Update: I accidentally inserted previous Jack-DJ comparison pics, apologies. The correct pics have now been inserted /update

Here we go, WAX Nation – I actually kept looking through my archives and, incredibly, I found a video clip from just two days after the May 14, 2015 clips that I had gone over, with a setup that matches Jack Nicklaus’ adjusted setup even more, this one from May16th.

Not only did I get very close, I recorded myself hitting a drive right down the pipe with a hang-time of 7.5 seconds.

For reference, the average PGA Tour hang time for a drive is 6.3 seconds.

That’s a blast!

Now, I would be tempted to knock my head against the wall for having come so close to this ten years ago, but for several factors.

First, I didn’t even think about Nicklaus’ 1963 setup until around seven years after this clip was recorded, so I didn’t have the benefit of hindsight nor the technical insight that I possessed in 2022, having swung and watched video for an additional seven years.

Second, there were still issues with my mechanical action, first being the over-strong grip (with a grip that strong, you can hit anything from strong pushes to dead straight to screaming hook depending on the hand action coming through impact), as well as my swinging left-dominant, which again I didn’t really come to think about and realize until around 2022.

Third, better late than never!

So, here is the video clip:

And let’s take a look at the similarities between my setup and Jack’s 1963 adjusted setup.

This time, I had the proper back-leaning driver shaft and just a tad wider stance than Nicklaus’ stance:

Again, that over-strong grip is virtually the only things that departs substantially from Jack’s setup, and if I again take his right hand and superimpose it on my own hands for the grip:

… the only thing that stands out is Jack’s turned head pre-swing, where I keep my head in a standard position.

Nicklaus said it helped him swing better by looking at the ball with his left eye, which is why he performed that little head turn before he started his pivot, but aside from that, you can see why I was able to hammer that ball – I was set up nearly the same way I think Jack Nicklaus’ setup would have been optimal with the narrower stance than what he had.

Nicklaus won 5 events on the Tour that season at the age of 23, two of which were majors (Masters, PGA Championship), and he finished 3rd in the Open Championship for 3 top-3 finishes.