First – I was looking through my swing archives again today and found a tragedy unfolding in the summer of 2018, a year after I’d released the “E = MCS” swing video.
That tragedy, I’ve talked about before – I had figured out the optimal setup by 2015, and the Hogan “Perfect Pivot” action by 2017, but I kept investigating and researching and trying new swing stuff… all because of my right hand grip.
Had I fixed that grip position back then… well, let’s not dwell on “ifs” or “maybe,” because the one silver lining in all of this tragedy is that I essentially conducted another six years of research after 2018 before coming to the conclusion that there was nothing left to investigate.
I’d fixed the grip in 2022 and the next two years were spent looking at other possible swing models (such as the Dunaway-style right-dominant model) before concluding that the neutral setup with the Hogan “Perfect Pivot” action were the optimal way to swing.
DJ – June 17th, 2018 – Super Low Heel Lift
On this day (June 17th, 2018), I was hitting balls and working on the swing – I even posted a side-by-side comparison of Hogan and myself at the top:
… and I don’t know how many of you were around back in 2014 during my “Ben Hogan Project,” but I pointed out even 11 years ago that the pictures from Hogan’s book were misleading.
Hogan’s “After” pivot actually looked more like his “Before,” because the illustrated “After” pic incorrectly showed a flat or planted leading heel:
I mean, you can see it for yourself:
You Tell Me – Hogan “After” – 1953
It’s a diagonal view, so we can’t really be sure how much flatter his left arm was at the top without a straight down the line look, but that leg and foot position mirror the “Before” illustration. Even the spine angle.
The problem is that this is Ben Hogan in 1953, when he electrified the world in winning 5 of the 6 events he played (winning the Masters, US Open and Open Championship majors) – most definitely the “After” phase of his career.
MCS Golf Swing – Low Heel Pivot
I am confident that the reason I overlooked how I was swinging in 2018 was because my Casio video camera had broken, and I was using my back-up camera that didn’t have slow-motion (these swings are all 60 fps), and I was dis-satisfied with how the swings looked when I slowed them down.
I shot video that summer with that camera and also with The Welshman’s iPhone when he was on hand:
… and ended up getting myself an iPhone before the next summer, so impressed was I with the iPhone’s slo-mo video features.
Yes, I was still in the Stone Age back then with an LG phone that wasn’t fit for taking video whatsoever.
So, a fixed grip and a better video camera, and I may have declared the journey over that same summer, but oh well.
I got there in the end.
WAX Golf 