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Table of Contents
About The Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
In the first book from popular Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, the network’s “resident scholar and critic” (The New York Times) explores the common swing positions of the greatest players throughout history—and reveals how those commonalities can help players of every skill level improve their own games.
Every golf game begins with the swing. While no two are identical, Brandel Chamblee, the highly regarded television analyst and former PGA Tour professional, once noticed that the best players of all time have shared similar positions in each part of the swing, from the grip and setup to the footwork, backswing, and follow-through. Since then, Chamblee, a student of the game’s history, has used scientific precision and thoroughness to make a study of the common swing positions of the greats. Now, in The Anatomy of Greatness, he shares what he has learned, offering hundreds of photographs as proof, to show us how we can easily incorporate his findings into our own swings to hit the ball farther, straighter, and more consistently.
What does it tell us that the majority of the greats—from Jack Nicklaus and Byron Nelson to modern masters like Tiger Woods—employ a “strong” grip on the club? How did legends like Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Mickey Wright, and Gary Player unlock hidden power and control by turning in the right knee at address? Why are some modern teachers preaching quiet footwork when forty-eight of the top fifty golfers of all time lifted their left heels on the backswing, allowing them to build power? At the same time that Chamblee is encouraging certain swing virtues, he also debunks a number of popular—but misguided—swing philosophies that have been hindering golfers for years.
The result is perhaps the best and clearest explanation of how to hit a golf ball ever published. Golfers can take The Anatomy of Greatness to the driving range and use Chamblee’s clear explanations to build better swings—and get more speed and consistency into their swings—immediately. This book is like having a series of private lessons from the best golfers of all time, and it will help golfers build swings that make the game easier and more fun.
In the first book from popular Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, the network’s “resident scholar and critic” (The New York Times) explores the common swing positions of the greatest players throughout history—and reveals how those commonalities can help players of every skill level improve their own games.
Every golf game begins with the swing. While no two are identical, Brandel Chamblee, the highly regarded television analyst and former PGA Tour professional, once noticed that the best players of all time have shared similar positions in each part of the swing, from the grip and setup to the footwork, backswing, and follow-through. Since then, Chamblee, a student of the game’s history, has used scientific precision and thoroughness to make a study of the common swing positions of the greats. Now, in The Anatomy of Greatness, he shares what he has learned, offering hundreds of photographs as proof, to show us how we can easily incorporate his findings into our own swings to hit the ball farther, straighter, and more consistently.
What does it tell us that the majority of the greats—from Jack Nicklaus and Byron Nelson to modern masters like Tiger Woods—employ a “strong” grip on the club? How did legends like Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Mickey Wright, and Gary Player unlock hidden power and control by turning in the right knee at address? Why are some modern teachers preaching quiet footwork when forty-eight of the top fifty golfers of all time lifted their left heels on the backswing, allowing them to build power? At the same time that Chamblee is encouraging certain swing virtues, he also debunks a number of popular—but misguided—swing philosophies that have been hindering golfers for years.
The result is perhaps the best and clearest explanation of how to hit a golf ball ever published. Golfers can take The Anatomy of Greatness to the driving range and use Chamblee’s clear explanations to build better swings—and get more speed and consistency into their swings—immediately. This book is like having a series of private lessons from the best golfers of all time, and it will help golfers build swings that make the game easier and more fun.
Excerpt
The Anatomy of Greatness The Grip
The single most important aspect of the golf swing happens well before impact—the gripping of the golf club. The hands are the only connection to the club, and nothing contributes more to the overall look of the swing and—more important—the quality of shots played than how they are placed. This is just as true at the highest levels of this game as it is for the beginner.
Among professionals there is a deep respect for grips. To a pro, a proper grip is not only considered functional, it’s regarded almost as a work of art. And while not every grip looks alike, the variety is mostly in how players link their hands together. Beyond the differences of interlocking, overlapping, or ten-finger style, the grips of most of the best players of all time have much in common.
Among amateurs there is often some confusion and much error when it comes to placing their hands on the club. I believe much of the problem is rooted in the most popular instruction book ever written.
Hogan’s weak preference.
On page 26 of Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, Ben Hogan states that, when placing your left hand on the club, the V formed by the marriage of the index finger and the thumb (for a right-handed golfer) should point to the right eye. On page 28 he states that the V formed by the index finger and thumb of the right hand should point to the chin. In professional golf-speak, this is known as a weak grip. Hogan’s was one of the most beautiful the game has ever seen.
