I would love nothing more than to have figured out what made the old Classic Golf Swing grip so effective and to at the same time stick a dagger in the Modern Golf Swing instruction scam.

To wit: Imagine that the grip change from the old Classic era along with the restricted-hip pivot are why people have so much difficulty making a proper and athletic swing at the ball.

Now, imagine that with a proper grip and a quick lesson on how to get the hips moving naturally in the pivot, you essentially solve the riddle of swinging a golf club.

That sound you would be hearing – the implosion of the expensive, snake-oil selling Modern Golf Swing industry.

Before I continue, take a good look once more at the shockingly similar grip setup from likely the four greatest ever swingers and players in the Classic Golf Swing era:

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I will tell you right now – that is not a coincidence.  In fact, I went looking for this grip in Sam Snead, Ben Hogan and Lord Byron after seeing Jack’s ’63 grip and swing – and I found them doing the same, virtually identical.

That was nearly two years ago, but at the time, I had only observed this phenomenon without understanding the reason and method of employing this particular grip.

I took a few days off swinging, partly due to another stiff neck incurred sleeping awkwardly – but that was just the opportunity to not swing for a few days and really chew over what I’ve been finding regarding the nature of the grip and the golf swing.

I’ve tried everything in the last going-on 19 years.  And I mean everything, as you can see how I was holding a golf club close to the style of Moe Norman back in the autumn of 2007:

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Some interesting points from this particular 5 iron swing:

• Most glaringly, I was swinging right-dominant, and this may have been the only time in my swing research (during the autumn of ’07) that I was swinging right-dominant, which is made obvious by the club curling around the back of my neck to the finish,
• I was swinging that time with extra-thick grips on my clubs, similar to a baseball or cricket bat handle,
• As you can see, I wasn’t lifting my leading heel – but this wasn’t a swing flaw, as I was not feeling any discomfort on the back pivot with full shoulder turn and club up to and past parallel,
• I was absolutely mashing that ball with this swing, just launching it (see how high I’m looking into the sky post-impact, with a 28 degree 5 iron) and you see no manipulation or “steering” of this swing from beginning to end, and the motion was very athletic.

The secret to swinging with power and precision with a planted-leading-heel golf swing – I have no idea why it worked for me other than I was swinging very centered (weight just about equal on both feet, pivoting around the C7 vertebra) with a slightly wider-than-usual stance, with that particular grip.

Sadly, this was near the end of the ’07 golf season and when I resumed my outdoor swing work in the spring of ’08, I went away from this model in search of something better.

Was that an optimal swing?  I wouldn’t say so, but I will admit that I have never made more solid contact with the ball than in swing that way, and part of it had to do with not using the “Vardon” golf grip that is described as having the “V” of the trailing hand pointing to the trailing ear vicinity.

Moe Norman also used a grip that departed from standard:

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… as you see that he used a ten-finger grip with a weak left and very strong right hand (he actually had it palm-up), which is again not an optimal grip but not the standard Vardon grip.

“So, DJ,” I can hear someone asking, “are you saying that the grips of Nicklaus & Company were the optimal grip for the golf swing? Because you’re showing one of yours and Moe Norman’s which are different from theirs…”

My answer to that would be, “I can’t say for certain because I am still investigating this issue, but my recent work this past week has taken me much closer to saying Nicklaus & Company’s grips were optimal and understanding exactly why.”

I have another month or so before the outdoor season begins anew in these parts (no snow cover, daily highs above freezing), but even with El Niño having made this winter more of a long autumn melding into a long spring, I’m sure there will be a surprise or two weather-wise.

In that month, I hope to have solved the riddle of the optimal grip, at which point I’ll know whether or not my hunch about how teaching the optimal grip and a simple pivot action seriously disrupts the Modern Golf industry is on the money.

More to come.