My only disappointment with the upcoming video will be that I couldn’t actually get out there this season to make new video clips, due to my left shoulder issues that are still plaguing me after four months.

Barring that, I am excited about this project because, although my swing model was essentially created between 2015-17 (notice I haven’t even made a swing video since 2018), the years since have allowed me to refine and conceptualize the model, so there really is no great need for new swing clips.

Much of the past years’ time was spent in seeing if there was a way to improve the model, but all I did was improve the way I implement the principles I’ve had in place for swinging since the 2015-18 period.

There are a few new concepts I’ll discuss which have never been in any of the MCS Golf Swing videos.

The first is the concept of a “Vertical Swing” motion rather than a rotary one.  I have talked about how Jack Nicklaus at his best demonstrated this concept:

Nicklaus’ Vertical Swing

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If you watch Nicklaus’ head from the top of the back pivot to the impact phase, you’ll notice that there was no dipping or drop – he simply shifted into that left foot and everything just swings down and through with great speed and power.

That is the power of true leverage, and it takes swinging “vertically” rather than in a rotary style as you see today with the “Turn & Swipe” action of the day to create that pure leverage.

The second concept that I have always followed but never really vocalized, is that of swinging “in the box.”

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What that means is that there is no lateral force whatsoever in the swing, from beginning to end, and that also pairs with the concept of “verticality.”

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Swinging at my best, I felt as though I were swinging the club in a telephone booth, with no room for lateral motion or shifting in either the back pivot or the down swing.

Swinging 5 Iron “In The Box”

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You’ll notice that I never break the vertical plane of my right side from the foot upwards, even with my right shoulder as I begin the back pivot.

On the left side, I only ever break the left plane, if at all, with my leading knee, as I never hyperextend or straighten that left leg.

This means that, like Nicklaus when he swung his best, there is no leaking of power, which will occur when there is lateral motion, nor is there any chance of mis-hitting the ball due to any lateral movement of the pivot point (the C7 vertebra).

I also finish nearly perfectly centered in the box with my head and shoulders but with a slight backward lean to the spine, which I pointed out a while back as the sign of a perfectly balanced finish:

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Some players manage to do this swinging in the Modern Golf Style, but they can only do so with compensations such a the lower back X-Factor twisting, and either a Flying Foot or rolling ankle – for a true “in the box” swing, you can’t have any of these things.

It is a pure, natural swing motion using the hips and legs to pivot and having the ball in its proper place in the stance so that you simply shift to the leading foot at the top and swing down with all the leverage you can generate.

One last concept has to do with the Ben Hogan pivot action – I did use his pivot to model the MCS Golf Swing pivot, but it was more a young Hogan pivot and not the exquisite pivot action that he exhibited post-crash and when he was so buttery smooth with that action:

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The hallmark of this action is the big and free hip turn (look above and tell me he didn’t have a massive hip turn there), but also a very minimally lifting leading heel.

I have performed this pivot myself, but at the time, I didn’t see how I was pivoting differently:

DJ’s “Hogan Pivot”

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… than when I did with a high heel lift similar to Jack Nicklaus’ very high heel lift:

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It has to do with the manner of setting up the address, the balance and the particular mechanical action to perform this pivot, and I have figured out a way to explain it so that anyone following along can do it.

This:

Huge Hip & Shoulder Turn, Minimal Heel Lift

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… is as good a pivot action as I know can be performed for stability and consistency, because of the full hip turn but minimal heel lift.

So, some concepts I’ll be excited to present that even the old-timers here on the blog have yet to digest in a video, and I am working on things as we speak.

More to come!