The older WAX Nation citizens here will of course remember Gary Player very well. The man nick-named the Black Knight stood only 5’6″ or 168 cm tall, yet he won 9 majors between 1961-74, competing against Arnold Palmer and Prime Jack Nicklaus.
So, how did such a diminutive fellow compete against larger and heavier players during the persimmon driver and Classic Golf Swing era?
I don’t know how many of you played golf before the advent of the Modern Golf Swing nonsense probably around the ’80s or so.
I myself remember beginning to take an interest in golf in the summer of ’95 (I didn’t have my first lesson until April of ’97 when TW won the Masters and the very next day, I bought a range membership that came with five half-hour lessons).
Note: Thanks to long time WAX Nation citizen Chief Cowpie for forwarding me the attached video clip.
This is really getting out of hand – we’ve gone from a time where golf analysts were clueless about mechanics and so tried to explain and excuse swing flaws in a positive manner – i.e. the flying foot became “using the ground” and “vertical lift,” but we’ve reached bottom.
Now, we’ve got Bryson DeChambeau taking a swing flaw – the jumping leading foot to avoid snapping oneself in half due to not releasing the trailing foot – has turned it into swing instruction.
I have made an important breakthrough in my theory work, I believe, that finally solves the issue of the setup.
I think it’s been about a week since a little nugget of an idea landed in my brain and began to change the way I look at the setup for a golf swing.
First off, let me say that the last two or three weeks have been amazing with regards to my swing research, notably the Jack Nicklaus-inspired setup and swing action.
The funny thing is you often don’t notice what other golfers are doing with their swings or setups until you have actually done or worked on similar things, and with Rory McIlroy, I noticed something at a glance looking at his setup and swing from this year’s Dubai Invitational event.
Before anyone is even tempted to say in response to this posting, “He’s a world-class player,” or “U.S. Open Champion” or “he’d knock it past YOU, DJ,” let me just respond.
I. Don’t. Care.
This blog is not nor has it ever been a how-to-play-golf site – it is a swing mechanics site and that’s all care about.
You’ll all by now be familiar with the concept upon which I’ve been working with regards to swing modeling – that is, swinging in a manner that emulates the Iron Byron or any other swinging machine or robot.
What this would entail is in reaching the optimal in three processes (the setup, back pivot and down swing) with maximum stability in the leading foot and head positions throughout.
I’m not a doctor, while I do have a bit of knowledge regarding kinesiology attained through swing research and a lifetime of athletic pursuits, but this article really set my Spider Senses tingling when I read about Jordan Spieth’s wayward ECU tendon.
Basically, the sheath that holds his left ECU tendon in place is torn and it pops out from time to time, leading to his having to WD from events or miss them altogether when this occurs.
I don’t think I’ve ever showcased Al Geiberger, the original “Mr. 59” and someone who had a golf swing model that was near bang-on, as you will observe.
There are only a couple of critiques I would have of the setup and pivot action but, other than that, there’s not really anything at which to pick.
I have talked about how, when I began my golf swing research, I had chosen Moe Norman’s swing to study because of how it was always being called the “perfect swing.”
I have of course concluded that, while he could strike a ball nearly perfectly straight time after time, it wasn’t an optimal golf swing.
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