Category Archives: Long Drive

A Couple of Days’ Rest (What’s Next?)

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I probably won’t be doing much for the next couple of days as I take a mental break having completed and released the New MCS ‘Full Swing‘ Video. It was the first one I got done on time with no delays or disasters, though the Formula went fairly smoothly as well.

Getting the mic really, really helped. I prefer to deliver my videos in lecture/tutorial style, without a lot of pictures and lines – that stuff is fine to read on a blog, but when you’re learning the golf swing, there are no angle-measuring compasses and protractors, nor are there places you can freeze your swing and look at it.

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Driver – Just Swing It, People

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I was drooling to have some English-style Halibut & Chips for lunch today, and I snuck out to the range before the extreme heat and humidity hit, just to hit a bucket of balls and burn some Friday morning energy.,

Now, when it comes to the Driver, most people go crazy trying to figure out how to hit it. I did too, at least with the modern driver, as I had begun my swing research using a Callaway Big Bertha Warbird from the 90′s… so getting a modern driver was a switch, both in feel and technique.

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Rocketballz Tour – Flex & An 8 Second Carry

I’m still getting used to the TaylorMade Rocketballz Tour driver that I bought last winter – before The Big Toilet sent me that amazing Geek Dot-Com This. Thing is, getting used to the Rocketballz’ different feel (shaft flex and weight of the head and club) made me suspect that I still have yet to really hit that Geek.

I may end up preferring the feel of the Rocketballz and I don’t know if it has to do with the head feeling much heavier than the Geek’s head, or if it’s the shaft that’s making it feel heavier.

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Carrying the Ball 300+ Yards (Rocketballz Tour)

I wish I had a little better video set-up that would allow panning and zooming during shooting. It’s kind of hard to get a sense of what someone is doing with the ball when the camera is static.

I did try this little thing here with focusing the camera 300 yards down range and hitting balls to that general area.

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Long Drivers – I’m on the Case

As andreas, our long drive regular reader, says, “There’s swinging and there’s long drive.” We all know the rules to Long Drive, and the competitors have a different mind-set from the golf player.

The golfer needs accuracy to play well. Driving, approach, scrambling, putting – all require a good deal of accuracy to even approach average ability in playing golf.

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Working Out At the Range (Video w/Geek)

I got some real work done today on my first official day of the New MCS 2013 Season. The day was as good as you could want – a high of 20C, bright sun, light to medium breeze from the east (hitting into the wind is my favourite), and I had my camera.

I got some Short Shots video done for my Members, namely pitching and bunker shots, and I shot some video for The Big Toilet (who is kicking off his spring season next Monday, by the way).

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DJ Hits the Titleist 975D

I said yesterday in my Member section posting that I had got a couple of swings on video hitting my Geek DotCom This driver, but it was in fact the Titleist 975D driver that Kid Charlemagne captured me swinging on Friday when we spent the day together..

It was cold, and the lighting is bad, so you don’t see much of the body motion due to the heavy hoodie. But I was still getting 120-125mph on all my driver swings, whatever the driver, and the 975D was no exception.

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Look At This Launch Angle…

Take a look at the launch angle I was getting with my Geek Dot Com This, which has a 6 degree loft.

This is what I’m talking about, using the swing to create the ball flight conditions you want rather than strange and twisted golf equipment. You want to hit a high ball with a low-lofted driver?

Not a problem with the New MCS motion, I’ll tell you. Even Macklemore standing behind me on the mat was checking it out.

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Old Driver – New MCS

I have said previously that there is a new setup required for the modern driver with the longer shaft and steeper lie angle.

I devised the New MCS to deal with this and to also return my golf swing motion to the one that I envisioned and not a model taken from someone else. In this, I was able to even improve what would have been the original “MCS” motion when swinging a “classic” driver.

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O.M.G. – (Oh, My GEEK!!)

I got out to try my new Geek Dot-Com This driver, with the Ozick Black Tie shaft and at 6 degrees of loft.

I gotta tell ya, I’m liking this Driver – I’m likin’ it a lot…

Well, not much more to say except, “Here’s the video.”

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That Did NOT Take Long (New MCS Driver Swing)

I sneaked out to the range this afternoon before the week-long rain and thunder show commenced (currently in the opening refrain), and I took some video of the down the line swing with the New MCS swing with wedge and 6 iron.

