Sometimes, when I want to torture myself (because I really hate looking at swings and swing models that aren’t optimal), I will go back and look at how I was swinging in the early years of my swing research, and today I decided to go back to 2011.
It was the year after my first MCS swing video and I was working on the second one that I would release the following winter (MCS 2.0), and while the swing was mechanically-correct, there were some issues good and bad that I’d like to point out.
Those of you who were around last winter will remember that I had been conducting research on the right-dominant swing model and that I had concluded around that time that I had already figured out the optimal golf swing model.
It is an ironic situation in which one may find oneself when realizing that one had actually accomplished one’s mission but lacked the knowledge or expertise at the time to actually recognize the accomplishment.
The answer is very simple – I don’t actually “squat” in my swing, as I’ve said for a long time that this position is merely a snapshot in a down swing where the weight is transferring from the trailing to the leading side.
It is useful to show positions in a swing, but useless to try to teach “swing by position,” because it occurs so quickly.
I don’t often see swings these days that take me back to the “good ol’ days” of when the Modern Golf Swing had only one major flaw – the nailing down of the leading foot on the back pivot.
For years, the trend has seen the Modern Gold Swing move ever further away from the fundamentals of the Classic Golf Swing, including the setup (largely due to back injuries, I’d wager) to that stilted, stacked and tilted horror show currently unfolding.
There is no end to the scamming and hyping of this ridiculous new swing model that is now taking over the internet – this one purports to be the “perfect swing for seniors,” but is nothing more than the same stacking, tilting and turning and swiping.
Note: I don’t recommend seniors try this swing – I don’t recommend this for anyone of any age, for that matter – but for seniors, who tend to have less flexibility and balance than the younger set, this is an invitation to disaster.
They are teaching absolute nonsense, and I nearly choked on my tongue when, at the beginning of the below clip, the student performed a “Turn & Swipe” motion with his head moving laterally (a big sway and turn and swipe), to have the “instructor” (I use this term far too loosely) say, “that’s how you turn your hips!”
Oh, do tell, instructor!
You turn your hips by swaying to the target rather than sliding to the target (both being garbage mechanics)?
I literally just posted a while back on how leverage and gravity provide the elements for the release of the club at the swing bottom, only to run into this clip yesterday whilst scrolling through YouTube.
I have no idea what this concept is trying to say or do, because absolutely no one in golf, even the worst of the Modern Golf Swing practitioners, does this – I suspect it’s about keeping the click count going when having run out of things to say, but people watch these things, which is harmful.
I have taken a real-speed driver swing of mine back in 2015 when I was swinging regularly and in much better shape than I am currently, to illustrate something with regards to piece-work swinging.
You’ll notice that, when you watch Modern Golf Swing instruction, you will get someone spending five minutes on describing in minute detail all of the various moves you must make for the down swing from the transition to the post-impact finish.
I’ve said many times that Ben Hogan had the “Perfect Pivot” action when it comes to the actual pivot mechanics, but that one shouldn’t try to copy his actual swing.
Here is why – the way Hogan swung is a way he found able to repeat, but he also had to hit balls every day to maintain his precision.
I’ve written quite a bit recently about the ills of the new “Turn & Swipe” memes that have been appearing in golf swing videos, and here is the problem when you compare that nonsense to the proper mechanical action of the Classic Golf Swing.
Below, I’ve created some gifs to show the difference and, in essence, how easy it is to generate leverage and also use gravity when swinging with the pivot action of the Classic Golf Swing, using only my left arm.
WAX Golf 