Review "The Secrets of owning your Swing Part 2"

Our good friend and contributor, Justin Tang has just finished his review of Ea Tischler's new book, "The Secrets of owning your swing Part 2". Here are his findings:

EA Tischler Review

The question to ask is not who is EA Tischler; but rather why has not the world heard of him.

Before we delve into EA's work, a short background of myself. I am a student of the golf swing having begun with The Golfing Machine since 2000. I was certified by Chuck Evans in 2005 and started teaching golf in that same year. In between teaching, I also work in the financial industry in Asia and am a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.

The point being made here is:

1. I am well versed in research methodologies, epistemology and empiricism,
2. I know a little about the golf swing, and,
3. Because of the nature of my work, I am highly sensitive to BS and therefore would be able to provide an honest review.

With that in mind, let us proceed.

At first glance, it is easy to assume that Secret’s of Owning Your Swing is no more than a repackaged and simplified version of Homer Kelley’s tome, The Golfing Machine (“TGM”), sans chapter and verse classification. That EA candidly admits to having extensively studied TGM lends credence to this theory.

I delve deeper into the material with an open mind and realise that the comparison with TGM is not only inaccurate, but also unfair.

I study EA’s background and the process that with which he came to recognize and categorize the 12 biomechanical features (each with 3 options) of the human body.I conclude that this is a work borne out of hours of “digging it out of the dirt” to coin a phrase from the late great Ben Hogan. With a +4 handicap, the man has been to the moon and back.

There is a handicap / excuse making the rounds that a good teacher need not be a good player...why can’t we have both? I would imagine that a person who can both play and teach would be doubly beneficial to your game. EA is this rare hybrid of men.

Personally, I would not take a lesson from a “teacher” who cannot at least demonstrate good ball striking. If you cannot teach yourself, then how are you able to teach someone else? I met Ben Doyle in 2005 when he was 72, even then he could still compress the ball as well as any one.

Where TGM is a volume based on observation, Secrets is then a volume based on the actual experience and execution of a practitioner skilled at his craft, sensitive to the feedback of his body. EA has the ability to describe with accuracy and neutrality what a move should feel like without clouding it with his personal idiosyncrasies.
Secrets 1 leaves you breathless in that you wolf down page after page, chapter after chapter in the vain attempt to find a matrix to uncover your one best pattern. Upon closing the book, you are left with both a sense of helplessness and despair. From whence will thy golfing salvation appear you ask.

In reality, Secrets 1 does not purport to be anything other than an explanation of the golf swing. It was just wishful optimism on my part. Secrets 2 is where your dreams may become reality - EA teaches you to discover where you are and then how to get to where you want to be.

Where Secrets 1 gives clear illustrations about what the 12 functions are, Secrets 2 continues with instructions to decipher the options you are predisposed to. You are then told what to change / retain in order to make all your 12 functions as compatible as possible - Secrets 2 comes complete with all the drills you need to make these changes.

Without giving away anything, the 12 functions are simply the ways in which the golf club and your major bodyparts relate to one another at various junctures of the golf swing. Each of these functions have 3 variations...you will get the idea if you think of every function as being “left-right-centre” or “hi-medium-lo”..well something along those lines.

Secrets really is an entree to dessert improvement program. Besides the above, you are also provided with physical conditioning to optimize your swing, training techniques to aid retention (repetitive vs variable training) and mental training programs influenced by Fred Shoemaker (eyes closed exercise, awe-ing).

For those who think these 2 books are a little beefy at a total of 700+ pages and too much information then consider the following arguments.

1. While pictures say a thousand words, they are less apt to give you a pre-conceived notion of what a move ought to feel like. What is more influential or should I say misleading...the folly of someone telling you in a stilted tone, “initiate the downswing by squashing a tomato with your left foot” or; using an image demonstrating a move as is and then you self discover your own feel.

2. There is a correlation between knowledge and skill. Most people on the planet skilled at a craft, would be able to tell you with a fair amount of detail about what they are good at. Does it not behoove us then to at least learn more about this complex mechanical motion that we call the golf swing in order to improve it?

In life, you cannot have something for nothing. Despite the newly anointed Masters Champ having a homemade swing etc, I am willing to wager that what he knows about the golf swing is commensurate to his skill level.

3. There are lots of fraudsters out there passing themselves off as golf instructors who have no qualms about taking your hard earned money while leaving your golf swing no better than where they found it. By arming yourself with more knowledge, you can prevent that.

A secret is defined as something not known by others. For example, my age is a secret to you since you do not know it. Once you do, it ceases to be a secret. When you are done absorbing and applying the tenets in Secrets, they will be secrets no more and hopefully a whole new golfing world opens to you.

In the review of this book, I have not received any commercial benefits from both the author or owner of this website neither do I intend to enter into any commercial relationship with them.

--Justin Tang


Hit em Straight