Great video. I was rereading Jimmy Ballard’s book and looking for footage of Curtis and this is the best I’ve seen. This is following all the fundamentals that Jimmy outlined in that book to a T.
Curtis was the man back then. 263 tour events 128 top ten finishes between 1980 to 89. 49% is pretty good. dominated the 80's. It's funny how the Golf Channel never talks about him ' probably because all those commenters were getting beat by him.
Christo...Glad to see you took my advice and started going down the road of "playing behind the ball". Strange is a great example of "widening the lines" between the right cheek and left shoulder at address during the back swing! It just gives you more room to get the left leg to straighten and open the left hip. It is an automatic hip opening device if you get the left shoulder back more "over" the right foot. His head would appear to move less if he had it cocked more like Nicklaus. His is more straight which may indicate he was right eye dominate. Hogan started with more of a cock. If Hogan's head was as straight as Strange's, I suspect you would see more of what appears to be "moving off the ball". However, notice that Strange never loses his spine angle and his weight is on the inside of the right foot at the top. Then notice his drive into the left side and how he pushes up from the ground and straightens his left leg opening his left side to make room. It is a powerful and more consistent way to drive the ball, IMHO. I think you will really like the result you get doing this as opposed to using a more shallow shoulder tilt and trying to keep your head totally still while rotating around a stationary axis. Also, notice that Strange, even though he "appears" to move off the ball, never crosses the left shoulder starting position, or as Bobby Lopez puts it, "going offsides". Kaos
I modeled my own personal course management style after Curtis. He was NOT a long hitter. To this day my two main thoughts are hit the fairway and hit the green. I don’t care about all this distance hype. I maintain a 1-2 handicap at age 61. I rarely miss fairways and I have a lot of birdie opportunities. I just shake my head these days watching everyone stay obsessed with power and distance. Course management has become a thing of the past.
Realy clearing that left hip turning it away from the ball. something I think most amateurs don't realy do enough of. Realy helped me with my swing. Which then causes a better shaft lean and stops you from flipping. Great vid.
A lot of golfers don’t have the flexibility to do that and Curtis Strange has a sway in his swing, which only those with great timing and who can practice a lot, can pull off. The image of Ben Hogan demonstrates that he’s stacking over the ball and keeping his weight centred, or even favouring the left side.
I took lessons from Jimmy Ballard and his assistants back in the late 80s. He came up to New Jersey for a 2 day golf school and I had the reverse C swing that everyone was copying from Jack Nicklaus. He videotaped everyone's swing before and after the school and I still have my videotape. Jimmy would always talk about Ben Hogan's swing at the schools and tell everyone that we needed to "fire the right side". The swing he taught was so much more stress-free because it allowed to head to move off the ball. I went back several times for followup lessons with his assistants. All of his assistants had the same looking swing and Jimmy taught one swing for everyone. I used this swing for years and played fairly well. Actually I see a lot of what Jimmy Ballard was teaching in the instruction of Chuck Cook. Jimmy use to say that the body needs to rotate onto the right hip in the back swing and onto the left hip on the downswing and not worry at all about the head moving. Chuck Cook says that the swing rotates around the thoracic spine and that the head moves off the ball. Jimmy was not technical at all and was always relating the golf swing to the throwing of a baseball and any athletic motion like swinging a tennis racket. One difference I see with Curtis Strange and Hogan is that it does appear that Curtis is firing the right side and firing off his right foot whereas I don't see that with Hogan. Instead, I see more of a turning out of the way with the left side and Hogan's right foot slides along the ground indicating that he is not pushing off the right foot. Nowadays, I have been swinging more like Chuck Cook teaches and I am much more technical because of all the instruction on UA-cam.
Very good video. I looked videos up on Strange because I am trying to figure out what he straightest players do differently than others. Good analysis Cristo . . .very helpful.
Excellent video. I played against him and his twin brother Allan in high school and his brother was just about as good as Curtis back then. Guess he didn’t have the same drive but I personally thought he had a better swing than Curtis
Another great video Christo. Want to mention Lord Byron had a significant move off the ball. Some say no one hit it straighter. Also Rocco Mediate may move as much as Curtis and Kenny Perry has a “quirky” significant late move to the rear. Thought you’d appreciate those adds.
