I nearly deleted my YouTube account when I read that comment regarding the golf swing this week.
Now, let me preface the following observations by stating that I don’t care what this golfer or that golfer does, because we are talking about optimal with regards to mechanics here.
So, how do I make a statement that refutes this statement that there is no fixed fulcrum in the golf swing?
By showing a fixed fulcrum, of course, because even if one performs a golf swing with a moving fulcrum (because we are not perfect machines), the closer one gets to fixed fulcrum, the better one will swing.
Trust me on that.
Perhaps you’ve heard it being referred to as the “Pivot Point.”
Now – here’s a perfectly fixed fulcrum:
The True Temper “Iron Byron”
Unless there’s an earthquake, you will notice that the fulcrum in the Iron Byron machine is perfectly fixed, agreed so far?
I’ve held Jack Nicklaus out as the one golfer closest to the optimal swing motion, and there are several reasons I’ve done that:
- How he is the greatest champion in the history of golf – if you want to argue about that in favor of Tiger Woods, you really need to read this post and reconsider what you consider the criteria for “greatest,” because aside from number of PGA Tour victories, Jack beats Tiger in all of them, frankly, including the traditional marker, majors won.
- Nicklaus had essentially the same swing model from the time he was ten years old until he retired from playing golf and
- He didn’t need to hit practice his game all day long, every day (Tiger did), nor hit a gazillion balls all day, every day (Hogan did) in order to be and remain dominant in his day.
When you take the above 3 bullet points, you can talk about his supreme confidence, intelligent course management and clutch shot-making and putting, but most of the greatest had the same qualities.
What made Nicklaus the G.O.A.T., first and foremost before you add the other elements, was his swing.
And he, my friends, had a fixed fulcrum in his golf swing – we all have the same fulcrum unless one is swinging in a way I’ve never see before – Jack’s was fixed or as close to fixed as you will see in a great swinger.
You’ve see this gif before:
That fulcrum is the C7 vertebra – this is the spot where the neck joins the back, between the shoulders, and if it moves up or down, or laterally, the head will move with it in a golf swing as the shoulders rotate around that point.
This is why the swing doesn’t rotate around either shoulder or the waist, or any other part of the body.
We hold the club with both arms (ideally), and we swing the club with both arms, that are attached to the shoulders, and the shoulders move around the C7. I’m tempted to say that this isn’t rocket science, but it actually is a science, called Kinesiology.
Keeping an eye on the back of Jack’s neck where his C7 would be, tell me how much it moves between the start of his back pivot and impact:
You could almost be tempted to say that Jack’s head is the fulcrum, so motionless is it during the swing.
Ben Hogan didn’t have a fixed fulcrum – he shifted off the ball and then back into it, which is why I don’t recommend trying to swing like him, in addition to all of the other reasons I’ve mentioned.
Tiger Woods – well, we won’t even go there because, in addition to his acrobatics during the swing, all of his models are and were Modern Golf Swing models, which disqualifies any of his swing iterations as fit to emulate.
Byron Nelson, oddly, didn’t have a fixed fulcrum either, even though the Iron Byron is named after him – he also shifted to his right on the back pivot – but in his defense, it was stationary on the down swing, which is where it counts:
So, while no one may ever have a perfectly and completely fixed fulcrum in their golf swing due to our not being machines, the concept of the fixed fulcrum is a crucial one for solid, consistent and repeatable golf swings.
Anyone saying there isn’t one, is likely only watching Modern Golf Swing practitioners and their wild acrobatics while trying to hit a stationary little white ball.
WAX Golf 
it’s interesting iron byron doesn’t have any wrist roll since the wrist is cocking along the swing plane / path
also fascinating many golf “gurus” harp endlessly on avoiding shoulder over rotation at the top, being aesthetically parallel etc – because they mistake the head as the fulcrum, when it is really C7, which is why jack can return to a great striking position despite such a “drastic turn”
when the setup is wrong, it’s no shocked modern golf gurus want to tell you to minimize other movements since returning at impact becomes increasingly difficulty if the core pivot is wrong
They have the cocking action to imitate the release of the wrist into impact, but no need for the rotation as the reason we do it is because we are holding on with both hands. You can perform a one-handed swing the way Iron Byron does it, but to get the wrist cock two-handed requires the forearm supinations and pronations. Most evident post-impact as the hands turn over.
fascinating that makes a lot of sense
assuming the optimal grip & setup, human wrist roll misses are caused because people are trying to manipulate the face with their hands / arms or their kinetic chain is not synchronized right (maybe because they’re pursuing some crazy x factor ha)?
Setup and grip are the two most neglected parts of the swing. If you get careless about either, it’s very difficult if not impossible to build a solid swing action.
that birds eye view of nicklaus is excellent
Poetry in motion.