The most complicated part of a simple golf swing motion would likely be the transition into the down swing, and I would hazard this guess because of our inclination to “hit” from the top of the back pivot.
One of the things that really excited me about the pivot drills I’ve implemented for the upcoming video “MCS – The Power Of The Pivot” was that I believe I’ve found a simple explanation and demonstration of this transition.
I said a while back that I had completed my swing research (which is only as long as something doesn’t come up which I want to investigate, but I’ve checked virtually everything that can be, in my estimation), so the fun I’ve been having lately has to do with the pivot drills for the upcoming video “MCs – The Power Of The Pivot.”
There are some revelations that have served to simplify the swing even to myself, which was a pleasant surprise since I thought the MCS pivot action was a simple as it could get. Continue reading
A great deal of the time I spend thinking about the golf swing hasn’t got anything to do with the mechanics – I isolated the mechanics a good while back – it has to do with how to convey the golf swing concepts involved in swinging with mechanical correctness.
I have spent a lot of time doing pivot drills in the past, along with actual swinging, and the reason I believe I’ve come up with something that will illuminate everyone’s minds with the simplicity of a proper pivot is because I don’t practice the pivot anymore.
Those are the three keys to good swinging when it comes to any sport, to be honest. You are taught a setup and a swinging technique in cricket and baseball and it should be the same for golf.
In any other sport, in fact, you have standardized technique. Take any sport and, if virtually every place where training takes place, you’ll find the same mechanics being taught.
One thing I’m always hearing when it comes to golf and golfers is that one needs to be very flexible to make a proper pivot.
That’s all bunk – sure, there are long drivers and professional golfers who have a good deal more flexibility than the average person, but making a pivot to swing a golf club doesn’t require that.
Update: This video has been delayed because of events pertaining to my research on the MCS Golf Swing and on the optimal golf swing motion. I should have a release date estimate sometime early in the New Year. /Update
I’ve been working on the progressive pivot exercises that are designed to teach the mechanically-correct pivot action, but I’ve been fiddling with them for the past weeks to try to get all of the concepts I feel are crucial for an optimal golf swing.
I have actually laughed out loud at times while doing them, because I keep thinking about Tai-Chi when I start doing the down swing pivot exercises.
It’s amazing that the idea of the fixed fulcrum has gone away with the Modern Golf Swing, which is a large part of the reason that people struggle to gain consistency in their ball-striking.
I’ve made the analogy of sitting in a chair and throwing darts at a board, compared to trying to achieve the same consistency throwing darts at a board while someone pushes and pulls the chair sideways.
I want to make a point right off the bat that I’m not trying to manipulate the club here the way you see the Modern Golf Swing instructors telling their students to “hold off” the release through impact.
This is why pro golfers with plenty of athleticism don’t have any power – when you “hold off” the release, you have already slowed the natural momentum and speed of the club at the bottom, and so you have lost natural speed and therefor power.
I have talked about the no-turn down swing for a while, but let’s take a look at it from the down the line perspective.
When I say that there is no turn in the down swing until momentum of the arms and club pull you around, I mean precisely that.
I have paused the down swing in the slo-mo just past impact, a fraction of a second before my right arm reaches full extension, and you can see that at that point, my shoulders are still pretty square to the target line.
I haven’t done this before – here are 4 clubs (9i, 7i, 5i and Driver) in succession, in real time, with face-on and down the line views, so you can see and contrast the one swing with different clubs.
With the MCS Golf Swing, just as Jack Nicklaus instructed with his “Golf My Way” many years back, you have basically the same setup and swing for all clubs.
