I was talking last week about the 3 pivot actions I’ve isolated, all of them related by having different hip and leg actions because of the subtle differences in setup and balance.
They all feature the “Leaning A” setup but it varies to produce the 3 different pivot types, but the variations are just the 3 major ones in a sequence of pivots from the traditional Classic Golf Swing (the first) to the 3rd, the “adjusted” Mike Dunaway type of pivot.
Whatever one may think of Mike Austin, he got pretty close to figuring out the optimal golf swing model – he didn’t by any means build the “perfect golf swing” model because, as I have written, his swing didn’t even match the model he taught.
Mike Dunaway, with Mike Austin, nearly got there – but the optimal golf swing model wouldn’t have a shifting head, because as we all know, the admonition has been there forever not to let the head move during the swing, so the rightward head shift is something that wouldn’t be in an optimal golf swing.
There was no post yesterday because I was working on something that came to fruition today.
It shouldn’t be a surprise what I said in the title because, let’s face it, the pivot is about how you move the hips and legs to make a back pivot.
I solved the pivot mystery without having hit a ball since May of last year.
What mystery is there to the pivot?
Those of you who are still here from the Mike Austin/Dunaway era of the blog (2009-13) may remember that, when I built the MCS Golf Swing model and had it essentially finished around 2015, I said that it was simply the Mike Austin swing model but with a stable head on the back pivot.
Here is the proof of that statement, because I am now doing what I didn’t have the technical insight to do 15 years ago – you’ll all recall that my blog began as the documentation of my search for the perfect golf swing (let’s say optimal now), and I was still learning even as we all discussed golf swing mechanics.
Before I proceed – this is not a slam on Mike Dunaway, whose golf swing I think was awesome. I will be talking about theory vs execution here, just to be clear.
I spent years looking at, discussing and trying to replicate Mike Austin’s swing from the years 2009-13.
I tried to be very diplomatic when I left the camp, because most of my readers had come to my blog out of interest in Mike Austin and Mike Dunaway, but to my surprise, when I broke with the Austin school and went my own way, most of you stayed with me, which was great.
“Pivot Action” or “Golf Swing Model…” take your pick.
I am posting this historical narrative of my swing research journey from 2005 to today, so that late-comers to the blog can refer to this and yesterday’s posting to get up to speed on what my work has been about.
As for the title – it would be very ironic if I have, because I began this journey with the intention of figuring out the “perfect” golf swing if it didn’t already exist – and I thought it already did!
When I vowed to figure out the golf swing back on US Open Saturday back in 2005, I was in the Moe Norman camp for someone having the “perfect” golf swing. So, I spent two years studying and trying to replicate his swing action.
It is possible that all I needed in the past week was to rest the muscles and shoulder that I’ve been rehabbing after being stricken with Frozen Shoulder for the last year.
I was scolding myself for having neglected my range of motion and resistance band exercises for the last couple of days, but I was physically and mentally fatigued by the work – anyone who has done extensive rehab for an injury or from surgery will attest that working through the pain can be mentally draining.
It’s funny that I’ve had the Mike Austin and Mike Dunaway swing videos for years, and have watched them all – the funny part is that, watching them now years later, things jump out at me that I never noticed before.
One thing about the MCS Golf Swing model theory that will never change, and can never change, is of course the “Leaning A” setup that mirrors Jack Nicklaus’ recommended setup from his “Golf My Way” book.
When you think about it, the Mike Dunaway-style golf swing still does have a free and full hip turn, but it doesn’t look anything like your typical “Classic Golf Swing” model.
I mean, if someone were to ask me to demonstrate a Classic Golf Swing, I would hardly rack up Dunaway’s model, would I?
So great to be back swinging again, if only just practice swings at home with the Momentus Heavy Iron that I am using right now indoors.
I am not going to say I’ve cracked the Mike Dunaway model until I have actually swung and hit balls with it, but from what I am doing now, I believe I have.
It is a beautiful thing – I actually said to myself on the last swing before sitting down at the computer, “the man was a human Iron Byron with this swing…”
WAX Golf 