Thanks to WAX Golf denizen MC for forwarding the following golf article.
One of the things that has bothered me in the years I’ve been blogging on the golf swing has been the overwhelming silence from the Classic Golf Swing era greats (those still with us) on the Modern Golf Swing.
Sure, Jack Nicklaus trashed the idea of the X-Factor swing in his book “Golf My Way” back in 1974, but that’s 50 years ago.
I am happy to see that he hasn’t changed his view, and I’m sure that he has tried to be diplomatic about the Modern Golf Swing, considering the money at play in today’s game with regards to instruction and equipment.
At any rate, the article forwarded to me about Jack’s comments in the Golfing Gazette from two days ago actually references the comments that he’d made in a previous interview with the same publication back in August, in an article by James Shearman:
Nicklaus once pointed out something that modern players do which is the opposite to what he learned from Ben Hogan growing up.
Nicklaus believes the modern golf swing puts more stress on the body than ever before, which leads to more athletic players.
He also explained that Hogan used to generate power with his legs “from the ground up” and that he imitated that in his own game.
“Do I like it? No. I think it’s harder on the body. Today, they take the legs out of the swing a lot,” Nicklaus said in an interview.
“Ben Hogan was a flowing motion, and it was all from creating the leverage by playing from the ground up, and the feet starting the downswing and moving through it.
“You’re a great player, Tiger – but that swing is going to kill you…”
I’m not saying Jack ever said that to Tiger personally, but I love the meme.
Jack is actually a beneficiary of the Modern Golf Swing because, I’m pretty sure, had Tiger Woods been taught a mechanically-sound Classic Golf Swing action, he’d have obliterated the 18 major haul (with 19 runner-up finishes!!!) that puts Jack above him in the pantheon of major winners.
Come to think of it, why should Jack say a word about it? He followed Ben Hogan in swinging with a Classic Golf Swing model (and he agrees with yours truly that today’s players aren’t swinging anything like Hogan, whatever the pundits and charlatan instructors claim) and became greater than Hogan.
No one listened to him when he was against the Modern swing in the 70’s, and if people are going to insist on swinging that way, his 18 majors record is likely safe for generations to come.
I even said back in 2014 that if Tiger retired without hitting the 18 majors mark, Jack should send Sean Foley a box of cigars and a dozen roses.
Tiger was stuck on 14 majors working with Foley, and suffering injuries left and right, and I can’t recall if my comment came before or after his first back surgery (April 2014), but he didn’t win any majors with Foley and he’s since had more back surgeries than majors won (5 and 1).
You can lay all of that damage at the feet of the Modern Golf Swing, which has literally altered golf history.
WAX Golf 
“As a result, I don’t care as much for today’s game as I did for the one played for most of my career. I like the old game of moving the ball both ways and using strategy with angles, and hitting all the clubs in the bag. My greatest concern, because I believe it has the most effect on the most parts of the game, is the golf ball. I’d very much like to see the U.S. Golf Association and the R&A institute at least a 10-percent rollback in the distance the golf ball travels. I know the ruling bodies are looking at limits on equipment, including possibly reducing the size of driver clubheads and eliminating square grooves, but that’s treating an effect more than a cause. The desired results from such moves could be taken care of by a rollback in the ball. In fact, there would be much less need to limit equipment innovations that help amateurs play if the ball were rolled back.” Another great statement by the Golden Bear
Yep!
Besides my modern golf set, I have a vintage set of irons and persimmon woods (and some pristine balata balls) that I have fun with on occasion out on the golf course. I play them because they bring me back in time when I was a junior amateur and provide me perspective on the ever changing game of golf we have witnessed since the creation of the big Bertha driver which really kicked off all the “advancements”. And hitting a persimmon driver is much much more difficult than a Taylormade Qi35, and it doesn’t go as far with a modern ball or the old balata balls.
The biggest changes in technology are: the ball, the driver, and hybrid clubs. In my opinion, rolling back the ball is not enough. If the desire is to have professionals demonstrate shot making capability, play angles and shape shots, bifurcating the equipment would be the answer- no hybrid clubs for professionals, smaller driver heads, and a ball that is more spinny and shorter to accentuate mishits. Will it bore the public? I don’t know but blasting over the trees to eliminate a dogleg is getting very old in my book.
All good points, Jay. I no longer watch golf on television. For one, the terrible techniques on display and second, the ridiculous equipment and course layouts.
I don’t call a drive with 280 yards of carry and another 50 yards of roll downhill on stimpy fairways to be particularly exciting, and when the announcers begin hyperventilating… I was out long ago. It was just so much more enjoyable to watch back in the 90s.