As the title states, there are Classic Golf Swings and there are Classic Golf Swings, when you are talking about models and technical acuity.
As you all know, I only ever really talk about swing mechanics here on the blog, with occasional side topics, but mostly swing mechanics.
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.
The main reason I didn’t choose Ben Hogan’s swing for the MCS model is that he was a feel swinger who practiced endlessly, and so his setup would vary almost day to day – he would get the feel of how he was swinging on a particular day and go with it.
That’s not going to breed consistency – Hogan could do so because he hit balls every day, every single day, when he wasn’t actually playing. Most of us can’t do that, and even if we could, we can simply avoid having to by building a consistent and repeatable setup over the ball.
First note – thanks to all WAX Nation members who have supported the cause by downloading the video!
I didn’t state this in the video “The Basics Of The MCS Golf Swing,” but I have experienced this situation in the past when discussing swing mechanics with people who have watched my MCS videos – you want to watch any instructional video multiple times.
There is simply no way you can watch a video with technical content only once and hope to retain everything.
When I was working on the “Basics Of The MCS Golf Swing” video, a good part of my time thinking about how to present the principles was how to explain the late Ben Hogan pivot action.
While I was going over the pivot action, I began to get a familiar feeling – “I’ve been here before,” I kept thinking, and I remembered what it was yesterday when answering colorful47’s question about hip turn vs hip rotation.
I am working diligently on my shoulder rehabbing, because I am behind you – those of you who have downloaded the “Basics Of The MCS Golf Swing” video are ahead of me.
Ahead in what?
In creating that perfect combination of a Jack Nicklaus-type grip with the MCS setup and Ben Hogan’s last silky pivot action that mesmerized the world when he won 3 majors in 1953.
Let’s go over the history of this evolution in the MCS Golf Swing.
I have come to suspect that the main reason people struggle to learn anything from golf swing instructional videos is simply that they are too long.
I have been watching more videos, mine included, on the swing, and there is just too much talking and digression – I’m being brutally critical here, and I’m not saying that they aren’t any good, just that they are too long.
How critical is it?
Let me tell you all how critical it is – I essentially completed my swing research could have perfected my own golf swing research in 2015-16 if only I had taken the care to look at and correct my own grip.
“How difficult should it be to learn (or to explain) a proper golf swing?”
I am refraining from giving constant updates with regards to the video project because things keep evolving in the process.
I think I’ve nailed a part of something (and because I have OCD, I keep re-visiting things), only to have a better way (I believe) to explain or show something, and revising begins anew.
In days past, I just put my head down and went through it all, and I invariably ended up hating all of my videos because I thought they could have been better.
I took a look at what I had completed with the new video, after I recovered from my flu and things settled down with the holidays, and I just wasn’t happy – I am simply a bit of a perfectionist at the worst of times.
What I found was that much of the explanation portion of the previous videos wasn’t what I want to say NOW about the golf swing, and searching through endless previous footage of the tutorials was ending with my having to “make do” with things that I thought or felt I would explain differently were I to actually shoot a new video.
