I don’t know how many of you played golf before the advent of the Modern Golf Swing nonsense probably around the ’80s or so.
I myself remember beginning to take an interest in golf in the summer of ’95 (I didn’t have my first lesson until April of ’97 when TW won the Masters and the very next day, I bought a range membership that came with five half-hour lessons).
Note: Thanks to long time WAX Nation citizen Chief Cowpie for forwarding me the attached video clip.
This is really getting out of hand – we’ve gone from a time where golf analysts were clueless about mechanics and so tried to explain and excuse swing flaws in a positive manner – i.e. the flying foot became “using the ground” and “vertical lift,” but we’ve reached bottom.
Now, we’ve got Bryson DeChambeau taking a swing flaw – the jumping leading foot to avoid snapping oneself in half due to not releasing the trailing foot – has turned it into swing instruction.
We had the discussion earlier in the week about the finishing position and balance, and I only had to take a quick glance at the older Classic Golf Swing greats to see how the modern game and instruction have skewed the finish, to the detriment of those being taught so.
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.
This is just an essay on my pet peeve as I am working on my golf swing setup and kicking myself for not figuring out some things before now.
Simply put, when you are talking about “compensation” in a golf swing, it means something very basic.
I came across a comparison video between world long driving champion Kyle Berkshire and home run hitter Shohei Ohtani and there’s only one problem with the mechanics, albeit a glaring problem.
I wonder if anyone would be able to say what it is?
I have just one question to ask anyone defending the horrific footwork of the so-called “great” and “perfect” swingers at the professional level.
It’s a pretty simple question as well, but I’ll add some context with examples of other swings.
That question is, “In what other motion would these actions be considered mechanically-sound and not awfully unsound?”
First off, let me say that the last two or three weeks have been amazing with regards to my swing research, notably the Jack Nicklaus-inspired setup and swing action.
The funny thing is you often don’t notice what other golfers are doing with their swings or setups until you have actually done or worked on similar things, and with Rory McIlroy, I noticed something at a glance looking at his setup and swing from this year’s Dubai Invitational event.
Chief Cowpie, long-time denizen of WAX Golf Nation, sent me a news article regarding the recovery from a spinal stress fracture of one young Michael Thorbjornsen, an amateur player who will be heading to the PGA Tour.
I have to agree with the Chief that it is amazing this young man missed only 9 months of golf after being confined to a bed with both the back injury and surgery on an ankle, because if you see this swing…
Before anyone is even tempted to say in response to this posting, “He’s a world-class player,” or “U.S. Open Champion” or “he’d knock it past YOU, DJ,” let me just respond.
I. Don’t. Care.
This blog is not nor has it ever been a how-to-play-golf site – it is a swing mechanics site and that’s all care about.
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