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Summary: What a wonderful book!
Review: Early this year, while scanning the forthcoming golf books on Amazon, I noticed that Mr. Reed was due to have his book on Mike Austin published in April. I noted the date in my Outlook calendar, set a reminder, and awaited it eagerly. I have been a big fan of Mike Austin's ever since he fielded a phone call from me some years ago and was generous enough to spend several hours on the phone with me. I was a fan for life and a book about Mike seemed almost too good to be true. The advance editorial review sounded promising but they all do so I really didn't know what to expect. Well, the book exceeded all of my expectations. Different from any golf book I have read and I believe that I own almost every one in print and quite a few out of print as well. There's some instruction and discussion about Mike's way to swing for those of you who are looking for that. And that is certainly worth the price of the book in and of itself. But there is so much more than that to the book. There's the story of Mike Austin's life and what an interesting one it is. There's the story of Mr. Reed's growing relationship with Mike and what a warm one it turns out to be. And there's also the story of Mr. Reed's quest for a 300 yard drive and his questioning of his own relationships with others as seen through his ever evolving relationship with Mike. It is a very good read. One that I hated to see end I was enjoying it so. I'm sure that you'll enjoy it as well.
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Summary: Perfect Father's Day Gift
Review: I just started looking for Father's Day gifts for my husband, dad and father-in-law. The men in my life are typcially hard to buy for, but this book is the perfect gift for all of them.
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Summary: Phil Reed and me.
Review: I met Phil Reed at Mike Austins home about 18 months ago, Mike said that he was writing his biography. And since Mike had been my Dear friend and golf guru for many years, I had heard many stories of his exploits. I wrote most of them off to bluster, Phil being a serious writer set about finding out if the stories were true and I was happy to hear that they were. Phil wanted to find out if there really was a more powerful and scientifically more correct way to hit the ball. He set out in earnest on this quest, he can show you the bruises to prove it. Then one day Mike had a bad fall, breaking his hip, that nearly claimed his life and also kind of short circuited Phils learning of the swing and thus the finish of the book, Since I am a golf instructor I took over Phils tutelage from the stricken master, Phil responded beautifully and was thus able to write first hand about Mike the man and the wonderful swing that he had invented, Mike Austin is the Leonardo Da Vinci of the golf swing. If Chivas Irons ever walked the Earth he was called Mike by his friends.
His book is a delightful read, it shows the true Mike Austin as only his closest friends know him. And you get to meet a mean old curmudgeon with a heart of gold. If you only read 1 golf book this year read this one, you will never forget it. Dan Shauger www.aperfectswing.com
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Summary: A book that entertains and inspires
Review: I'm a big fan of author Philip Reed's mystery novels and I was anxious to read his latest book on an entirely different subject. IN SEARCH OF THE GREATEST GOLF SWING paints a vivid portrait of a larger-than-life, previously unheralded golf legend, Mike Austin. The author does a terrific job of interweaving the instructional with the personal, using colorfully descriptive anecdotes that are as entertaining as they are educational. A good read for non-golfers as well as those who play the game, and a great gift book.
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Summary: The mark of Mr. Reed's real genius as a writer
Review: Last Saturday at Los Serranos North course at Chino Hills, I played 6600 yards 18 holes 4 over par. At the front nine I shot 4 under. Back nine was as usual. That was my 14th course play since I learned this game two years ago. I thought I owed all this to Mr. Austin, since I had studied his instructional videotape. When I read this book, IN SEARCH OF THE GREATEST GOLF SWING, I felt that Mr. Reed was seeing through my mind. I felt I myself was writing the book. This book is the mark of Mr. Reed's real genius as a writer!
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Summary: The Greatest Swing of All Time
Review: Mike Austin is the longest and biggest hitter in golf history. Not only that, he swung the golf club better than anyone in recorded history. In addition, he may be one of the greatest athletes in world history, in league with Jim Thorpe, Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan.
How can someone say that? Simple. Go to the tape. Order any of Austin's instructional videos and you can see for yourself. Most of todays long drive players swing the club so violently that most of us remain unimpressed, thinking that if we had the luxury of spraying the driver we could figure out how to swing like a gorilla too. But this is not the case with Austin. His swing reminds you of Snead and Els, easy, graceful, fluid and apparantly EFFORTLESS, and you get the sense, "hey, I could do that too". The difference between Austin and the two golfers I've mentioned is that Austin is 30-40% BETTER and 30-40% LONGER. His effortless action produced 400+ yard drives routinely with the old balls and the old wooden clubs, and was able to acheive this kind of length well into his sixties. (He hit his world record at 64. He even played in the wooden shaft era and was reportedly able to get 300 yards out of them). Even in his seventies he could threaten 350, while most golfers would be happy to get 180.
So why haven't you heard of Mike Austin? He can't putt. He came from the era of Hogan, Snead, and Nelson and could do better in long drive exhibitions and the like than playing the low paying (at that time) tour.
What Mr. Reed gives is a priceless insight into the life and mind of a human being of enormous accomplishment. He is apparantly abrasive, intelligent, and enormously confident, capable, and accomplished. He may be the actual Shivas Irons. What is so terribly unfortunate is that there is so little film of him, and so little about him is available in print. Thankfully we have this book to fill that gap. Mr. Reed does a spectacular job, but Austin always leaves us wanting more.
