The reason so many people struggle to maximize their power with the golf swing is likely because they’re not set up in the proper manner in which to do so.
It is also a reason you’ll find all sorts of professional players who contort themselves coming into impact – they manage to get the power they want to generate, but at a cost to consistency and/or physical health.
Once again, Jack Nicklaus has come to the table with his close-to-optimal setup from 1963, as he does time after time.
Once again, let me say this – there are endless ways to swing a golf club and probably countless variations that are pretty good – but there is only one optimal way to swing, and you’ll see what I mean below.
We are talking a tweak to his setup (I mentioned how it was centered in the last post, so right-biased is the move) and one to his pivot action (Classic rather than Modern), and this swing would be as good as any you’ll see on Tour.
The smooth power he displays with that great leveraging action, just makes everything look so silky when you watch it replay.
I have always looked at John Daly’s hugely flying elbow at the top of his back swing and wondered how he was able to get away with it, as it seems to violate all of the rules of swinging.
Not just the flying elbow but the jaw-dropping length of that back swing – yes, he could get a little wild at times but the man also won two majors in addition to being the longest ball-striker alive on Tour.
I advised people earlier in the week to be careful from where and from whom they get their swing tips.
Almost as if to prove my point, Bryson DeChambeau posted a video yesterday of himself playing a public course and trying to set a new course record.
Before anyone accuses me of focusing over-much on BDC – you would be absolutely correct if you did. Continue reading
I have made an important breakthrough in my theory work, I believe, that finally solves the issue of the setup.
I think it’s been about a week since a little nugget of an idea landed in my brain and began to change the way I look at the setup for a golf swing.
You’ll all by now be familiar with the concept upon which I’ve been working with regards to swing modeling – that is, swinging in a manner that emulates the Iron Byron or any other swinging machine or robot.
What this would entail is in reaching the optimal in three processes (the setup, back pivot and down swing) with maximum stability in the leading foot and head positions throughout.
I’ve been quiet in recent weeks due to not having much to say about golf swing mechanics, due to the fact that I’m deeply into the issue of the grip and how it changes everything in the swing process.
I can say at the moment that the likely reason my efforts to replicate Mike Dunaway’s swing action comes down to the grip issue.
I’ve taken Jack Nicklaus’ driver swing from the Masters in 1963 to illustrate the power of hip & leg action regarding the leveraging of the golf swing, something that has been lost with both the Modern Golf Swing models & the Flying Foot Syndrome.
It would likely surprise modern golf students to learn that what makes it so difficult to get a 90 degree shoulder turn at the top with a planted leading heel is also what makes the Classic Golf Swing so effortless in power production via leverage.
I have talked about how rotation is the enemy of gravity, and for some this may seem strange, as the popular opinion is that one must rotate in the golf swing.
That opinion is wrong, mechanically-speaking, and I’ll show you an example in the extreme to illustrate the difference between a proper rotation around the supporting leg over rotating in place during a swing.
WAX Golf 