The video clip I just watched should be titled “How to complicate a golf swing beyond belief and ensure years of expensive lessons,” because that’s all I can see in it.
I know that everyone thinks that this is the way Ben Hogan swung, but once again, no one pays attention to what he was doing, and so you get people who have no business being golf swing instructors because what they’re teaching is ridiculous and harmful.
I don’t have a physics degree, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so I can tell you all that the only way you can “swing left” through the ball is to open the shoulders so that the club head moves left through the ball.
You can not stand square to the target line and “swing left” without baseball swinging at it, and there is not a pro on this earth who makes any money playing and impacts the ball with severely open shoulders.
Just watch this snake-oil salesman demonstrate the “swing left” concept, and you tell me if his shoulders would be square at impact, or as wide open as the proverbial barn door:
To make matters worse, this is the student’s impact position in the first swing of the clip, which is nearly textbook with regards to the body position at impact (except that the right elbow isn’t tucked), and compare it to what this “instructor” is telling him to do:
Once again, Ben Hogan was able to “swing left” with his short irons and wedges because he set up to swing left with his feet:
… so that he was actually swinging to the left with the club face open, to create a fade. It’s not exactly rocket science, but there is a little science to it, no?
Let me repeat – in a golf swing where the club is coming from behind you to out in front of you (inside to out), there is no way in physics you can stand square to the target and hope to swing left through ball without coming over the top or spinning out to your left at impact.
Hogan did actually impact the ball with his shoulders open with the driver and longer clubs:
…. but he played a fade, so his shoulders would have been square to the initial ball flight as he came through – and remember that Hogan also had a super-weak grip so that he didn’t hook the ball.
He also had a super-flat swing plane so that he didn’t come over the top, and his clubs were bent 2 degrees flat (his biographer said they were like hockey sticks).
Remember this as well – this was so tricky for even Hogan that he hit balls for hours, every single day, tournament week or not, so that he could time this perfectly.
Even in his retirement, he would go to his club, Shady Oaks, and hit balls for hours and then have lunch in the dining room.
Every day.
To maintain that swing model.
One day off, and he could tell the difference.
Now, let me ask you – do you see any of these swingers ever stand over the ball with the same setup that Hogan did?
I’m betting, no.
And let me ask another question – have you ever seen them actually pivot the way Hogan did, with his weight transferring to his right foot and leg and his left leg swinging across with the left heel lifting?
I’ll double-down and place my chips again on “no.”
So, this lad in the video clip had better have deep pockets, because it is going to take him years of expensive lessons to every be able to play golf swinging the way he’s being taught, if ever.
WAX Golf 
It would be interesting to see Milo Lines and his full swing to determine if he eats his own cooking…Methinks not…..
Well, you asked for it, Peter:
1. He doesn’t eat his own cooking – this is your standard modern golf swing and he is obviously releasing the club and not holding on to “swing left” the way he was showing that student.
2. Also… one of the absolute worst swings I’ve ever seen from an “instructor,” and people pay this man for lessons:
–
This is his swing, and he actually says that it, “in our eyes, is more athletic, and it tends to fall in line with what we see from the legends of old…”
Absolute fraud, this guy. I don’t use that word often, or lightly, but that statement is an absolute fraud. For one, they need their eyes checked if they believe this (they don’t), and that swing has nothing whatsoever to do with any legend of old.
Lines was a baseball player. I honestly think he simply doesn’t understand his swing isnt “different” and really is a modern golf swing through and through. Fraud? I am not sure he knowingly misleads people. I think he really belives his way is the way…
He does have a following…sigh..Power of social media in action…
Add him to the Wall of Shame in golf swing instruction…
Wait a minute, Peter!
You jogged my memory with your comment on Lines being a baseball player, and I’ve just found that post from early July, about a video clip that had over a million views, where the “instructor” was essentially teaching a baseball swing! The one and the same, and I mentioned in this post that he was teaching the student a baseball swing motion.
I see so many of these people, I sometimes forget that I’ve already had a look at something of theirs.
So, he’s already in the WAX Golf Hall of Shame, and let’s just keep him there, shall we?
Unbelievable.
I’ll clarify the “fraud” accusation – there is no golf legend that had a swing like that, so he’s either insane or gas-lighting his viewers.
I’ll let you decide. 😉
wow just from looking at that swing you can tell they’re inconsistent…extremely violent swing
Why are longer clubs more conducive to a more closed stance? Also, why are shorter clubs more conducive to an open stance? Why can’t you put the right foot back for a more closed stance for all clubs or have an open stance for all clubs or even a square stance for all clubs? Thanks.
Hi Michael
Open stance allows you to swing across the ball with a slightly open face – fade shape.
Closed stance allows you to get more inside-out impact, and you close the face slightly- draw shape.
For many years, golfers liked to draw their drivers and long irons for more distance, and fade their short irons and wedges for a softer landing on the green.
In reality, you can draw or fade any club, but the movement gets lesser the more lofted the club.
Thanks for getting back to me. What’s your opinion on the optimal alignment angle (open/closed stance) for longer and shorter clubs? Would you follow Hogan’s chart in this article that you posted or do believe in a different technique?
I don’t know anyone who uses Hogan’s setup other than Hogan himself, Mike – that’s why no one can swing like Hogan, as well as the fact that they don’t pivot the way he did.
The only setup I can think of is the standard one demonstrated by Jack Nicklaus. Square to the target line, ball off the leading heel, and moving it back away from the target progressively as the clubs get shorter.
Thanks. Would you say that a slightly closed stance with the right foot back would allow a bigger hip turn? If so, do you think it is worth it to implement this right foot back stance
over a square stance?
To be honest, Michael, I had an angled line for years with my foot stance. In 2017, I tried to square my foot line and found I hit balls just as well, so now I stand square to the target line.
The angled foot line definitely gives you a little more hip turn and helps to come inside out to impact, so at this point, I’d say that whatever works better for you, go ahead and do that.