A new arrival to WAX Nation posted a comment last night inquiring about the origins of the Modern Golf Swing, and a couple of other related questions.
Welcome, Scott from Arizona, and I wanted to dedicate a full posting to answer these questions instead of just responding to the comment, as I know many people don’t dive into comments when reading online posts.
The three questions were:
1 ) Roughly speaking, when did the “Modern Swing” begin? Did it start in the 80s, 90s, 2000s? Was there a catalyst like Jim McLean who started the modern swing?
2 ) What do you think caused the shift from the Classic Swing to the Modern Swing? Do you think it was from trying to find more power? New Equipment Technology that required “a new swing”? Something else?
3 ) Anyone on Tour today that has a Classic Swing (or close to it)?
The first two questions are actually two parts to a single question, because this is my theory, after having delved into the subject for years. It will tie a few of my recent postings about Ben Hogan together.
Let’s dive in!
1 ) It’s That Video
I posted last week about an incredible video that I had perhaps actually watched in part many years ago, sitting in my instructor’s driving range trailer on his TV/VCR (this would have been in 1998) – whether it was that video or not is irrelevant except that it probably was, as it’s been around since the 1960’s.
The video was “incredible” because it got virtually everything about Hogan’s swing wrong, and there was too much in it – that catalogue of errors points directly to the origins of the Modern Golf Swing and the X-Factor method of restricting the hip turn while still turning the upper body and shoulders.
I even wrote in that posting:
The narrator then at 1:30 goes completely off the rails, saying “the right knee stays put, but does flex somewhat on the back swing to accommodate the sitting position at the top of the swing. His weight transfer is accomplished to the right side, by turning the upper body.”
Here, right here, ladies and gentlemen, we have the origin of the X-Factor mythology – if you sit into the address, restrict the hips and turn the upper body on the back swing, you have the Modern Golf Swing.
2 ) Jim McLean Invented The “X-Factor”
From the Keiser University College of Golf:
Golf instructors have been searching for the “holy grail” of teaching methods, In 1992 Jim McLean found it and devised a teaching system to explain the golf swing and to help other golfers create more power in their individual swings. The system he developed is called the X-Factor.
While I don’t blame Jim McLean alone in this, he is likely the greatest influencer of golfers moving from the Classic to the Modern Golf Swing. And I suspect that his X-Factor comes directly from that horrific swing analysis in the video I keep referencing.
The formula for the X-Factor, from the Keiser site, is a recipe for destroying your back, saying in part:
• Turn to separate the upper part of the body from the lower
• At the beginning of the downswing begin with the lower body
• Do not stop or slow the motion
• Forcibly continue the swing well through the impact area
The first pro golfer that comes to mind swinging that way is Fred Couples, who not surprisingly also suffered a devastating back injury not long after winning his first and only major, the ’92 Masters.
His prominence in the golf world after that major, and the upcoming young phenom Tiger Woods, who was also swinging in this X-Factor style:
Tiger Woods 1993
… likely accelerated this trend.
Keep in mind that Tiger Woods is also likely a victim of that 1960’s video, because when you read my breakdown on it, that video is chockfull of phrases like “sitting position at the top” – which is exactly how you have seen Woods trying to work out his swing in real time:
Tiger was already only swinging in the Modern Golf Swing style when he hooked up with Sean Foley in 2010, and I found that Foley as far back as 2011 was pushing Tiger’s “Squat & Dump” move.
Conclusion to Answers 1 & 2
It is my conclusion that the 1960’s video began the process by which people misinterpreted things from the video and bought into the flat-out incorrect observations and declarations of the narrator.
I think that Jim McLean then cemented this erroneous theory of the Ben Hogan swing into his “X-Factor” model of the Modern Golf Swing, and he is the route by which many, many people began their journey to back injuries – and it’s not just me you can take it from.
There is a scientific that concludes that the X-Factor is harmful to one’s physical well-being, and no one is listening to it, because… I really don’t know why, to be honest.
3 ) Modern Players Using the Classic Golf Swing
Until the 2000’s there were as many players using the Classic Golf Swing as did the Modern, but I can’t think of any today other than Bryson DeChambeau, who is still problematic because of much of what he says and does regarding the golf swing:
Most recently, you could find that these players swung in the Classic style:
- Phil Mickelson – he used to swing this way, but has dabbled with the planted heel and I don’t know if he’s swinging that way now or not,
- Bubba Watson,
- Vijay Singh
Notice how all of the above players (including Bryson) are multiple major winners.
And that’s about it!
WAX Golf 
Great analysis.I reccomded your blog to two people this week.
Welcome,Scott!
Never noticed until now but in the gif bryson straightened/tucked in his left leg before swinging.Unsual move. He’s very close to a full classic swing,but he swings too violently.
Cheers, silly – I hope they enjoy if they pop round. 😊
Bryson – Too violent, weighting wrong on the setup, doesn’t have proper footwork on the down swing, agreed.
McLean and others make a seriously good living peddling their golf instruction wares. These top of the heap gurus got ahold of a couple of pros and convinced them this swing works. And when you win golf tournaments using modern swing stylings that pay you a million dollars, you are CONVINCED.
Are there pros who end up in the injury prop bin using this swing? You betcha. But their injuries (back and knees) and their golf swings are rarely connected by the popular press. The modern swing works. It wins. It also injures. And perhaps more so in the amateur ranks where conditioning is less a concern making wrenching movements may become even more of a problem.
But golf instructors almost always lean on the easiest and convincing marketing tool and that is the swing works for Tiger, Freddie, etc… “Be like Tiger”… So, until a Tigeresque talent comes along playing with the “Dunaway Swing” McLean and Foley and others will peddle this methodology for swinging a golf club. What I cannot understand is given the overwhelming success of Nicklaus, Hogan, Jones, Snead and dozens more or earlier eras, why the classic swing doesn’t make a comeback.
My Mom used to say, “Don’t throw out that dress/blouse/hat. They will come back into fashion”. The same can be said for the golf swing. infact, it is a HUGE opportunity for a swing guru who can market. Golf needs a Tiger with a Watts swing and that instruction methodology will be back in style!
One would think that Bryson would have moved that needle, or Phil winning a major in his 50s, both swinging Classic.
I don’t know what it will take or WHO it will take, but the return to sanity will have been a long time coming, Peter!
Thank you DJ for your awesome analysis on the origins of the Modern Golf Swing!
… Now don’t judge but I purchased old Jimmy’s “X Factor” book about a year ago and have yet to crack open the book until now. I found this little excerpt that I think you’ll enjoy:
“Don’t violently twist the hips or else you’ll reduce your X-Factor gap and lose distance. Rotate them with resistence, so there’s a bigger gap between your shoulders and hip turn. Remember, that’s a true key to power.”
Ouch.
Other than this fine site, what resources would you recommend to learn more about the fundamentals of the Classic Golf Swing? I was thinking George Knudsen’s “The Natural Golf Swing”?
Cheers!
Cheers, Scott – sorry that you wasted good money on that book, but it would likely make a great door stop.
I don’t know of any single place where you can learn the basics of the Classic Golf Swing other than simply observing the greats on video.
That’s what I did. I compared the setups and mechanics of the greatest swingers, weeded out their idiosyncrasies and was left with the model for the MCS Golf Swing.
Knudson certainly had a great swing, but I don’t know how well he would have explained the swing.
FWIW… I think you’re right. I took up golf as a 10 year old in 1980. Tanglewood Park (2 miles from my home and site of the ’74 PGA Championship) had a very good junior program back then. I took lessons for three years and was taught the classic swing. Not a hint of the modern swing.
I first remember hearing about restricting the hips on the backswing sometime in the early 90s. I kept hearing about this “X” factor. It seemed to correspond with the advances in equipment and really took off in the 2000s.
The action was bad but wasn’t quite as extreme as it is now. Unfortunately it seems to get more ridiculous by the year. I bet if they had to go back to 1980s equipment these guys would drop the “X” factor in a heartbeat and start actually swinging the club again.
Cheers, Mark 😊
I’ve said many times that if they bifurcated the equipment to make pros swing with 80s era technology, people would go back to the Classic Golf Swing in short order.
One day in the future, people will be agog at the whole notion of the X-Factor nonsense and that people made untold fortunes pushing it.
That day can’t arrive quickly enough.