To my members, that footage will be up sometime tomorrow in the Section. For now, let me premiere the New MCS motion for the modern-built Driver, and now my work is truly complete.

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Mike Austin & Today’s Golf Swing

The trouble with trying to copy the swing of someone who 1. Lived in another era and 2. Used different equipment and balls and 3. Isn’t around to clarify issues that come up in the modern age - these are all problems.

And trying to copy or teach the swing of Mike Austin – very problematic. And it’s not Austin’s swing, or perhaps even the method he used, I’m beginning to theorize – it’s that his swing was built for the old vintage equipment, meaning that his irons and wedges – those swings likely would have been the same.

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This Is What I’m Talking About (MCS Driver)

OK, second day at the range, and I’m ready to play some golf!

I made some amazing personal progress today in my theory work concerning the swing, and this is the challenge I’m facing – for three years, I based everything I did on Mike Austin – his swing, his videos, what he was said to have instructed – and now, I’m moving on with my own initiative and figuring out what’s best for me based on my MCS Motion Theory.

And, today was a great example of how I believe MCS is just a better philosophy for the modern golf swing – I don’t swing like anyone you have seen on this video, likely – but it’s my swing motion, it’s mechanically-correct, and I kind of like it.

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DJ’s First Day at the Range (Video)

I actually got out to the golf academy late this morning, and the conditions were glorious. It got up to at least 9 or 10C before I left, and the bright sunshine just lifted my spirits after the long winter.

You’re probably wondering how I hit the ball. Well, let me tell you about that…

I haven’t hit balls seriously in about six months (since late September of last year, with a couple of days to finish my video shoot and then a dozen balls or so with Tony P in January), and I was hitting the driver at 118-123mph – there was a 131 and another 134, but I am not counting them – although the ball I hit with the 131 reading seemed to sail forever.

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How Long Is Your Leading Arm?

One of the great things about studying Mike Austin and figuring him out primarily through Youtube videos over the years is how things suddenly jump out at you years after you saw or heard something and didn’t have a clue what they meant.

This Youtube video for example, is one of the earliest Mike Austin videos I found when I went looking for him. This clip was posted in July 2008, probably a month after I switched my focus on Moe Norman and Ben Hogan to Austin. There were less than 100 views first time I watched this video! It’s like comfort food.

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The Pivot – Using the C7

I made a clip of one of the best face-on swings I have to illustrate the nature of the C7′s role in the swing.

Most people think of swinging an object with their hands and arms, but you are only holding onto the golf club with your hands and arms. You are swinging it from your C7 vertebra.

In the clip below, just watch the action and focus on the area just beneath my chin. Roughly, that is close to where the C7 would be, as it is the lowest cervical vertebra where the neck joins the body.

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Tiger Woods, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead…

Have you ever seen Tiger Woods’ left leg “snap” through impact? Why did Ben Hogan hit a fade? And Jack Nicklaus? And Sam Snead? Why do Long Drive competitors nearly jump off their leading leg through impact? Isn’t there a way to hit a golf ball far without hurting yourself or cutting across it the way even the best and longest hit their ball?

What’s going on here?

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OK, Mike Austin Fans, Take A Breath…

I got an email from a gentleman the other day, and I wanted to post it on the blog. I was waiting for the permission or denial to arrive, and permission has been granted by the author of said email to post!

I want to ask everyone to take a deep breath before reading, especially those especially fond of Mike Austin, his eccentric style and everything that came with him.

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Theory Work Today – Austin’s Pivot

I’ll be doing some theory work today, because what I saw in the video that I took yesterday at the park sparked a big ol’ light-bulb in my head regarding the down swing weight shift, hip action and how to create the blinding speed that MA did.

First of all, anyone who doubt’s MA’s technical genius simply hasn’t learned enough about the human body motion (kinesiology, basically) to realize what he was doing, let alone talking about.

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3.0 Video (and more on 2013)

Looks like it’s going to be a busy spring, folks. In addition to the MCS 3.0 Video in Hd due for release next week (**more on that at the bottom), I have plans to move forward with other aspects of the golf swing.

So, as it stands, everyone who is purchasing or will later purchase the MCS 3.0 eBook are in great shape, as I’ve decided that there will be no further editions of the MCS Full Swing, either in Video or eBook form, simply because the 3.0 eBook, after I have revised it, will be the last word I have to say on the golf swing.

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