Curtis Strange, wow! Played the by NICKLAUS VIP Irons by MacGregor back in the day. I had a set of those once. Had a better than average short game, IMHO. Saw him and his brother play at Pebble Beach. Identical twins! Honestly, I could not tell them apart. Your swing still looks pretty good to me. Congrats!
Looking at that swing again, I would show that to anybody today. It has everything going on big time. You know it's funny when I first started teaching the golf swing 30 years ago, we used to just manage the swing then it got into micromanaging the swing and now it's in mega micromanagement swing mode. Everybody needs to slow down and take a good old dose of Strange. And I ain't talkin about the strange you got in the neighborhood either.
Both great swings! And 2 totally different ways to do it. Much more timing on Curtis’ swing. Would love to see how far Curtis could hit the ball with modern equipment, he went at it!!
Curtis was less dependent on timing than most due to how well he was connected throughout his swing. No matchups or angles to time up. He talks about that !
Though Curtis Strange would slide back from the ball with his head, he would slide it right back to where it needed to be at contact. Hogan's swing is more under control it seems. But, Curtis Strange really did a good job with his swing. Would be interesting to study him a lot to understand what made him consistent with a swing where he slid his head back away from the target and then back toward the target and stopping it right behind the ball with the clubhead in the hitting area. I like Christo's observation about the way Curtis Strange breaks his knees to the target -- Lee Trevino's move... and so many others. I think Curtis Strange was just a real physically talented guy. I like Ben Hogan's swing better and would choose to emulate that. I think the take away here is that you can make a few less-than-ideal moves in a swing but make up for it with a few good-as-gold moves -- like breaking the knees to the target.
I certainly owe you a beer or an Arnold Palmer for all the golf knowledge I’ve got from your channel. Hope to see you at one of your intensives some day. I really wish I could demo those Ben Hogan clubs, they sure look and sound great.
Christo... what do you see in Hogans address/stance? Yes it's diagonal, but why, and what do you see in particular?..... if you respond, I'll email you.
H. Stenson kinda has that "sit right" move these days. You can kinda overdo it and it gets a little "slidey". Its is easy on the back i'll tell ya that. Post-up back, post-up thru.
Curtis kind of burned out at a pretty young age but he was a helluva player. His mentor was Sam Snead who had one of the classic swings ever. Thanks for sharing this.
Curtis was a long time Ballard guy.Self destructed early 90s when he wanted to take his game to next level😂. Ballard told him to keep what he had and work more on scoring but Curtis left in a huff.
Something that most instructors have in common is no knowledge of the body movement whatsoever. They don't know anything about kinesiology. I think it should be required. They don't even have it in the PGA teaching manual. But that's another story. Quit using words like turn until you understand what is really happening with the motion. You're welcome.
Looks like Strange has a lot more clubhead speed, but it could be an illusion from blurriness. Why doesn't Strange play on Champions? He had one of the best swings of the 1980s.
Check out his current swing. It's a good model for the weekend player. This 80's swing has a whole mess of rotation in it-- powerful but hard to manage.
You have to move off the ball to get your left shoulder over your right foot? No. I disagree. Hogan may have felt he was doing that, but he would never advocate all that lateral movement away. At the 7:10 mark, in your video, it is obvious there is not much similar in the Hogan and Strange swings, IMO. And at the 12:12 mark....Hogan's legs never got into such positions. Hal Sutton and Curtis were the models for Jimmy Ballard.... Ballard was the "guy" in the early 80s much like a Butch Harmon now... Ballard was a Hogan guy to a point, but advocated that exaggerated move off the ball, but not over the "wall"... (Do you like Rocco Mediate's swing?) He almost won the open in 2008, and his swing looks like yours from 6 years ago. Christo, I think you are going backwards by looking at these types of swings.....not in the "classic swing" mode at all, IMO. Go to Knudson..... And, for the record, Ralph Guldahl won back to back opens (37 and 38)….and Bobby Jones (29 and 30)
First thing Jack did was move his head in his set up. He pre set it, moving it to the right..Feel and real are totally different. He also talked about Jack Grout holdIng his hair during his swing which Jack Grout denied. Nicklaus also talked about turning as if you were in a barrel and Jack did the complete opposite. His shaft moved up and not around.
Jack the teacher said that while jack the player’s head moved a ton . First thing he did was cock it several inches to line up where his spine is as going!
