I didn’t even notice something in the text from Ben Hogan’s book until after I had already published my post yesterday, but as I was glancing over it, a word in that selected excerpt fairly leaped off the screen – I was amazed I hadn’t noticed it before.
Once again, Ben Hogan absolutely muddled something up in his description of the pivot, but even if he did, I have questions to ask of the Modern Golf Swing people trying to recreate his swing.
I hate to say this, but I have never been one to avoid facts or to hide my head in the sand, and this is it – Ben Hogan clearly, most definitely heel-lifted (that can’t be argued against with a straight face), but he muddled the issue with his book and some people’s poor reading comprehension.
WAX Nation citizen AK sent me excerpts from Hogan’s book (which I have in my library, but which I haven’t read in decades other than to look for online quotes), and we found therein a likely cause of the “Hogan said not to lift the heel” legend.
An up the line view of one of my driver swings from when I was shooting the “E = MCS” video back in 2017 shows how you can use the Ben Hogan “Perfect Pivot” to get great consistency in your golf swing.
I’ve said before that the golf swing isn’t really a rotary or “turning” motion, rather a pivot action and a down swing, where the hips and legs drive the swing and the turning of the hips are what rotate you to the finish.
The reason the optimal golf swing is vertical and not rotary or lateral is because, as I’ve said before, you are using leverage and gravity to swing down into impact, and if your position remains laterally stable, you are golden with a modicum of practice.
I have taken a 5 iron swing and a Driver, to illustrate how purely you can strike the ball without jumping out of your shoes or breaking yourself in the gym.
I have been reviewing the vast quantity of swing clips that I shot with the assistance of The Welshman back in the spring of 2017 for the “E = MCS” swing video, and they truly have withstood the test of time, regardless of my earlier opinion.
One thing I love to look for (and I’m never disappointed on a good swing) is that shaft impact line and how the body and club interact with it when you watch a swing down the line.
There is no end to the scamming and hyping of this ridiculous new swing model that is now taking over the internet – this one purports to be the “perfect swing for seniors,” but is nothing more than the same stacking, tilting and turning and swiping.
Note: I don’t recommend seniors try this swing – I don’t recommend this for anyone of any age, for that matter – but for seniors, who tend to have less flexibility and balance than the younger set, this is an invitation to disaster.
I looked at a swing clip of mine from ’07, that you’ve all seen before, and that something caught my eye, leading me to conclude…
… that in my first year of actual swing research (I started the mission in ’05 but didn’t have a chance to really hit balls regularly on the range until ’07 due to work and family constraints), I had what the Modern Golf Swing is killing itself to replicate.
I have so many thousands of swing clips that I’ve compiled over the years between 2007-2022 that it is sometimes surprising to look back on the various models I’ve worked on.
It is beyond doubt to me, however, that my favorite ever driver swings to watch face-on are from May 15, 2015 – I hardly ever swung exactly the same way from day to day, as I was conducting swing research, but that day stands out to me as the day I nailed it.
I’ve been searching through my fairly large swing archive from between 2015-2022 and have found some archived swings from 2022 that are pretty much how I would be telling people to swing with the MCS Golf Swing model.
The years of 2023-25 consisted mostly of my investigating just about every variation of the swing with regards to grip, stance and mechanics, but as I have said, I basically had the MCS swing model figured out by 2015 and, aside from my personal journey to swing like this model, there has been very little change in said model over the years.
My only disappointment with the upcoming video will be that I couldn’t actually get out there this season to make new video clips, due to my left shoulder issues that are still plaguing me after four months.
Barring that, I am excited about this project because, although my swing model was essentially created between 2015-17 (notice I haven’t even made a swing video since 2018), the years since have allowed me to refine and conceptualize the model, so there really is no great need for new swing clips.
WAX Golf 