There’s a Mike Tyson quote that I love, regarding plans of action: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Golfers who struggle with their swing on the 1st tee or under a pressure situation will know that familiar feeling, re-phrased: “Everyone has a swing until the pressure is on.”
That’s a pretty big statement coming from someone who developed a significant problem with swing plane & club impact path nearly from the moment I picked up a golf club at the age of 25.
Before I tell you why I’m predicting this, a little personal progression story first.
By the time I even heard about “swing plane,” I was already well-acquainted with the term “over the top,” because I was a left-handed person swinging a club right-handed.
It’s interesting to go back to see what was going on with the MCS Classic Golf Swing model over the years.
I found a driver swing from June 2015 that shows the changes I’ve made to the model & my own swing from 2015, when I produced the “Kinesiology Of The MCS Golf Swing” video, to the current model laid out in 2017’s “E = MCS.”
I made a point in a comment about Justin Thomas having very low Angle of Attack despite his “flying foot” which is supposed to add “vertical lift” or to be “using the ground,” and I said to Joe S. that I’d check to make sure.
I had checked before, and I went to check another couple of very well-known “flying foot” club members, Patrick Rodgers and Jordan Spieth, to see what their launch numbers were saying.
If you were watching the CBS coverage from the Canadian Open today, you’ll have seen a swing breakdown on Rory McIlroy with Driver and how he gets positive (upward attack angle).
There was nothing technically wrong with saying to swing like Rory, but it was the whole thing once again on someone just telling you what they’re seeing, which you can see for yourself, and not a thing on how actually to swing like Rory.
I am betting you’re going to hear a lot of the “using the ground” and/or “vertical lift” nonsense this coming weekend during the television coverage at the Players Championship.
This of course refers to the insane rationalization the analysts are making trying to explain why certain swingers’ leading feet are flopping and flying all over the place through impact.
I have said – and will be showing in the upcoming “MCS – The Kinetic Chain” video – how you can create excellent positive Attack Angle (hitting “up” into the ball with the Driver) when you are properly set up with the MCS Golf Swing model.
That of course is how the modern driver is supposed to be utilized.
Another de-bunking here, as I heard a couple of times on the PGA Championship broadcast that players like Justin Thomas get “vertical lift” by having a high trailing heel and having the front foot leave the ground at impact.
Of course, I’ve made my view clear that I think the analysts on TV have no clue why a player does the “flying foot,” so you hear a lot of bunk concerning this.
I have a swing on video from the May session at TXG Golf that didn’t make it into the 5 drive series that I compiled to look at the Launch Monitor specs, this one being from my “warm-up.”
It was actually one of my longer drive carries, at 307 yards, and I just wanted to show how “quiet” a swing is when you leverage it properly.
As my long time readers know, I have always had issues with my down swing plane and club path through impact.
There were two reasons, the first of which I’ll address first here – that I have a spinal deformity that twists my shoulders open when standing straight, leading to a steep down swing plane (what people call “over the top”) in the past, as well as a downward or negative Attack Angle into the ball with the Driver.
