You will all know by now my repeating the phrase, “only in golf,” or “all other sports,” perhaps ad nauseam, when comparing golf (negatively) to other sports.
It is not a mark of distinction to be held apart from the others – in life, we call someone like that a black sheep or outcast, or any other such uncomplimentary terms.
Nelly Korda is currently ranked 2nd on the Rolex World Rankings and has spent a considerable time at No. 1.
I didn’t know much about her except for the Korda name as she turned pro around the time I stopped watching televised golf much, so I decided to check her out after reading a headline about her withdrawal from an event with an injury two weeks ago.
I have the No. 1 reason why you should never watch YouTubers if you’re a Classic Golf Swinger, and it’s the only reason you really need.
That’s because of the same reason you shouldn’t try to swing exactly like Ben Hogan, even if you are a Classic Golf Swinger.
Emulate Hogan’s pivot, by all means – but leave the rest of his swing alone, because it will only come to grief due to his personal compensations and club manipulations, just as if you watch the YouTubers.
The reason I keep mentioning Ben Hogan in my tirades about YouTube instruction is because Ben Hogan’s swing model has become the pseudo-standard for Modern Golf Swing instruction.
Meaning, everyone thinks they are modeling Ben Hogan with their misguided teaching, but it’s so far from the actual Hogan as to be unrecognizable – and he would drop dead if he were still with us, I can assure you.
I do believe I’ve had a clip of this particular fellow up just this past summer, but I don’t want to bother to confirm it, because these people are better remaining nameless to me.
However, before you even watch this horror show, you’ll be interested no doubt to know that this gent has an online teaching business that he runs out of Scottsdale AZ, because why not?
One of these days, the sports world will look back on golf at the dawn of the 21st century and recoil in both horror and disbelief.
The amount of ineptitude on display has been, is and will continue to be staggering until the game finally takes the Modern Golf Swing out behind the barn and finishes it off like the lame plough horse it is (and is making out of physically-fit golfers).
I will tell you all right now, that any golf coach, instructor or analyst who says what the post title says, has no business being anywhere near a golf course, driving range or launch monitor facility.
Before I continue this… well, let’s call it a rant, you all might have heard that Tiger Woods has undergone yet another back surgery, this one his 7th since he hooked up with Sean Foley back in 2010. Just saying…
Originally posted February 24, 2017 – I found this in my archives and nothing has changed in nearly 9 years…
It boggles my mind that Jason Zuback, in the early 2000’s, was around 200 mph in ball speed (Ryan Winther now holds the official record in ball speed at around 227 mph and an unofficial mark of 237 mph).
*Edit – as of today, the current world record holder in ball speed is Sebastian Twaddell, Golf Ball Speed Record Holder 2025 – 246.8 mph (Trackman).
That’s because I have actually gotten into the mid-190’s in my 40’s without having to live in the gym because of technique over muscle power, but one thing I can tell you – the clip below puts the Modern Golf Swing industry to shame.
If you were to ask me what my greatest breakthrough was in studying and analyzing golf swings (and building swing models), I would have to point to the day I figured out Ben Hogan’s pivot action.
Hogan himself stated that the proper pivot was a whole-body motion and didn’t separate the upper and lower bodies.
I really don’t know what has happened with Phil Mickelson’s golf swing.
He was one of the few players in the ’90s-’10s who had a Classic Golf Swing action, and then he began to tinker with planted-heel stuff, and even drank the Kool-Aid with the idiotic Flying Foot cult at one point.
Now, I just don’t know how a player who had such a solid golf swing looks… just awful.
WAX Golf 