The swing model Mike Dunaway showed in the clip I’ve been showing is a nearly flawless one, and it’s too bad that it changed over the years, because I can’t see all that much in it that would have prevented him playing tournament golf.
I’ve been looking at it from all of the angles and there’s not much head shift at all, compared to some of the other swing variations he showed over the years.
This is likely never end until the Modern Golf Swing has been pierced through the heart and buried with a garlic necklace, but I want to repeat to everyone that a “low or planted heel back swing” does not mean nailing the heel to the ground.
I would bet you that even the most flexible person who claims to be able to pivot with a fully planted heel does not actually do this, but just thinks they are doing so.
This is “deja-vu all over again,” as Yogi Berra would have said.
Those of you who have the “Kinesiology Of The MCS Golf Swing” video (Part 1 of the MCS Trilogy Series) will probably not be that surprised to know that, in the Peace River swing video, Mike Dunaway used a mechanically-correct version of the planted-heel swing I demonstrated in “Kinesiology.”
I shot a quick video clip of the right-dominant swing action I’ve been working on for the last while, and I can’t believe how much more compact it is than what I used to consider my best action.
As you’ll see and hear, this adjustment for me has dramatically increased my speed and power as I use the SwingRite stick for feedback, and today was the first day swinging after having determined what I was doing to get to the speed setting I’m on right now.
**Update – Video has been added to the body of the posting below /update
Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that so many in Wax Nation watch televised golf – but thanks to Frank Nobilo for pointing out something I see all the time, and for his shout-out on The Golf Channel last night during the 3rd Round coverage of the Sony Open in Honolulu.
Thanks as well to Peter A. with the heads-up, and to those of you who emailed me – I was watching the telecast but I had stepped away from the TV near the end of the broadcast, and I missed it!
I have figured out a way to slow down the Mike Dunaway “stickman” swing gif. that I created years ago, and I found his positions to be illuminating.
There was a lot of discussion back in the Mike Austin days of the then-named DJ Watts Golf blog (later changed to Wax Golf when my swing theory diverged from the Mike Austin model in 2013), about their impact positions.
Those of you who have been around for the past few years might remember my constant harping on my view that Mike Dunaway’s swing was not the same model as Mike Austin’s.
If you aren’t familiar with Mike Dunaway, he is largely regarded as the father of modern long driving and who passed away last year around this time.
If you look at this video compilation of Mike Dunaway’s swings back when he was the dominant driver on the planet (John Daly said MD was longer than him, Greg Norman called him the best driver of the ball that ever lived, etc.), you’ll see what I was talking about in my posting on the knees being “shock absorbers.”
I want to also mention Mike’s website Dunaway Long, for those who weren’t aware that he has returned to golf after a lengthy absence.
It has always been a mystery to me why Mike Dunaway wasn’t a household name in golf from the ’90s going forward.
Swing techniques have improved over the years, but you still won’t see a better swing action than Dunaway’s from years ago.
Mike Dunaway was honored last week at the opening of the 2013 Remax World Long Drive Championship.
Mike of course is the most famous of Mike Austin’s students, but many don’t know how instrumental Dunaway was to the sport of long driving. Many don’t know that the Callaway Big Bertha technology was developed in the 80’s with Dunaway as the company’s tester. His feedback led directly to the Big Bertha.
He was also the inspiration for Art Sellinger, founder of Long Drivers of America.
