Once you see the “vertical” nature of the swing, as I said I only see “up” or “down” with the swing action, you will spot it in technically superb swing actions.

Jack Nicklaus, at times, came so close to the optimal swing action, it’s why he was able to win 18 majors and snag 19 runner-up finishes (that’s 37 Top 2 finishes in majors, something you’ll never see again).

I came across this Tweet by David Poulton, who is always featuring the greatest swings of the Classic Golf Swing era, and this one is no different:

This particular swing of Nicklaus’ is so good, let me tell you.

This is why Nicklaus was so long and yet so accurate, especially with long irons.  Look as well at that initial down move that begins with what I used to call the “left foot stomp.”

Nicklaus would have crushed that Dixie Cup, would he not?

You can just watch those hands stop at the top of his back pivot and then drop like a stone as he shifts his weight to begin the down swing leverage.

From the top down through to the finish, superb action that wouldn’t have called for much to make it just about optimal.

Why was Nicklaus able to win so much while practicing and playing so little?  It’s all in that swing gif.

You can’t go very far wrong with that action – sure, his performance would suffer when he spent too much time fishing – and he’d go back to basics and start winning again.

Reminds me a lot of this, with a little different action:

There are differences of course with the stance and exact pivot action with the hips & legs, but the parts that count, leveraging and power, are the same.

It’s really a crying shame what golfers in the past few decades have done to their backs and joints trying to wring power from muscle effort and twisting and torqueing when the secret to pure and easy leverage is in that created with proper weight shifting.