To the non-golfer I say here is the opportunity to learn about a legendary athlete equal to anyone in history. To the golfer, I say forget Tiger Woods and Ernie Els. Forget Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson. Forget Sam Snead and Ben Hogan. Forget Butch Harmon and David Leadbetter. Mike Austin surpasses them all. In fairness, he may not have won what these gentlemen have, but it doesn't change the fact that he swung the club better than them all.
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Summary: Hole in One!
Review: Okay, I don't play golf but this book was the perfect gift for the men and women on my gift giving list. (golf is big where I live) I loved the cover and they adored the book. Well written, lots of information. Giving this book to avid golfers was like making a hole in one! Thanks Philip Reed.
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Summary: The people behind the feats
Review: Reed has developed a grand specialty in the world of books, tracking down the individuals who accomplished astounding things in the world of sports and telling their stories. I much enjoyed his book about world-record holder Tom Amberry and the art of freethrow shooting, but this one is even better. Not only does he tell the remarkable story of Mike Austin, who hit the longest drive ever in a PGA tournament, but Reed tells his own story as well. It's so much better than a simple how-to book. Highly recommended.
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Summary: A Happy Coincidence
Review: This book is a delight on such a number of levels it is difficult to decide where to place the emphasis. It really should be in the library of every golfer, at least those that read more than simply golf instruction manuals, although this book is a little bit of that too, which I will get to.
It is first, a fascinating short bio about Mike Austin, a professional tour player in the 1930's, 40's, 50's, and later, who possessed one of the more incredible swings in golfing annals. What spices the book though, is that Austin was also truly bigger than life. Some of the stories about him are enough to have caused some doubt even in the author, Phil Reed's, mind, that is until he verified many of them. In his time Austin hung out with celebrities (Errol Flynn among others), was a boxer, an actor, a linguist, and had a doctorate in kinesiology and so on. The stories about him are legend and the book is richly supplied with them.
Austin could hit the ball 350 yards in his 60's and 70's. He actually hit it 515 yards at age 64, and it was in a sanctioned PGA tournament, not a long drive competition, and not with the modern technology that the pros use today. This distance is about 200 yards father than Tiger Woods averages.
One of several interesting characters in the book is a fellow by the name of Danny Shauger. Danny is a teaching professional in the Studio City area of LA, and was (is) more or less Austin's protégé. He worked with Austin for years parsing out his swing and reducing it to a description of its basic parts that an average golfer could understand, if he worked on it. Danny, I was to personally find out, is a bit of a Mike Austin himself, but that is another story.
On yet another level, Phil Reed's book is a memoir of sorts about the author's occasional feelings of inferiority around other certain types of guys. You know the type, guys who are natural athletes or otherwise bigger than life. This is an admission that many men could make,most probably, but very few do and I admire Reed for his courage.
Anyway, by happy coincidence I picked Reed's book up this summer while browsing a book store for some reading to take on a vacation I badly needed but hadn't yet planned in any detail. I say happy coincidence, because at that point I had never even heard of Austin, described in the book as a generally irascible Scotsman. Austin by the way is 94 now, and although suffering from the debilitation of a stroke still occasionally teaches, albeit from an armchair. He also apparently remains, even in old age, a bit angry and a lot outspoken, but apparently a genius in general, and of the golf swing in particular.
A week or so after I first read Reed's book, I called Danny Shauger on an impulse to see if he could work with me, at least on the rudiments of Austin's swing, if I flew out to LA. As I said, I needed a vacation anyway. Danny had the time and so off I went, with no small amount of skepticism about what I would find.
What I found was incredible. I ended up working with Danny for a solid week. In my experience, Danny is light years beyond anyone teaching the golf swing today. Not just in his knowledge of the Austin swing but in his intensity and concern for his students. Danny himself is about 64 and I witnessed him hitting ball after ball, 350 yards. The distances I myself was hitting the ball after several days of Danny's intense tutelage are unbelievable to me (a 62 year old duffer). Perhaps I can say it best though by admitting I am no longer at all impressed by the distances a professional golfer can hit an iron shot because I was doing it myself within a couple of days of starting work with Danny.
Reed's book itself briefly describes the Austin swing, so does Danny's recent book; "The Mike Austin Method, How to Kill the Ball". But Danny's book is a thorough instructional manual on the Austin swing. As with any golf instruction though, this swing will take some real work on the part of the golfer, and probably months to become consistently ingrained in his muscle memory. Working directly with Danny was a definite short cut.
PS: Don't think "Natural Golf" here, because it isn't anything like that somewhat inelegant, in appearance at least, swing. Austin's swing is definitely different, beautifully smooth, quite effortless and highly effective. Except to the trained eye, it is visually indistinguishable from the standard PGA swing, and prettier than most.
I guess you can tell I liked this book.
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Summary: In Search of the Greatest Golf Swing
Review: This book was fascinating. As an avid golfer, I am always searching through golf magazines and books for some magic kernel of information or instruction that would straighten out my golfing woes. This book was an exciting find because it offered intriguing information about a swing technique and body mechanics I had not heard of or read about before. The book was so enjoyable because it is not a technical manual but a colorful account of Mike Austin; golf legend, inventor and the Guinness World record holder for the longest drive (515 yards). Mike accomplished this feat in a 1974 tournament with a persimmon, steal shafted driver at the age of 64. Mike divulges some of the secrets he employed in his golf swing to unleash unbelievable power, distance and accuracy. Phil Reed captures some of Mike's incredible life adventures that most of us only dream about. Mike's talents and larger than life exploits seem endless. In writing this book, Phil gave to those who love golf, a great story of a man who lived life large.
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