Sunday thoughts.
One thing that has struck me, since I began to unravel the mystery of the pivot action and since I have figured out the optimal grip (Classic neutral), has been how unnecessary and literally obsolete “tips” and “drills” have become.
This is, I suppose, because proper technique eliminates the need for little special things that you find all over YouTube and in magazines.
It’s funny that I’ve had the Mike Austin and Mike Dunaway swing videos for years, and have watched them all – the funny part is that, watching them now years later, things jump out at me that I never noticed before.
One thing about the MCS Golf Swing model theory that will never change, and can never change, is of course the “Leaning A” setup that mirrors Jack Nicklaus’ recommended setup from his “Golf My Way” book.
How critical is it?
Let me tell you all how critical it is – I essentially completed my swing research could have perfected my own golf swing research in 2015-16 if only I had taken the care to look at and correct my own grip.
Part of the reason this project is taking so long to complete is that I am still looking at things while I’m putting all of the components together.
I have in the past couple of days spent a good deal of time looking at the grip instruction in my previous videos, and finding them OK for showing the “standard neutral grip” that I have always advocated, but there’s something else I want to offer.
Now that I’ve seen the light with regards to my own stubbornness in changing a faulty grip (for me, it was an over-strong right hand because I was swinging left-dominant and so was focused on the left hand to the detriment of the right), things are jumping out at me.
For example, Tiger Woods’ former swing coach Hank Haney made comments about Bryson DeChambeau’s struggles in the final round of this year’s Masters, where he started in 2nd place behind Rory McIlroy, briefly took the lead and then tumbled down the leaderboard as the round advanced.
I have used just about every type of grip method there is, except for the leading hand low method, which I reject out of hand because no one anywhere on the planet, when swinging an implement, does it with the leading hand below the trailing hand.
For that reason, I knew it wasn’t going to be a path to go down, just as I wouldn’t try hitting balls right-handed with an inverted left-handed club.
I keep going through swing clips that I’ve amassed in these years of swing research, and I can’t escape the nagging (and nearly maddening) reality that I had indeed figured out the optimal action for the golf swing ten years ago.
Notice that I said “optimal action,” which then leaves room for two things that I neglected to notice or fix, for the next seven years.
Now, this applies of course to all clubs, not just the driver, but I have found in my archives a swing session in which my setup and grip are nearly perfect with regards to swinging optimally.
Sadly, I am not enamored of the actual pivot action, but I was still hitting my irons and driver beautifully long and straight on this day of tinkering with my setup.
I have talked about how, when I began my golf swing research, I had chosen Moe Norman’s swing to study because of how it was always being called the “perfect swing.”
I have of course concluded that, while he could strike a ball nearly perfectly straight time after time, it wasn’t an optimal golf swing.
It is now becoming evident to me that, out of all of the issues that people investigate with regards to swing modelling (ball position, stance, etc.), the grip is most overlooked part of it all.
I have spent years believing simply because he set the standard over a century ago that Harry Vardon’s grip was the correct one to employ.
WAX Golf 