Originally Posted Dec 12, 2015. Re-posted in honor of Tom Watson as he announces his retirement at 69 from Champions Tour major play.
I’ve said before that golf will never be taken seriously as a “sport” (although it was for a brief period during the height of the Tiger Woods era) because it doesn’t follow the same athletic principles.
On this PGA Championship moving day, I thought I’d look back at a particular golf swing of a player currently T4 going into Round 3..
With all of my personal angst regarding finding and building an “optimal” golf swing, I would like to stress in this posting that “optimal” simply means to me, the best possible swing action you can make with regards to efficiency, speed production and accuracy/consistency.
That doesn’t mean that a swing that isn’t “optimal” is bad – when I say a swing is mechanically-sound, but not optimal, I mean that I fully endorse a swing action like that but that it could be even better.
I received the article from 2 people already (thanks C.R. & David D.), because once again, WAX Golf readers know more about a proper golf swing than the so-called “swing gurus” who publish things or talk about the golf swing on TV/Radio.
I can’t be polite about this, because if knowing proper golf swing mechanics required a university or college degree, these people would fail freshman year, and they’re teaching people.
I am posting another full Skype session with Fluffy a.k.a. T.Ferguson, from yesterday.
There is more to the title, but the essential element I got out of what Fluffy can do to get more power out of his natural swing action is the “dropping the shoulder” action that goes hand-in-hand with the aggressive move into the leading side.
I have an observation that one of WAX Nation passed on to me with regards to Ian Poulter’s swing on weekend (thanks A.M.!).
I would hazard a guess that some of it has to do with renewed focus and commitment, but this is a guy who nearly lost his Tour card before suddenly going on a tear this year, making the semi-finals in the WGC Matchplay and then winning the Houston Open yesterday!
I was struck by Jon Rahm’s swing and power yesterday when I took in a bit of the Dean & Deluca at Colonial.
He first came to the attention of many with his power shank off the tee with an iron last summer at the Quicken Loans, but what I saw yesterday was a much better move than what I saw back then.
I found the below article posted on Golf.com.
The piece deals with golfers tending to reverse-pivot on the back swing as they get older, due to loss of flexibility, especially in the lower body, and how not to fall victim to it.
The article’s offered solution likely won’t do anyone any good however, but I would humbly offer my own solution, a very simple and obvious one – let the left heel come up if it has to…
Let me run something past everyone, because I can’t wrap my brain around the logic of what Modern Golf Swing proponents are always saying.
I’m talking about the restricting of the hip turn in the back swing by keep that leading heel firmly planted on the back swing, all to promote more stability and therefore consistency in the golf swing.
It boggles my mind that Zuback, in the early 2000’s, was around 200 mph in ball speed (Ryan Winther now holds the official record in ball speed at around 227 mph and an unofficial mark of 237 mph).
That’s because I have actually gotten into the mid-190’s without having to live in the gym because of technique over muscle power, but one thing I can tell you – the clip below puts the Modern Golf Swing industry to shame.
I have figured out a way to slow down the Mike Dunaway “stickman” swing gif. that I created years ago, and I found his positions to be illuminating.
There was a lot of discussion back in the Mike Austin days of the then-named DJ Watts Golf blog (later changed to Wax Golf when my swing theory diverged from the Mike Austin model in 2013), about their impact positions.
