I put a simple Driver swing on a loop at double speed from a 210 fps slow motion capture, because speeding it up 2x from the actual playback speed shows very well (in my opinion) the “throw release” technique that really generates acceleration and club head speed through impact without having to muscle the club the way conventional swingers do.
This is what I love about the MCS technique, originally developed by Mike Austin. At 41 years of age, I can drive the ball as long as I ever did, and probably longer than I ever did, even though I am in decline from my peak strength, which would have been somewhere in my early to late 30′s.
It’s all in leverage and technique.
Watch the loop and pay particular attention, if you would, to one particular component of the swing.
Note the throwing motion of the right arm from the top through impact. If I had a ball in my hand instead of the club shaft, wouldn’t it look like I was side-arming a throw down the target line? Not actually at the target, but say at the grass, a few feet in front of the ball.
The Throw Release
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Deej,
I hate to copy you,,,copying Moe Norman…but I have to. I had the “FEELING OF GREATNESS” today in my practice. I asked you a question regarding the right foot slide (basically just getting to my left side better) and what your feeling was of that. Getting that move down where you see in MA’s swing where his right side comes around like a swinging door to the golf ball is something I have been trying to do in my daily practice. Today I got it by hearing MA in my head…”The club goes back on the IN CURVE!!!” By doing a better job of this move, it allows me to get the feeling of the right hip coming around on the down swing. When I do THAT it gives me a better chance to get more of a “throw release” and I feel the shaft moving faster than ever before! To me it feels like I am going way too far inside to over the top, but video has shown that I am right on plane. Not only was the distance finally the yardage I know I should be at (ex: 7 iron 170), but the accuracy was awesone and the freedom of my release was …well….FREE!!!
Good stuff, BT. It is exciting, isn’t it, when everything starts to click and you can see the results?
DJ,
Just love the way you get your right arm in the throwing position, looks so simple and you repeat it with every club. I am working hard on this yet years of tucking the elbow into my side and flinging it around and in makes it feel like a huge lifting action of the right arm. Although when I get it closer to the right position, it really frees up the right side to throw, as opposed to trying to overpower the left arm. Keep it coming, the new camera is awesome.
Steve P
Thanks, Steve. The Casio is a big improvement, isn’t it? I haven’t even started using the HD Hewlett Packard digital camcorder yet, which I’ll use for shooting the MCS 2.0 video. The Casio has the slo-mo feature so I’ve been using it, ’cause the HP doesn’t. I’ll use the HP for most of the video and the Casio for the slo-mo shots.
DJ, Out of curiousity, what loft is you everyday driver and what is your standard ballflight?
Ugh, funny you should ask, Steve. I’m still using the 9.5 degree Nike Sumo 5000 SQ, so my ball flight is very high, which you can probably see by the launch angle in the slo-mo clips. High launch angle and the 9.5 degrees create way too much spin, so I get balloon shots even when I nail it. My maximum driving distance with it is probably around 330-340 yards. I once hit a 360 yard drive with it, but that was a once-off.
The KZG PFT300 driver that I was using in ’09, that one had a loft of 9 degrees and a regular shaft, but I used to hit such screaming, line drive shots with it. All of my longest drive stats are with that driver, but I broke it last year.
I’ve got a Callaway FT5 with 9 degrees, but the shaft is too soft for my new swing, everything goes hard right. Also have a 9.5 Taylor Made R7, which has developed a little rattle inside, so it’s about to cave. Until I start playing serious golf, I will make do with the Nike driver.
Hopefully, with the revenue from the MCS 2.0, I’ll be able to buy new irons and a couple of fitted drivers. I figure, with the distances I was getting with the KZG driver, which wasn’t even fitted for me, I’ll be able to drive the ball 360 and up with a fitted driver with relative “ease.” But right now, it isn’t an issue, except for that I hate all of my drivers!
Love that, seems so simple and powerful !
Dear all,
I am coming back to this post because the headline fits my current question:
What mental image do you guys use for the throw release? In particular, do you throw your arms, hands, or the club? And where do you throw to? Towards the target? Towards the ball?
I have had good success with throwing the hands/the grip’s end down the target line, while keeping the head behind the ball, so that the hands pass through under my chin.
T.
Hey Torben,
I use the similar image as DJ and Robert, of throwing the hands at a point just in front of the ball, that seems to work very well. And this seems to automatically make your hips do what they are supposed to without thinking too much.
Cheers
Seb
Target.
Target can be many things, the ballflight with a fade or draw, landingarea, spin, etc…
I would move away from ball oriented as that promote a HIT impulse and will slow down the swing.
Try it, swing at the ball and then swing at the target,
In any other sport, its never about the ball all about scoring goal, hitting the hop etc…
I trow the club in the backswing agaisnt a braced right Hip/leg until I feel my body lifts its weight, and then wait until gravity takes over and then trow it within my set tempo at the target letting the centriedpal force takes its turn. The body weight then tripples into left leg at impact.
I would assume this, trow plus pivot equal tempo.
You can pretty much use perfect timing every time once your tempo is known which will coincide with the top of the back swing and the turn at the top with gravity and centripedal force.
Good advice, thanks. Nevertheless, the ball is there, and we know it! This knowledge can cause some funky moves…