If you are looking for a great example of how someone can generate power with a short back swing and proper leverage evidenced by a low trailing heel impact, then look no further than one Tony Finau.
Yes, he’s a very tall player with long limbs (levers), but when you look at how ridiculously short his back swing is and how effortlessly he’s leveraging the club, you will realize that Finau could be monstrous-long, a good deal longer than he already is, with an adjustment or two.
I like to share uplifting stories, and you’ll remember WAX Nation that I mentioned to Fred Greene during our interview for his “Golfsmarter” podcast that when people tell me that I’ve helped them keep playing or begin playing golf again after back issues or other, it makes it all worth while.
I’ve corresponded for a time with a PGA of America instructor out in Arizona, and earlier in the week he emailed me with a great story about the MCS Golf Swing.
I wrote a few years back that Rory McIlroy might have discovered the key to increasing power through technique when he was spotted letting his leading heel come up during his back swing, but it turned out not to be a permanent thing.
Now, it seems he might be back on a right track, with his apparent discovery that the hips and shoulder are connected.
I caught sight of a great Sam Snead swing on Twitter today, and I have to tell you all, I could watch this man swing all day long and some nights to boot.
I’d say that Sam Snead has the best self-taught swing of all time. It would be hard to argue, because I would actually rate his swing as on par with Jack Nicklaus’ swing, just that Nicklaus had a better over-all game to go with the swing.
File this under “it was going to happen sooner or later,” although I’m a little surprised by how quickly it has occurred – in his first season as a pro and at age 23, Cameron Champ has WD’d from the Players Championship with a back injury.
I was following his progress yesterday during the second round to see if he could improve on his 78 from Thursday when I glanced at the Leaderboard shortly after posting my piece, to see a WD beside his name.
Injury woes are hitting the usual suspects who have major issues with their swings when it comes to the Modern Golf way of doing it.
First, of course, no one can have missed Tiger Woods and his “strained neck,” which is fairly odd – to be suffering from a strained neck for weeks, that is.
I’m sure it’s nothing.
Actually, I don’t have a clue what is going on with Tiger Woods’ latest withdrawal from an event due to an injury, but this is different – I can’t remember the last time he withdrew from a scheduled event before hitting his 1st tee shot.
This is the thing that really aggravates me whenever I hear about a kinesiology or biomechanics specialist who is working in the field of golf – they are always looking at golfers’ swings and telling you what the swinger is doing, but they never tell you what the golfer should be doing better or what the optimal mechanical action is or should be.
Thanks to David D. for sending this to me – more bad news for the Modern Golf Swing industry, as it seems more medical researchers are catching up with the snake-oil and bad science of restricted-hip back-torquing.
Well, I had just told Mr. McJohn in a comment yesterday not to hold his breath on any major golf publications or channels discussing the results of the so-called “X-Factor” study we read about in the BBC…
And lookie here, friends – Golf Digest through GolfWorld courtesy of Joe Beall has just published a piece online doing exactly that:
