How about a classic swing thread?

[kaboboom]

Getting into my CC stash, and starting to make IPhone vids. Getting a little slow in the forum, so I thought maybe members would like to see and post vids. I put them on YouTube because I shoot them in slo-mo, and YouTube plays them that way. So to get the ball rolling, here's one of mine. Pay close attention to the grip...my new Hook 'Em Horns variant. I should have used a persimmon, but I got out a Yonex 3 Wood (which I consider classic and indestructable). I made a slight modification because my wife has been away for a while, and I wanted her to see what I was doing with her wine corks. Not serious golf video set-up...just a fun moment.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4TVIjiFHoI

[Juice__25]

I will have to wait till I can get to a better screen to look at the grip. I'm getting a lot of glare right now. So I'll comment on that later.

 

On classic swings: I always tried to emulate Hogan's swing. As of late, I've developed a lot of success with the driver copying Moe Norman. As long as I don't get to spinny with my hips, it is a solid 230-260 straight down the middle. This compared to 250-270 wayward shots with my normal driver swing.

 

Cork idea is cool, any thoughts on distance ratio to a normal ball.

 

Edit: Not a grip for me, but seems to work for you.

[birly-shirly]

Great corkflight!

[kaboboom]

I like to watch the old golf tourneys on YouTube as well. But it's one of those times when I wish I had a few of the experts here watching along, and ID-ing the woods, irons, and putters.

 

As for corkflight, I imagine they'd give a lot of feedback if you cut across them, so yes, I liked to see that it tumbled pretty square in my vid. As for distance, probably a bit less than the Cayman ball...

[TimV]

Nice!

1. I'm not that tech savy

2. Two shot knees & one crushed disk means my swing is anything BUT classic.

Our son & daughter-in-law were just down visiting and we all played a round. His comment: "Well Dad, you now have the strangest swing I've ever seen. It obviously works for you, but wow."

So I'll just watch.

[Juice__25]

Nice!

1. I'm not that tech savy

2. Two shot knees & one crushed disk means my swing is anything BUT classic.

Our son & daughter-in-law were just down visiting and we all played a round. His comment: "Well Dad, you now have the strangest swing I've ever seen. It obviously works for you, but wow."

So I'll just watch.

 

The prettiest horse doesn't always win the race.

[BIG STU]

Looks like you nutted the cork to me. Nice flight on the cork. Hey do your own thing a swing does not have to be pretty to work. Look at Allen Doyle and Jim Thorpe

[augustgolf]

Looks like you nutted the cork to me. Nice flight on the cork. Hey do your own thing a swing does not have to be pretty to work. Look at Allen Doyle and Jim Thorpe

 

I like that you don't mention Jim Furyk in your post....a real classic swing!

[BIG STU]

Looks like you nutted the cork to me. Nice flight on the cork. Hey do your own thing a swing does not have to be pretty to work. Look at Allen Doyle and Jim Thorpe

 

I like that you don't mention Jim Furyk in your post....a real classic swing!

I guess the reason I did not mention ole Jimbo there is because I have never seen him swing in person. Doyle and Thorpie I have seen many times in fact I have played golf with Thorpe before. Yep Furyk could be the poster child for "Swing your own swing" it has and still is serving him well. I bet all the proper swing gurus had to go under doctor's care after he shot that 58 last year on top of the previous 59

[jonnygrouville]

I'm always in two minds about this; there are many more "individual" swings shooting 108, losing half a dozen balls a round.

 

Nonetheless, I do think that some of the established "fundamentals" of the modern swing are bullplop and should be taken behind the barn and shot. I am currently trying to unwind quite a few things my coach at college was keen on, putting some more vintage back into my swing...

 

 

Was told my swing was too flat and I dipped and hit a hook, too much 1950s leg drive courtesy of watching my dad play growing up, all pointed out on video next to pictures of Tiger Woods and Adam Scott. Wish I would have been astute enough to point out that I would also regularly hit fifteen or sixteen greens a round.

 

A more pertinent area of enquiry would have been how often I visited a practice green. What's a practice green? That thing on the way to the range? I was wondering what that was called.

 

 

[scomac2002]

I'm always in two minds about this; there are many more "individual" swings shooting 108, losing half a dozen balls a round.

 

Nonetheless, I do think that some of the established "fundamentals" of the modern swing are bullplop and should be taken behind the barn and shot. I am currently trying to unwind quite a few things my coach at college was keen on, putting some more vintage back into my swing...

 

 

Was told my swing was too flat and I dipped and hit a hook, too much 1950s leg drive courtesy of watching my dad play growing up, all pointed out on video next to pictures of Tiger Woods and Adam Scott. Wish I would have been astute enough to point out that I would also regularly hit fifteen or sixteen greens a round.