It was beautiful because Hogan could curl his right thumb backward from the joint as he pushed the joint into the side of the club and because this gave him the ability to push the inside of his thumb hard against his index finger. This connection gave a definite line, or V, which Hogan used as a guidepost for the grip, and he believed that V should be pointed at his chin. It was beautiful because he crooked his right index finger, which he called a trigger finger, back just enough to where he could push the top joint into the side of the grip and apply pressure and this cohesiveness, between index finger and thumb, gave his grip an almost unmatched symmetry.
The beautiful symmetry of Hogan’s grip.
No one had ever described the placing of the hands on the club in such a manner, but many amateurs took it as gospel because of what came to be known as the “Hogan mystique.”
Hands with V’s pointing to the right shoulder.
Ben Hogan was and still is one of the most compelling characters in the game of golf. That he was able to overcome such obstacles as a traumatic childhood (his father committed suicide when Ben was nine years old), diminutive size, and a near-fatal auto accident made him a heroic figure. His relentless, dig-it-out-of-the-dirt work ethic was universally admired. The Hogan mystique created a cult-like obsession with every facet of Hogan’s game, including his grip.
The problem was that Hogan’s grip didn’t work for everyone. It worked for him, in that it corrected the tendency to hit violent hooks that nearly drove him out of the game prematurely. But most amateurs have the opposite tendency—they slice the ball—and Hogan’s grip only exacerbates that fault.
Hogan’s necessary compensations.
Thanks to modern technology that allows us to measure, with great accuracy, what happens at every point in the swing, we know that at impact the hands are roughly five inches in front of where they were at address. Dr. Ralph Mann and Fred Griffin pointed this out over two decades ago based upon their computer-generated model of hundreds of professional golfers. In their book, Swing Like a Pro, they presented that a golfer should have a stronger grip, and that the V’s of both hands, and in particular the right hand, should be turned to the right. This is a considerably stronger position than Hogan’s.
With Hogan’s grip, the pushing of the hands forward at impact tends to open the clubface. Hogan corrected this by bowing his left wrist and supinating, or turning counterclockwise, both his left forearm and wrist.
As beautiful as Ben’s grip was, it was unique to him. The vast majority of great players have used a much stronger grip, and most amateurs should, too. A stronger grip is the grip of choice—the commonality among the best in the game—and the easiest path to improvement.
Jack Nicklaus’s left hand.
Mickey Wright’s left hand, partly in the fingers.
The Left Hand
In placing the left hand on the club, the grip should run diagonally from the lower part of the palm, specifically right on the thickest crease in your palm, known as the Line of Heart, across the top joint of your middle two fingers and lay on the middle joint of your index finger. Then the thumb is folded over and placed just to the right of the center of the club. The V formed by the thumb and index finger should point toward the right shoulder. If yours points toward your chin or right eye, keep turning it clockwise until it approximates the greats.
If one takes up the grip too much in the palm or with the thumb straight down the club, at the top of the swing the hand and thumb will likely not be in position to support the weight of the club and the stress of the transition. Hence, the club should be placed diagonally in the hand, with the thumb on the side of the shaft.
Bobby Jones’s perfect left hand placement.
The placement of the left hand has a very distinct purpose. The left hand provides the stability in the strike but the full range of motion should never be compromised. The tendency is to take up the grip completely in the palm, but this is disastrous, as the player will lose some range of motion in the wrist and security of the club at the top of the swing.
Holding the club too much in the fingers is the better mistake, as at least one’s mobility in the cocking and uncocking of the wrists will not be hindered. However, not enough of the left hand touches the club, so the tendency is to grip too tightly. The combination of a tight grip without enough connection points to the club will not support the blow of impact consistently.
The blend of having the club partly in the palm and partly in the fingers maintains control with the greatest amount of freedom and instinctively the right amount of pressure.
The placement of the thumb—not on top of the club, but just to the right of center—serves two very important purposes.
Byron Nelson’s perfect left hand placement.
Because the plane of the swing is inclined, if the thumb were placed on the top of the club at address, at the end of the backswing the thumb’s relative position would be on the left side of the club, where it is less likely to support its weight without increased tension. As a result, the pressure of the transition from backswing to downswing will have a tendency to limit the range of mobility in the hands. This will rob the player of a deeper set in the wrists, which is so important to accumulating power and will be discussed much later in this book in greater detail. At the top of the backswing it is better to have the left thumb underneath the shaft, where it is in a position to support the weight of the club. This is best done by having the thumb to the right of center at address.
Ben Hogan’s cupped compensation.
Ben Hogan overcame this problem by rolling his forearms and cupping his left wrist in an exaggerated way so that his left thumb was under the shaft at the top of the swing—in effect making his grip strong at the top, whereas it had previously been weak at the bottom.
Lastly, against the force of impact, having one’s left thumb on the side of the club allows one a brace to push against and offset the collision of club and ball, providing stability at the swing’s most violent point.
