Get a book from Mike Hebron called "GOLF SWING SECRETS AND LIES" http://mikehebron.com. I seen it at our library as well. This guy insists he "how to" advice never works. What beginners need most of all is "awareness" of how a golf club actually works, where the shaft, face and head of the club have to be AT IMPACT with the ball. This book is one of the best books I've ever read (you have to over-look the American spelling and grammatical mistakes though. He shows pictures of various golfers throughout the past 100 years and how similar their swings are in order to prove that the physics of golf and design of the golf club etc require the ball to be struck in a particular manner.

Just remember this: The club head must be BEHIND the hands at impact. This is how the club is designed to work, always has always will. If your hands don't keep up with the club head, the head looses stability.

Due to how the ball compresses at impact and stays in contact with the clubhead for an instant as the head moves through the swing, if you hit the ball at 3 oclock on the ball (9 oclock is pointing to the target) the ball will go initially left then slice right. The ball should be struck at 4 oclock on the ball so that as the ball compresses and then decompresses by the time the ball is actually moving it will be going towards 9 o'clock, not 8 o'clock.

Keep you eyes on that precise point on the ball as you do your take away and swing through this point, then look over as the ball travels away to the target. If you watch a precise point on the ball, you will be less likely to move your body and your swing off-plane.

I'm no PGA instructor, but this information combined with the lessons I took from an instructor that follwed Hebrons advice has made an enormous difference in the way I approach golf. Golf is a game where you have to figure it out for yourself in the end -- you have to hit the ball yourself -- no one can do it for you.

James