I went looking through my archive again today in search of something to which I could apply my “box theory” regarding a proper MCS setup and pivot action.

From July 2018, I found the perfect example – a very nice swing action that resulted in a massive and straight drive – but one that didn’t look quite right to me setup-wise.

It was only with hand-eye coordination and a little bit of athleticism that I was able smash this drive on line.

Here are the setup and swing action, and before I continue, try to guess what it is with which I’m not satisfied:

Did you spot it?  It has to do with the weighting and balance.  I have always had something nagging at me when I watch this swing, and although it appears to be fine, it was a little off in the setup.

Here it is, when I apply the box theory to the swing:

Right there, you see in the first frame that my right shoulder is completely outside my right foot, and it’s not because of a too-narrow stance, but because of a weighting balance too far to my right.

You then see a second violation in the box theory that I have established in the second frame – my left hip and upper leg are still outside the box at the top of my back pivot.  That top position always look a little off, and that’s because I’m too far over the right foot at the top.

Third and last frame, you see another violation of the box with my left shoulder on the down swing, and that is where you would have a problem if you couldn’t adjust yourself mid-swing to make proper contact.

The shift of my weight to the leading foot requires the hips to shift in order to get the leading hip over the leading foot.  If I was too right of my leading foot with my weight in the setup, the hips would have to shift more to the target than normal, in order to get “over” that leading foot.

That in turn drags the entire upper body along and bingo, the left shoulder breaks the plane it had established in the setup.

Now, if you go back to the swing gif., you will see that on the transition, my head does drift a little to the target before I perform that “Trebuchet Drop” with my head in order move my upper body back into the box so that I can impact the ball properly, otherwise I would have impacted that ball more like a long iron than a driver.

I got away with it on this swing, but I really wouldn’t want to have to adjust like that mid-swing whilst hitting a drive under pressure (hit your line or else high rough, water or OB…).

You can stand on the range all day long and groove a flawed swing to near perfection in terms of results, but when out on the course and under pressure, any swing flaws you have in the bag are a disaster waiting to happen.

I’ve been there.  Playing beautifully until you get to a high-danger shot and then catastrophe strikes, and the wheels comes completely off the cart.

There’s no such thing as a perfect swing, but the further you move away from the optimal setup, the less chances you have of pulling off a good result, especially under pressure.