 

A more pertinent area of enquiry would have been how often I visited a practice green. What's a practice green? That thing on the way to the range? I was wondering what that was called.

 

That pretty much cures me of the notion of taking a lesson or two to clean up a couple of things about my swing. If I tried to swing the club like Woods or Scott I'd end up permanently in traction!

 

FWIW, I like your 50's styled swing jonny. I remember when I looked at stop-motion pictures of Slammin' Sammy that I saw a lot of my swing, or more correctly my mental image of my swing rather than the spine contorting motion of the modern pro.

[HoldenCornfield]

I've said this before but I think it bears repeating, the biggest argument for the classic flat swing over the modern upright one -- especially for this crowd -- is the difference it makes on your back. Tiger's back problems are not surprising or unusual, many people were predicting it 20 years ago.

 

My own back problems as it relates to golf have virtually disappeared since making the switch. My back is better now at 49 than it was at 29 after a day of golf.

 

The spine is better able to rotate around, like a baseball swing, than it is able to withstand the up and down tilt of an upright lateral swing.

 

I have video from several years ago when I was trying to make the transition (which was not easy, btw). It makes my back hurt just watching that video now.

[scomac2002]

Just finished watching a Tommy Armour video from 1955; a sort of beginners how to guide.

 

 

I'm not too sure that I'd want to base a golf swing on this, but he does make some very good points that are quite contrary to modern swing theory, most notably, the hip rotation and lack of "X" factor as well as a lack of a weight shift on all clubs but, the driver. You'll also notice a lot of hand action going on as well compared to modern techniques. Most of all, it's a swing that is very easy on the body; great for the aging golfer.

[jonnygrouville]

Jack, Butch, Tiger, what works perpetuates whether it is right or wrong. Just because something is right for them doesn't mean it is right for everyone as the best player's swing is not necessarily the best swing for all players.

 

I have always thought the Trevino approach was closer to what hobby golfers should be following. Not copying in terms of leg drive and head-dip; "modified Trevino". If they happen don't fight them. I was thinking more in terms of standing up a bit straighter and starting the club back a bit outside. From there, it is easier to get into the back of the ball, shallower, more baseball. Again, not huge, not copying, more the feeling that this is what you're doing.

 

[HoldenCornfield]

Thanks for the link scomac, enjoyed it!

[jonnygrouville]

Proper old school, feeling the love of the left heel lift...

 

 

[kaboboom]

I'll clarify that my original intent with this thread was to see folks hit their classics regardless of their swing, but I now can see the difficulties of divorcing one from the other, though I suspect that in this place, it might be easier to find people more enamored with their clubs than their swing. No matter...the topic of what is a classic swing can stay enjoined to the club in hand.

 

With that, I'll wax on a bit on what I detect as an aesthetic prejudice regarding "the loop". I'll offer that a golf swing does not have to have an externally perceived loop while maintaining that there has to be 2 axes as you post up on the trailing then lead leg, then I'll leave anything instructional or biomechanical to some other place.

 

The aesthetic bias I discern is with the pronounced loopers...that the overloopers are viewed as brutish compared to their counter clockwise counterparts, the underloopers. Jimmy Bruen is the prodigy of the latter, and Furyk now that for the former. There are lots of famous golfers between these extremes, and it seems to me, that generally, the ULs are much more embraced aesthetically than the OLs, and I wonder why? I think it is somehow very primal. It probably dates what back to our cave days. If an adversary was coming at you with a club raised over his head, it would be fairly easy to discern his intent. On the other hand, if the club was behind his back...well, that would make him seem so much more civilized.

[jonnygrouville]

I have never understood this! Many of the best ever have been overloopers (which is a phrase I will adopt from now on; thanks), but you're right that it is somehow frowned upon. Snead, Hogan, Knudson, good swings, right?

 

There is a fear that this is just a fancy over-the-top which is tantamount to treason in the eyes of the golfing masses. Not sure if it is primal, but the underloop would seem more natural as, as you say, the club isn't behind you.

 

For me, the key is being shallow. Under then over and steep is trouble. Shallow you can play with.

 

Interesting stuff chaps.

 

[jonnygrouville]

I'd never seen Gay Brewer's swing before...

 

 

Mad at the top, money at impact. Just looks flush.

 

Russell Claydon was a great amateur and went on to moderate professional success if I remember. Double overlap grip, "individual" swing. There was some story about him being turned down by a coach who said he could turn him into a conventionally swinging eight handicapper...

 

[Diece]

I love Julius Boro's swing.

 

Smooth, effortless.

 

Great footwork.