A report on the progress with my new “build it myself” golf swing model, and today I confirmed that my preferred and intuitive way to setup over the ball and also how to swing are on the right track.

I spent the session not trying to build the stance according to positions, but rather I just took a proper grip on the club and then set up to the ball based on what felt athletically correct.

This is the difference between mechanically-correct vs athletically-correct – you can have a mechanically-sound golf swing but it may not be athletic, which means you will lack maximum speed and power production and/or you will produce shocking mis-hits when you try to really go after a swing.

With an athletically-correct motion, you can swing as easy or as fast as you wish, and the actions should be nearly identical, except of course for the speed and length of swing.

With absolutely no video on which to rely (and this is something I’ve never done before in my life, as I began my swing research with my clubs and a video camera and nothing else), I am going strictly by body sensation and ball flight.

I’ll say one thing about the kinetic chain and setup – the setup will determine whether or not you can go after a swing and still make solid contact.  Meaning, if your setup is not correct, you will not be able to go 100% after a swing and not expect disaster more times than not.

I have been cursed, in a way, with excellent hand-eye coordination, which meant that I could be swinging incorrectly, horrifically even, and still hit a decent ball and shoot decent scores on the course.

However, without that proper setup, I was losing speed and power, and the major flaw in my setup was thinking I could set up square to the target with my lower body and have square shoulders both at address and impact.

Here’s why – even if I were able to square my shoulders with my hips at address, the left-ward twist in my spine meant that that once I got up the top of the back pivot, the hips and shoulders would lock into their impact position… and the shoulders would be open at impact even despite the manipulated squaring of the shoulders at address.

So, even with a supreme effort to square my shoulders at address and with a valiant effort to keep my swing on plane and inside-out into impact, I was manipulating the entire down swing from the top.

Once I confirmed that the kinetic chain cannot be manipulated, I went back today to setting up with my footwork so that my shoulders were naturally square to the target line.

I’ll tell you all, it’s been a long time since I’ve swung with such ease combined with full vigor and felt great doing it.

Does that mean my athletically-correct golf swing will have an angled stance line, which I removed with the “E = MCS” video in 2017?

Yes and no – yes, for me, probably not for someone without a spinal deformation.

I basically have to make adjustments for my physical condition from the standard model, but had I a normal spine, I would likely be square to the target line with my stance line.

My Setup In 2015

I won’t look exactly like above however, because then, I was swinging left-dominant and now I’m properly right-dominant.  As well, that grip was crazy-strong, and now it will be neutral.

Finally, I don’t want nor need video at the moment.  I’ll finish my modeling hopefully before the outdoor facilities are open here, then I’ll go back to video analysis, but by then, I may not even need to.

Today was fabulous, and while I didn’t get there, I see light at the end of the tunnel and it’s definitely not an oncoming train.

More to come!