I don’t want to leave the impression (although I’m also not overly concerned about it) that I have suddenly and mysteriously turned from saying that Mike Austin’s swing theory was right to saying it’s wrong.
Let’s all take a deep breath and I’ll say my piece, after which I’m moving on.
I was talking a lot a few weeks ago about theory – motion theory, how the body moves. You’ll notice I’m not talking much about theory right now. My members actually would know why, but I’ll tell you a little secret as to the reason I no longer talk theory – the New MCS killed Theory and buried him somewhere…
What happened was I actually had to learn motion theory and how the body moves to figure out what Mike Austin was doing with his swing motion. Once I figured it out, there was no way I could teach anyone else how to swing like that unless they as well learned and understood motion theory.
(Update at bottom)
Here’s a hint - no one will ever hit drives in the modern era like Mike Austin did using his same technique – the Driver has changed and it’s not the same swing as with the other clubs.
When the driver was shorter and had a flatter lie, it was the same as the others. Now, you simply can’t match the Austin address with the Austin impact using the modern driver.
I took a quick couple of snaps of myself holding my Chief Cowpie Persimmon Driver (I had to keep one of those clubs out of the dreamcatcher!) and my Callaway Diablo Driver from a couple of summers back.
Right off the bat, I see major differences in the way I’m addressing a ball with the Diablo (left picture) versus the persimmon.
I caught Tiger harpooning (thank you, Mike Austin, for that delicious term) a bunker shot yesterday on the 16th at the Bay Hill, when he fat-chopped it into the water. I wish I had gotten that on video, perhaps I’ll be able to snag something on Youtube…
I did get this particular sequence of Tiger on a another bunker shot he also duffed, and you can see the harpoon in all its glory here.
(Update – I’ve revised the Mike Austin page on the blog to better reflect the site’s direction). I have realized that if I am going to teach the theory of the mechanically-correct golf swing, I am going to have to leave Mike Austin behind.
He’s become a distraction from the real task of what I’m about – a motion based on the human body.
I started out to figure out, learn and teach the perfect golf swing motion.
I’d like people to keep in mind that when I write posts like this, if you’re getting a “comedic” feel to it, you’re probably right.
I’m not bashing Hank Haney – I wrote about his earlier project with Charles Barkley- I’m just unable to do anything more than laugh when confronted with the modern swing and anyone who teaches it.
Sergio Garcia is held up as a guy who generates a lot of clubhead speed through the ball for someone his height and stature. He’s not the biggest guy in the world.
Now, there’s nothing extra-ordinary in Sergio’s strength or speed that allows him to do so. It’s in his technique, to a large extent. His swing is not perfect, but he does the right thing in the right spot and it allows him to do two things – drill the ball, and hit it pretty consistently, because of how little effort he has to put into that phase in the swing I mention.
I don’t know any other way to put it, but the Modern Golf Swing has to go. It is stupid. There’s no other way to put it.
There is no other action or motion on this earth that is taught to people where they turn their torsos against a resisting lower body and then apply huge twisting forces to them in the opposite direction.
All for the purposes of swinging a 13 oz golf club.
There’s a phrase Mike Austin used to employ when describing how the mechanically-proper swing release used the fact that one swings the club “without impedance.”
Essentially, what Austin meant is that the proper throw allows gravity to accelerate the club with the coordination of the leverage provided by the shift and turn and the hand action with the full release.
After giving it nearly a week of reflection, I’ve decided that I won’t be making the “Secrets to Mike Austin’s Swing” video that I had mentioned.
The primary reason is that I’ll be working with Members on getting them to swing mechanically-correctly, and my work with TheBigToilet (follow our work together and BT’s tournament play this coming season on BT’s page here at the blog) came about after I had decided to make the video. Now, working with a pro golfer (on that level, no less, not just trying to become a tournament player), I’m not seeing the time it would take to make the video I wanted to make.
I will correct something I’ve been telling people about the position of right elbow (in a right-handed swing) at impact.
I have both agreed and disagreed with Mike Austin on the matter in the past. He stated emphatically that you do not “pack the right elbow,” meaning having it tight into the hip at impact. I have said that I don’t try to pack the elbow, but that it happens naturally.
Congrats again to The Big Toilet on his tournament play yesterday!
I may be a little delayed in producing and releasing this video, as I am turning a good deal of my attention to BigT and help him bring the correct golf swing to big leagues.
That said, I talked about the “Leverage Machine” in my MCS 2.0 Video from last year. See if you can see the machine in these swings. I finally can!
(Update) BigToilet and I were Skyping last evening and he wanted me to clear up the point where I said “I was shocked when BT reported that he’d made some adjustments on the weekend and was hitting it the same.”
Scratch hitting it the same to hitting the same numbers but straighter, much straigher! And as for his new numbers yesterday, I’ll let him tell you what he wrote me in his own words:
I’ll be posting later today on the missing power link between Mikes Dunaway and Austin. Bear in mind that I have the highest regard for Mr. Dunaway, who is recognized as one of the greatest and longest drivers ever.
This will be a technical analysis of the differences between the two great technicians and what I’ve discovered in the past few months.
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.
Big News for DJ Watts Golf today:
The blog’s resident PGA of America pro Jerry Crowell (also known as the BigToilet) of Goose Creek Golf Club and I have come to an agreement that I’m sure you’ll all be interested in!
BT feels he needs to take the next step to ramp his game up to a dominant level and stop what he feels is underachieving in tournament play, and we have agreed to put all our cards on the table and work together on this.
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.
I made a simple little clip for the Members at Watts AthletiX for a different purpose when I remembered why I had shot this particular segment while making MCS 3.0 video – I wanted to one day show the difference between Mike Austin’s swing model and, say someone like Moe Norman’s.
I could pick Ben Hogan, and maybe I will in a later posting, but here’s where Mike Austin’s knowledge of the human body and his genius (he was smashing the ball long before he ever took formal college education in his 30′s) beats the technique of even Moe Norman.
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?
