Now, the thing to remember with all of my waxing poetic about Ben Hogan’s pivot actions, especially what I call the “Late Hogan Pivot,” which is the one he used in 1953 (when he won 3 of 3 majors played), you simply can not exclude Jack Nicklaus from the conversation on swinging.
This is because the optimal setup closely mirrors the exact same setup that Jack Nicklaus recommended in his book “Golf My Way.”
The funny thing is, Jack never exactly copied that setup in his playing days, and it’s a shame, because he would have been even better, incredibly.
I went over this when I showed his recommended setup:
… and compared it to his setup in 1963 – had his setup stance width been narrower (I crudely did so myself to illustrate the point), he would have nailed it:
Nicklaus’ Address 1963 vs “Adjusted” Setup
He was closer here:
… again in 1963, but the stance was a tad too wide… but very close to his recommended setup.
So, despite my nonstop talk about Ben Hogan, it only has to do with his pivot action. Nicklaus’ recommended setup is the optimal setup, or as close to it as you would wish.
That’s why the MCS Golf Swing setup is Jack’s, or very close to Jack’s: and has been since 2015, all the way to today and the setup I recommend in “The Basics Of The MCS Golf Swing” video:
This hasn’t and won’t change because, whatever pivot action you use, you’re in the proper address position with this setup to swing and end up in the proper impact position:
So, that’s the setup, but what about the pivot action?
We can’t compare Nicklaus to Late Hogan with regards to whose pivot action was better, because they didn’t have the same setup, and Hogan was concerned more with accuracy and consistency than power and distance.
However, what if you took one person and had them perform the two different pivot styles and what happened with them?
Enter yours truly, and I have the two pivots on video, the first being a Jack Nicklaus or early Ben Hogan-type pivot with the high heel lift, the second being the low-heel “Late Hogan” pivot about which I’ve been talking for the better part of a year now.
2015 – 183 mph Ball Speed
That was with a brand new Geek Dom-Com driver – it’s a long drive club brand but with a regular length shaft.
Next up:
2017 – 187 mph Ball Speed
That drive was with a circa 2005 Ben Hogan (not kidding you) CS3 driver.
And, unless there is a wild variance with the range balls, this is pretty enlightening.
I exceeded my 2015 ball speed (when I was 45 years old) with a brand new club designed for long driving, when I was two years older in 2017 and using a 12 year old second-hand driver.
I was using the same MCS setups that mirror the Nicklaus-recommended setup – so the obvious difference comes from the pivot action.
With an old club, and two years older, I still generated higher ball speed with the “Late Hogan” pivot over the Nicklaus/Early Hogan type pivot with a brand new driver.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be that great a surprise – Mike Dunaway’s pivot more closely matches the “Late Hogan” pivot action, and he was the longest driving human on the planet in his time:
This is why, although both pivot actions are mechanically-correct and perfectly fine for playing golf, I prefer the “Late Hogan” pivot action over the higher-heel, more vigorous looking Nicklaus type pivot.
“Almost as if it’s truly the ‘Perfect Pivot…'”
And this is why, for me, the optimal golf swing has the Nicklaus setup with the Hogan pivot until I see evidence to the contrary!
WAX Golf 