
Golf psychology guru Fred Shoemaker once observed that the golf swing is the most thoroughly analyzed athletic movement in history, and the archives devoted to putting must constitute an entire wing. Thus, Sieckmann’s winning formula – “Simplicity breeds clarity, and clarity fuels confidence.”
This may seem at loggerheads with a 159-page treatment of the subject, but one thing I came to appreciate is the appropriateness of the term “solution” when applied to Sieckmann’s short-game approach. It’s not about never blowing a short-game shot again, more about dispelling a lack of apprehension regarding said shot.
It’s possible that some of this is simply that Sieckmann chooses his words carefully enough to appeal to the word-struck. Some credit for this is due, no doubt, to co-writer David DeNunzio. In any event, while both books provide the odd URL for accessing some supplemental video, these books seem best suited to verbal, as opposed to visual, learners.
It would be intriguing to take an in-person lesson from Sieckmann, because a number of his book-jacket endorsements mention a capacity of his to generate almost instantaneous improvement in putting. Yet his solution involves some fairly extensive diagnostic work, journal entries, and so forth. Simplicity may be the goal, but the program isn’t superficial. ($28.00, Avery)
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