Bad Timing for Michelle Wie Book

Do you want to swing "The Michelle Wie Way"? Do you want to know the secrets of "Michelle Wie's Power-Swing Technique"?

Sure, about 18 months ago. Today - or at least in the most-recent times we've seen Wie - her swing has been pretty screwed up. Swinging like Wie has been swinging lately will just get you into the trees.

So pity the poor timing of the release of the book "The Michelle Wie Way: Inside Michelle Wie's Power-Swing Technique," which is due from publisher Center Street on April 9 and can be ordered now from Amazon.

The publisher's page about the book describes it this way:

Discover the secrets behind Michelle Wie's legendary golf swing as bestselling author John Andrisani, former senior instructional editor for Golf magazine, analyzes this teen phenom's envied technique. Dubbed "The Tigress," Wie has golfers everywhere wondering how to get more power off the tee, and with good reason: her successful swing allows her to hit the ball far down the fairway with astounding control and helped her qualify for the LPGA at age twelve, turn pro at sixteen, and become today's richest woman golfer with millions in endorsements.

I think it's a little too soon to call Wie's swing "legendary." It's also not true at the moment that Wie's swing is know for "astounding control." And the fact is, Wie's distance off the tee has always been overstated, even back when she had what Johnny Miller frequently called one of the Top 5 swings in golf among women or men.

This book - which Wie had nothing to do with producing and no involvement in - suffers from truly terrible timing. It's not just that Michelle's swing has been off for a while now, but the book is also released when Wie hasn't played in months due to injury.

Author John Andrisani has written several of these books, most notably about Tiger Woods, in which he attempts to explain the golfer's "secrets" as an instructional tool for readers. Some of his books have gotten good notice. And maybe this one will, too. After all, he's not explaining the Wie swing of late 2006/early 2007, but the Wie swing of 2005 and early 2006.

What Andrisani focuses on in the book: