Saturday musings – quite a mouthful, but all I’ve done in the title is use the titles of previous MCS Golf Swing videos post-2014.
The themes contained within the titles are still relevant, I might add – in fact, ever more so, and I’ll explain.
The title with “Kinesiology“ needs no explanation, since we are talking about looking at how the body moves and how one should swing a golf club with mechanical-correctness.
After studying Ben Hogan’s golf swing in the spring and summer of 2014, the old-timers will recall, I began to model the MCS Golf Swing’s pivot after Hogan’s – not the actual swing, mind you – just the pivot action, because it truly was a “Perfect Pivot.“
Compare:
Using the hips & legs to pivot is what creates “Ultimate Leverage“ because it makes use of the unbroken “Kinetic Chain“ (something no Modern Golf Swing can do) from the feet to the shoulders.
When you perform a mechanically-sound golf swing, especially as close to optimally as you can get, the golf cub becomes a powerful tool and from the top to impact, you are able to “Drop The Hammer“ on the ball.
All of the tongue-in-cheek aside, it’s ironic that the current state of the game has virtually zero world-class golfers actually using a mechanically-sound golf swing, which can only and will only be found in the “sport” of golf.
Every other sport on earth is obsessed with developing and perfecting technique and you’ll find that nearly nothing new has come about in modern times – the proper technique for a baseball swing, a cricket bowl, sprinting, football or soccer kick – these techniques really haven’t changed in decades.
In golf, they’re still rubbing sticks together trying to start a fire having tossed away their lighters because, apparently, lighters aren’t the way to start a fire.
Even this analogy fails because rubbing sticks together actually is a proper way to start a fire if lacking matches or a lighter.
The Modern Golf Swing, which is the sports version of Olestra, should not have ever been developed and should never be a part of the game in a world where science and kinesiology exist – like Olestra, it is unnatural and will cause you harm with long-term usage.
I once likened the Modern Golf Swing to driving tent pegs into the ground with one’s forehead – we know that that’s definitely NOT the way to drive tent pegs.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but it’s still incredible to me what I’m seeing on YouTube, Instagram and the television screen.
For seventy years, the golf swing was exactly what it should be, from Francis Ouimet to Jack Nicklaus.
One day, it will return to proper mechanics, but I feel for the people who, in the intervening years, will have ruined perfectly good bodies trying to do the equivalent of driving tent pegs with their heads.
WAX Golf 
Awesome post DJ!
One thing I notice among the classics is a very inside takeaway and an “over-the-top” downswing. I say that term loosely because while their hand path is looping from in to out, their clubhead either comes down under plane or on-plane.
Is this something the MCS subscribes to? This has been a pretty big paradigm shift since the universal teaching today is taking the club back either on plane or outside of the plane
then “shallowing” it out in the downswing. Obviously their trying to stop people from swiping across the ball, preventing a big banana slice.
Cheers,
Scott
Hey Scott!
The Modern Golf Swing is manipulated from start to finish, and one of the manipulations is the forced shallowing of the club on the down swing, because of the position at the top.
Mike Dunaway had what you could call the “3 Planes” in his swing. The top plane is the leading arm position at the top, the middle is the impact plane, and the lowest is the shaft at address.
I looked at the same thing in my swing back in 2018 and noticed that my best swings followed this plane theory.
And as you can see, a natural backswing motion will automatically be lower in plane than the downswing.
It’s not “over the top” per se as neither the shaft nor hands are above the impact plane on the way down, but the plane is definitely “over” or above the address plane.
You’ll probably find that most if not all of the Classic era swingers were more like this than the modern plane system. 😊👍🏼
I can definitely see the looping in to out hand path that you, Mike and all the classics have which is a sin in today’s institution lol.
DJ, my mind is absolutely blown right now.
Reading through Bobby Jones’ “On Golf” he recommends a “flat” backswing to which he states it provides a lot more punch than a steep backswing since it recruits lower body muscles on the way down as opposed to being too arm dominant in the steep swing.
Anecdotally, I was messing around with this in to out looping motion last night and everything just felt more connected. My arms swung more naturally and I had a was getting that buttery contact. It just felt more enjoyable is the best way to put it.
It’s like this, Scott – the Modern swingers turn and swipe, so they have to shallow the club to not come dead over the top as they turn.
When you’re coming down from the top from a proper top position (Classic pivot), you’re swinging down, and the shoulders turn naturally with the pull of the hips. No shallowing required.
Funny how things get so complicated when people decide that the proper way to do something isn’t the way to do it. 🤔
I have found that, as in life, doing things the proper way is far easier than trying to find another way to do them. 😉
Hey DJ,
I never threw a baseball in which you took back outside and threw it coming inside? Neither have I?
I was a hockey player and I have never took the stick to the outside and tried to shallow it on the way down for a Slapshot – it more resembled the classic golf swing movement.
“Funny how things get so complicated when people decide that the proper way to do something isn’t the way to do it.
I have found that, as in life, doing things the proper way is far easier than trying to find another way to do them.”
Correct on all account 🙂
This is a good explanation. I’ve heard the phrase shallow the club quite a bit from listening to guys at my club,and on the youtube adverts that pop up (thank god you can skip after a 5 seconds),but never knew what they meant as that shouldn’t be a conscious thought in the golf swing.
They’re dead in the water at the top, AK – can’t shift the hips to the target because they’re already over the leading foot, and dead over the top if they simply turn.
So it’s a squat, a drop of the hands to shallow the club, then a turn & swipe.
No way I’m watching that rubbish 3-4 hours at a time.
*** Meant to say have you ever threw
Yup, knew exactly what you meant.
Played both in my youth and won championships in both.
Ever notice that you wanted a tight back swing in baseball so you could swing out?
As for hockey- I didn’t have a great slap shot but my wrist shot was probably faster than a lot of kids’ slappers in my day. Used to love to charge down the right side and sling it far side, top corner – but then my idol was Guy LaFleur 🤣🤣
For some reason, I could leverage that hockey stick way better with a wrister, but you’re on point with both observations.
Faldo was commentating yesterday on the British Open broadcast (Peacock which gets its feed from the Btisitsh broadcasters covering the Open) speaking about the results of the Sheffler swing motion. He said his motion as “all wrong” and would “never be taught” to mere hoi polloi golfers but was incredibly effective. Of course what Faldo left out is Sheffler’s swing will wrrok effectively until…it doesn’t.It is a bit of a kinesiologist’s nightmare and at some point will result in injury.
On another “swing methodology” mentioned in prior post comments, it seems that Christo of the “over the top” swing method is re-branding starting a swing website he is naming his YouTube channel: The Classic Golf Swing.
https://www.youtube.com/@ClassicGolfSwing/videos
Not sure what is driving this rebrand, but from a marketing perspective, it makes sense. “Over the top” and as bad as “shank” in mainstream golfing lexicon…!!
I saw that a few weeks back, Peter – and silly emailed me about it around the same time.
I would likely leave myself open to defamation proceedings if I said what I think of this fellow, so I’ll just say, “No comment.” 😉
Tried to watch The Open on and off today and the only interesting thing I could say is that there was a player from China.I thought for a few years now that golf was banned over there. Some excellent short game aside, it’s just one robotic and mechanically unsound swing after another,and ungentleman like emotional restraint.
I don’t watch much televised golf anymore but I have noticed from reading about events that players are behaving ever more boorishly.
It’s a race to the bottom with both technique and etiquette, it seems.
Seems to be the age we live in.Can’t even read a nice book without a swear word every 2 pages.