You’ve seen lots of face-on clips of the golf swing, but not as many rear views, I would wager.
I talk a good bit about Ben Hogan’s “Perfect Pivot” action, and here is how you can identify it when you view a golf swing from the rear angle.
There are 3 things that one requires to have a similar action.
I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that John Daly used this left arm swing drill before playing every round when he was on Tour.
He wasn’t the type to warm up hitting dozens of balls with different clubs – he would get the feel of his swing for the day hitting a few wedges swinging left-arm only, and then head for the 1st tee.
I’ve written quite a bit recently about the ills of the new “Turn & Swipe” memes that have been appearing in golf swing videos, and here is the problem when you compare that nonsense to the proper mechanical action of the Classic Golf Swing.
Below, I’ve created some gifs to show the difference and, in essence, how easy it is to generate leverage and also use gravity when swinging with the pivot action of the Classic Golf Swing, using only my left arm.
I love the rear face-on diagonal view when looking at a pivot action because it shows even more than a straight face-on or down the line views.
I’ve talked extensively about how I would take Jack Nicklaus’ adjusted setup from 1963 and pair it with Ben Hogan’s pivot action to create the optimal golf swing (I wouldn’t try to actually swing like Hogan because his particular swing model was rather unique), but there’s another pivot that I really like.
Golfer are now being taught that you can’t turn in a golf swing, that you have to harpoon because turning will somehow mess up what you’re doing.
Of course, if you’re swinging or being taught to swing in the Modern Golf Swing style of swinging over the leading foot, then turning is the least of your problems.
I had a video out a few years back that focused on the Kinetic Chain, which is the connection of body parts one uses to produce leverage in the golf swing.
The reason that Modern Golf Swing models are all faulty and mechanically unsound because they break the chain when they involve restricting the hip turn and twisting the lower body against the restricted lower body to achieve the shoulder turn.
While I would never blame or mock amateur golfers who have something like a heel spin in their mechanical action, it is a wonder to me that there are professional golfers out there who still do it.
I have been thinking about how to illustrate that the heel spin is from improper mechanics and not some physical impediment as many people with flaws in their swings claim to have, and this could be the one.
I came across a YouTube short of Xander Schauffele’s driver swing, which is pretty good as it really only has one flaw – but that flaw leads to another flaw, and then a required compensation to avoid injury.
While listening to the USGA narrator, I heard yet another Modern Golf Swing myth that I have been hearing and seeing for years, so let’s take a look at it, shall we?
I’ve of course hit longer drives than the one in this video, but when I drive balls into the executive course or over the mounds guarding the green on one of the hole, I don’t get any distance feedback other than, “Well, that one was pretty long…”
I can gauge my distances with irons pretty well when there are flags and greens at which to shoot, but the driving, I’m at a disadvantage hitting balls unless I’m in a place with a Foresight or Trackman (and I don’t trust these completely, because many times they give me distances that are well short of what I know I can do on the course or range).
I talked the past week about the “Power Line,” which I call that straight line you can create from the joint of the leading shoulder down through the hands to the club head, and I’ll expand a little.
For the irons and other clubs except the Driver, it’s pretty simple – get that Power Line going vertically from shoulder to club head either past impact or just at impact (say, with a 3 or 5 metal when the ball is teed up) and you’re pretty much assured to have generated maximum leverage and power into the ball.
WAX Golf 