Once again, Jack Nicklaus has come to the table with his close-to-optimal setup from 1963, as he does time after time.
Once again, let me say this – there are endless ways to swing a golf club and probably countless variations that are pretty good – but there is only one optimal way to swing, and you’ll see what I mean below.
There’s nothing wrong with helping people improve their golf swings.
It is a tad disingenuous however in my opinion to present old and established mechanics principles as new and a result of “the advent of new technologies in the sport,” which is an exact sentence from the article I just read.
Or worse – it means that these basic principles aren’t being taught to beginning golfers.
Coincidences are funny, aren’t they? During my daily foray through Instagram and YouTube looking at current players’ golf swings, I ran across Jake Knapp, a 30 year old PGA Tour pro who stands around 180 cm (a shade less than 6’0″), who is a pretty long driver.
I was looking at his action and thought to myself, “A lot of power there, but I doubt very consistent, with what I see,” and immediately went to his profile on PGATour.com, which confirmed what I thought.
I’ve looked for years at Jack Nicklaus’ golf swing, going so far as to say that the Golden Bear had the closest setup to an optimal one that I could find.
Close behind Jack though, and one of the first swingers I ever looked at, is Ben Hogan. The problem I always had with Hogan was all of the anti-hook features built into his swing, features that probably created an army of slicers after he released his “5 Lessons” book.
Originally posted August 10th, 2024
You will hear mention on television and probably in YouTube videos, as well as reading online about it, this absolutely fraudulent claim about how golfers create “vertical lift” by jumping into the air with or snapping their leading leg and foot through impact.
It is and has always been a fraud upon the unsuspecting golfer, because the real reasons golfers are jumping off of and snatching their leading leg away through impact are either to prevent injury from the twisting force or because they are anchoring their trailing foot (which can contribute to the twisting force) and something has to give with the turning of the hips.
I’ll say first off that I am impressed with Aldrich Potgieter’s golf swing, even if it is a Modern Golf Swing version, and although his having reached a 661 Par 5 hole in two at the Mexico Open is impressive compared to what the other pros are doing, it shouldn’t be.
He hit a 331 yard drive and then smoked his Driver off the turf another 323 yards to reach the green, and it’s the second shot that impresses me.
I ran across this particular YouTube clip today purporting to show the “science of Rory McIlroy’s Perfect Swing,” and I’d ask you all to point out the actual science for me.
I’ve already pointed out to you my suspicion as to what ails Rory in his horrific driving accuracy from the tee, and I’m sorry – if a golf swing was even in the neighborhood of being perfect, he wouldn’t be 102nd in driving accuracy (60.29%) and 134th in G.I.R. (65.70%) in his 2024 season stats.
I always used to say that I hadn’t invented anything when developing the MCS Classic Golf Swing models that I have presented throughout the years.
All I did was compare the setups of the greatest champions of golf from the Classic Golf Swing eras (and some Classic swingers from this modern era), from which I took setup principles to apply to what I was currently developing.
Anyone who watched Tiger Woods dominate golf from 1997-2008 would know that it’s a very uncontroversial take to say that he could have and should have surpassed Jack Nicklaus’ 18 major titles, and easily.
I’ve said for years that Tiger probably should have won 25 majors due to his dominance, his talent, physical gifts and dedication to his craft
After a lifetime in sports, I am still confused by the golf myth that in order to swing a golf downward, you must push upwards from the ground.
It is easily the silliest and most “debunkable” myth, as well, which makes me wonder why swing analysts are pushing this.
WAX Golf 