Nobody did this more obviously and stated it more clearly than Byron Nelson, who, in describing the position of the left thumb on the club in his book Winning Golf said, “the thumb of the left hand is closed on the shaft, a quarter of the way around.” Thus a position many of the greatest players of all time found through trial and error was the best way to put their left hand on the club.
The Right Hand
Though the placement of the right hand is less complicated than that of the left, it is nonetheless the source of a great deal of confusion. There are remarkable players with all manner of styles when it comes to linking their hands together, and even a few who didn’t at all. That choice has been entirely a personal preference and arrived at by experimentation.
The club should run from the base of the top joint of the little finger, diagonally across the ring and middle fingers and rest on the middle joint of the index finger. The thumb should be placed on the left side of the club. This grip is illustrated by Byron Nelson, who used it to win eleven straight PGA Tour events and establish the lowest Sunday scoring average in history.
Ten-finger grip, interlocking grip, mesh grip, baseball grip, overlapping grip, and double overlapping grip.
The single most important aspect of the golf swing happens well before impact—the gripping of the golf club. The hands are the only connection to the club, and nothing contributes more to the overall look of the swing and—more important—the quality of shots played than how they are placed. This is just as true at the highest levels of this game as it is for the beginner.
Among professionals there is a deep respect for grips. To a pro, a proper grip is not only considered functional, it’s regarded almost as a work of art. And while not every grip looks alike, the variety is mostly in how players link their hands together. Beyond the differences of interlocking, overlapping, or ten-finger style, the grips of most of the best players of all time have much in common.
Among amateurs there is often some confusion and much error when it comes to placing their hands on the club. I believe much of the problem is rooted in the most popular instruction book ever written.
Hogan’s weak preference.
On page 26 of Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, Ben Hogan states that, when placing your left hand on the club, the V formed by the marriage of the index finger and the thumb (for a right-handed golfer) should point to the right eye. On page 28 he states that the V formed by the index finger and thumb of the right hand should point to the chin. In professional golf-speak, this is known as a weak grip. Hogan’s was one of the most beautiful the game has ever seen.
It was beautiful because Hogan could curl his right thumb backward from the joint as he pushed the joint into the side of the club and because this gave him the ability to push the inside of his thumb hard against his index finger. This connection gave a definite line, or V, which Hogan used as a guidepost for the grip, and he believed that V should be pointed at his chin. It was beautiful because he crooked his right index finger, which he called a trigger finger, back just enough to where he could push the top joint into the side of the grip and apply pressure and this cohesiveness, between index finger and thumb, gave his grip an almost unmatched symmetry.
The beautiful symmetry of Hogan’s grip.
No one had ever described the placing of the hands on the club in such a manner, but many amateurs took it as gospel because of what came to be known as the “Hogan mystique.”
Hands with V’s pointing to the right shoulder.
Ben Hogan was and still is one of the most compelling characters in the game of golf. That he was able to overcome such obstacles as a traumatic childhood (his father committed suicide when Ben was nine years old), diminutive size, and a near-fatal auto accident made him a heroic figure. His relentless, dig-it-out-of-the-dirt work ethic was universally admired. The Hogan mystique created a cult-like obsession with every facet of Hogan’s game, including his grip.
The problem was that Hogan’s grip didn’t work for everyone. It worked for him, in that it corrected the tendency to hit violent hooks that nearly drove him out of the game prematurely. But most amateurs have the opposite tendency—they slice the ball—and Hogan’s grip only exacerbates that fault.
Hogan’s necessary compensations.
Thanks to modern technology that allows us to measure, with great accuracy, what happens at every point in the swing, we know that at impact the hands are roughly five inches in front of where they were at address. Dr. Ralph Mann and Fred Griffin pointed this out over two decades ago based upon their computer-generated model of hundreds of professional golfers. In their book, Swing Like a Pro, they presented that a golfer should have a stronger grip, and that the V’s of both hands, and in particular the right hand, should be turned to the right. This is a considerably stronger position than Hogan’s.
With Hogan’s grip, the pushing of the hands forward at impact tends to open the clubface. Hogan corrected this by bowing his left wrist and supinating, or turning counterclockwise, both his left forearm and wrist.
As beautiful as Ben’s grip was, it was unique to him. The vast majority of great players have used a much stronger grip, and most amateurs should, too. A stronger grip is the grip of choice—the commonality among the best in the game—and the easiest path to improvement.
Jack Nicklaus’s left hand.
Mickey Wright’s left hand, partly in the fingers.
The Left Hand
In placing the left hand on the club, the grip should run diagonally from the lower part of the palm, specifically right on the thickest crease in your palm, known as the Line of Heart, across the top joint of your middle two fingers and lay on the middle joint of your index finger. Then the thumb is folded over and placed just to the right of the center of the club. The V formed by the thumb and index finger should point toward the right shoulder. If yours points toward your chin or right eye, keep turning it clockwise until it approximates the greats.
If one takes up the grip too much in the palm or with the thumb straight down the club, at the top of the swing the hand and thumb will likely not be in position to support the weight of the club and the stress of the transition. Hence, the club should be placed diagonally in the hand, with the thumb on the side of the shaft.
Bobby Jones’s perfect left hand placement.
The placement of the left hand has a very distinct purpose. The left hand provides the stability in the strike but the full range of motion should never be compromised. The tendency is to take up the grip completely in the palm, but this is disastrous, as the player will lose some range of motion in the wrist and security of the club at the top of the swing.
Holding the club too much in the fingers is the better mistake, as at least one’s mobility in the cocking and uncocking of the wrists will not be hindered. However, not enough of the left hand touches the club, so the tendency is to grip too tightly. The combination of a tight grip without enough connection points to the club will not support the blow of impact consistently.
The blend of having the club partly in the palm and partly in the fingers maintains control with the greatest amount of freedom and instinctively the right amount of pressure.
The placement of the thumb—not on top of the club, but just to the right of center—serves two very important purposes.
Byron Nelson’s perfect left hand placement.
Because the plane of the swing is inclined, if the thumb were placed on the top of the club at address, at the end of the backswing the thumb’s relative position would be on the left side of the club, where it is less likely to support its weight without increased tension. As a result, the pressure of the transition from backswing to downswing will have a tendency to limit the range of mobility in the hands. This will rob the player of a deeper set in the wrists, which is so important to accumulating power and will be discussed much later in this book in greater detail. At the top of the backswing it is better to have the left thumb underneath the shaft, where it is in a position to support the weight of the club. This is best done by having the thumb to the right of center at address.
Ben Hogan’s cupped compensation.
Ben Hogan overcame this problem by rolling his forearms and cupping his left wrist in an exaggerated way so that his left thumb was under the shaft at the top of the swing—in effect making his grip strong at the top, whereas it had previously been weak at the bottom.
Lastly, against the force of impact, having one’s left thumb on the side of the club allows one a brace to push against and offset the collision of club and ball, providing stability at the swing’s most violent point.
Nobody did this more obviously and stated it more clearly than Byron Nelson, who, in describing the position of the left thumb on the club in his book Winning Golf said, “the thumb of the left hand is closed on the shaft, a quarter of the way around.” Thus a position many of the greatest players of all time found through trial and error was the best way to put their left hand on the club.
The Right Hand
Though the placement of the right hand is less complicated than that of the left, it is nonetheless the source of a great deal of confusion. There are remarkable players with all manner of styles when it comes to linking their hands together, and even a few who didn’t at all. That choice has been entirely a personal preference and arrived at by experimentation.
The club should run from the base of the top joint of the little finger, diagonally across the ring and middle fingers and rest on the middle joint of the index finger. The thumb should be placed on the left side of the club. This grip is illustrated by Byron Nelson, who used it to win eleven straight PGA Tour events and establish the lowest Sunday scoring average in history.
Ten-finger grip, interlocking grip, mesh grip, baseball grip, overlapping grip, and double overlapping grip.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (March 29, 2016)
- Length: 144 pages
- ISBN13: 9781501133015
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Raves and Reviews
Praise for Brandel Chamblee and The Anatomy of Greatness
“The Holy Grail of the swing.”
—GOLF magazine
“Brandel Chamblee, Golf Channel’s astute analyst and a former Tour pro, doesn’t shy from controversy. He mercilessly criticized Tiger Woods’s swing changes after Woods stopped working with coach Butch Harmon in 2003, and in 2013 wrote that the then-world No. 1 was ‘a little cavalier with the rules.’ Chamblee has now written a book, The Anatomy of Greatness: Lessons from the Best Golf Swings in History, that takes on the golf swing teaching establishment. . . . The concisely written volume (Chamblee said he tried to mimic the brevity of Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book) is loaded with photographs.”
—John Paul Newport, Wall Street Journal
“Chamblee has found his niche as the Golf Channel’s resident scholar and critic . . . [and] has an artist’s way with words.”
—The New York Times
“One of the reasons Chamblee has become golf’s best studio analyst is because he’s a golf geek, but with the ability to convey piles of data in a compelling, and sometimes controversial, manner. . . . Chamblee proves to be as provocative in print as he is on TV.”
—Golfweek
“It’s illuminating and it’s going to be provocative—in a good way—provoking discussion. It should start debate about where teaching has been, well, moving.”
—Lorne Rubenstein, SCOREGolf
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