I’ve been thinking that the “Late Hogan” pivot action needs a better name and, after investigating the similarities between that pivot and Mike Dunaway’s, I can confirm that the proper pivot action is a “Shift & Post” pivot.
You may think, “they don’t look anything alike,” and you’d be correct – they look different at a glance because of the differences between Ben Hogan’s and Mike Dunaway’s setups, and also their overall swing actions.
Something I noticed instantly when I began to make practice back pivots, now that my shoulder is improving enough to do so, was the much flatter plane I have at the top compared to my previous, more typically Classic pivot style.
I began to look into it, wondering why I didn’t have much higher hands at the top the way I used to, a la Jack Nicklaus, but the flatter plane is actually a feature of the “Late Hogan” pivot action.
Earlier today, I posted about how I view the optimal swing to consist of the Jack Nicklaus setup with Ben Hogan’s pivot, and I mentioned Mike Dunaway as well.
I couldn’t remember exactly what I had named this gif., so I had to go searching for it month by month in my media archives, remembering that I had made it when I was producing the “MCS – Drop The Hammer” video in early 2017.
Now, the thing to remember with all of my waxing poetic about Ben Hogan’s pivot actions, especially what I call the “Late Hogan Pivot,” which is the one he used in 1953 (when he won 3 of 3 majors played), you simply can not exclude Jack Nicklaus from the conversation on swinging.
This is because the optimal setup closely mirrors the exact same setup that Jack Nicklaus recommended in his book “Golf My Way.”
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 had a video out a few years back that focused on the Kinetic Chain, which is the connection of body parts one uses to produce leverage in the golf swing.
The reason that Modern Golf Swing models are all faulty and mechanically unsound because they break the chain when they involve restricting the hip turn and twisting the lower body against the restricted lower body to achieve the shoulder turn.
Of course, the old WAX Nation crew from the days of the Smash Golf blog and the DJ Watts Golf blog (I used to get bored of my sites and create new ones, but WAX Golf has been around since 2013) will remember this.
There are actually two pivot actions that I know of which are mechanically-correct – which one is optimal, I haven’t yet figured out, and each could be equally effective depending on the person using it.
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’ve been quiet in recent weeks due to not having much to say about golf swing mechanics, due to the fact that I’m deeply into the issue of the grip and how it changes everything in the swing process.
I can say at the moment that the likely reason my efforts to replicate Mike Dunaway’s swing action comes down to the grip issue.
You’ll all remember my dive into Jack Nicklaus’ stance and grip in recent times, and if someone were to ask me right this moment what the “optimal setup” to which I referred yesterday, I’d say, “It’s Jack Nicklaus’ 1963’s stance, adjusted for width.”
I’ve been going over the 3 swing models performed from the same setup, and other than the head cock in Nicklaus’ picture below, this is how I’m setting, with perhaps a slightly stronger right hand grip.
WAX Golf 