It was only a matter of time before the Champions Tour would have multiple players averaging 300 yards on their drives, but I am surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.
Oh, that’s right – it would have happened years ago, if the players back then had what the current players have, so we all know that Golf Digest is just trying to hype the stats, because hype’s all it is.
A simple glance at some stats is all it takes to confirm this.
Originally posted on the Smash Golf blog October 22, 2009 – I have work to do and pulled this out of my archives.
For those interested, I used my KZG PFT-333 driver, 9 degrees loft, regular flex shaft (I play XS but it was a gifted driver that I could absolutely smash, so I used it until I caved the face in the spring of 2010.
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I have written already about a drive I hit on this hole recently, when I nearly drove the 363 yard 18th at my golf course. Today, the temperature was cold and falling and the course was wet from two days of rain.
I’m not talking about average drives here, but Jack Nicklaus has made a solid case that he’d likely have been able to drive the ball close to 400 yards with today’s equipment.
It’s not just the clubs that would make the difference, but the balls they use in the Modern Golf era.
I began to play golf in the mid-90’s, so I remember when ball technology really took off.
Coincidences are funny, aren’t they? During my daily foray through Instagram and YouTube looking at current players’ golf swings, I ran across Jake Knapp, a 30 year old PGA Tour pro who stands around 180 cm (a shade less than 6’0″), who is a pretty long driver.
I was looking at his action and thought to myself, “A lot of power there, but I doubt very consistent, with what I see,” and immediately went to his profile on PGATour.com, which confirmed what I thought.
I’ll say first off that I am impressed with Aldrich Potgieter’s golf swing, even if it is a Modern Golf Swing version, and although his having reached a 661 Par 5 hole in two at the Mexico Open is impressive compared to what the other pros are doing, it shouldn’t be.
He hit a 331 yard drive and then smoked his Driver off the turf another 323 yards to reach the green, and it’s the second shot that impresses me.
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 said a couple of years ago that I would tone down my aggressive rhetoric when discussing the Modern Golf Swing and all of its madness.
I am only human however and sometimes I just can’t sugarcoat my despair about how I regularly trip over incredible golf videos and articles, and by incredible I mean, I can’t believe what I’m watching and reading.
The video from Golf Digest is called The Science Behind Gordon Sargent’s Insane Swing Speed, but I’ll just call it what it is – A Recipe For Disaster.
I’ve already (long ago) pointed out that any real science that looks at the X Factor notion of Jim McLean infamy concludes that it is physically unsound and puts golfers at a higher risk of back injury, but why quibble?
I got a fresh look at Bryson DeChambeau’s driver swing from the weekend when he drove a 384 yard Par 4 green, and it looks pretty good, form-wise, compared to what he’s been doing before when I’d have a look.
I don’t know if there was a stiff following breeze (there is a good breeze and I doubt it was against, but it could have been a cross-wind) or if it was significantly downhill, but 384 in any conditions is a pretty good pop!
The irony of Ben Hogan’s pivot action is that it is a virtually perfect pivot action if you’re looking to use the hips and legs to power the golf swing and provide the shoulder turn requisite to generate leverage.
Why is that ironic?
Because, for several reasons completely unrelated to his pivot action.
Hogan wasn’t known to be a long hitter and we know:
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