I distracted myself talking about Dunaway’s swing model and spent most of today’s session trying to replicate it with the head shift and all, at which I was (no surprise to yours truly) unsuccessful.
The thing is however, it set me thinking about the stance and weight distribution that I prefer to have, and when I got home, it struck me that there is a reason for my preference for this setup.
I picked up the swing aid and within a couple of minutes, I established the setup as well as the pivot action to be used to swing this way.
My big issue with any golf swing, and what attracted me to Dunaway’s swing, has to do with footwork.
Even some of the greatest swingers had problematic footwork, and at times, it was positively awful, witness Sam Snead with footwork I wouldn’t wish on my greatest enemy:
While you can see that pure vertical swing action of Snead’s above, the footwork is absolutely bonkers.
Then you get Hogan, who probably had the most stable footwork out of all the greats:
That is lovely, poetry in motion, wouldn’t you say, finishing fully on the leading foot and that little drag release with the trailing foot?
There was a reason I picked Hogan’s pivot action when building my version of the standard Classic Golf Swing:
And of course, the best footwork in a non-traditional golf swing belonged to Dunaway, who always looked perfectly balanced and finished fully on the leading foot as well, albeit with a step-around finish rather than a slide-release:
So today, I noticed that with the preferred setup and pivot action that I would likely take to the launch monitor next session, it’s sort of a hybrid foot-release – a raised trailing heel into impact but no slide, rather a step-around finish with the weight fully on the leading foot.
I will be going over all of this on the weekend with an eye to seeing how this works but I may have found the footwork that goes with my preferred setup, which is kind of an important thing.
It all comes from the setup and pivot action, but I’ll say right now that my troubles with the new model may have simply been trying to impact the ball with both feet firmly planted.
Why would I be trying that, you ask?
In short, in building this model, I have absolutely nothing to work from beside the stance and setup that I feel are balanced, athletic and natural.
Working from that setup, I’ve been rebuilding the swing from the ground up, which means nothing really is set in stone, except for the stable head in my opinion.
You’ll remember my admiration and frequent mentioning of Dick Fosbury – well, his technique is one that any high jumper who wants to compete at a high level learns, which means that it wasn’t just one man with a certain technique.
If I can’t replicate a golf swing with a shifting head and flat-footed impact, no matter how powerful it is, then I doubt it would be a technique that anyone could use, which is a deal-breaker.
Optimal technique is that which can be learned and taught and replicated more or less the same way.
So it’s back to the drawing board, and more, much more to come!
WAX Golf 