Great video. I was rereading Jimmy Ballard’s book and looking for footage of Curtis and this is the best I’ve seen. This is following all the fundamentals that Jimmy outlined in that book to a T.
Boy, that swing looks as good as it gets. Once again Jimmy Ballard he's the Man
He is the best .
Curtis was the man back then. 263 tour events 128 top ten finishes between 1980 to 89. 49% is pretty good. dominated the 80's. It's funny how the Golf Channel never talks about him ' probably because all those commenters were getting beat by him.
Christo...Glad to see you took my advice and started going down the road of "playing behind the ball". Strange is a great example of "widening the lines" between the right cheek and left shoulder at address during the back swing! It just gives you more room to get the left leg to straighten and open the left hip. It is an automatic hip opening device if you get the left shoulder back more "over" the right foot. His head would appear to move less if he had it cocked more like Nicklaus. His is more straight which may indicate he was right eye dominate. Hogan started with more of a cock. If Hogan's head was as straight as Strange's, I suspect you would see more of what appears to be "moving off the ball". However, notice that Strange never loses his spine angle and his weight is on the inside of the right foot at the top. Then notice his drive into the left side and how he pushes up from the ground and straightens his left leg opening his left side to make room. It is a powerful and more consistent way to drive the ball, IMHO. I think you will really like the result you get doing this as opposed to using a more shallow shoulder tilt and trying to keep your head totally still while rotating around a stationary axis. Also, notice that Strange, even though he "appears" to move off the ball, never crosses the left shoulder starting position, or as Bobby Lopez puts it, "going offsides". Kaos
Kaos033 Good stuff, brother! Thanks 🙏🏻
I modeled my own personal course management style after Curtis. He was NOT a long hitter. To this day my two main thoughts are hit the fairway and hit the green. I don’t care about all this distance hype. I maintain a 1-2 handicap at age 61. I rarely miss fairways and I have a lot of birdie opportunities. I just shake my head these days watching everyone stay obsessed with power and distance. Course management has become a thing of the past.
Realy clearing that left hip turning it away from the ball. something I think most amateurs don't realy do enough of. Realy helped me with my swing. Which then causes a better shaft lean and stops you from flipping. Great vid.
Islander 80 Great to hear!!!
A lot of golfers don’t have the flexibility to do that and Curtis Strange has a sway in his swing, which only those with great timing and who can practice a lot, can pull off. The image of Ben Hogan demonstrates that he’s stacking over the ball and keeping his weight centred, or even favouring the left side.
I took lessons from Jimmy Ballard and his assistants back in the late 80s. He came up to New Jersey for a 2 day golf school and I had the reverse C swing that everyone was copying from Jack Nicklaus. He videotaped everyone's swing before and after the school and I still have my videotape. Jimmy would always talk about Ben Hogan's swing at the schools and tell everyone that we needed to "fire the right side". The swing he taught was so much more stress-free because it allowed to head to move off the ball. I went back several times for followup lessons with his assistants. All of his assistants had the same looking swing and Jimmy taught one swing for everyone. I used this swing for years and played fairly well. Actually I see a lot of what Jimmy Ballard was teaching in the instruction of Chuck Cook. Jimmy use to say that the body needs to rotate onto the right hip in the back swing and onto the left hip on the downswing and not worry at all about the head moving. Chuck Cook says that the swing rotates around the thoracic spine and that the head moves off the ball. Jimmy was not technical at all and was always relating the golf swing to the throwing of a baseball and any athletic motion like swinging a tennis racket. One difference I see with Curtis Strange and Hogan is that it does appear that Curtis is firing the right side and firing off his right foot whereas I don't see that with Hogan. Instead, I see more of a turning out of the way with the left side and Hogan's right foot slides along the ground indicating that he is not pushing off the right foot. Nowadays, I have been swinging more like Chuck Cook teaches and I am much more technical because of all the instruction on UA-cam.
Very good video. I looked videos up on Strange because I am trying to figure out what he straightest players do differently than others. Good analysis Cristo . . .very helpful.
Excellent video. I played against him and his twin brother Allan in high school and his brother was just about as good as Curtis back then. Guess he didn’t have the same drive but I personally thought he had a better swing than Curtis
Another great video Christo. Want to mention Lord Byron had a significant move off the ball. Some say no one hit it straighter. Also Rocco Mediate may move as much as Curtis and Kenny Perry has a “quirky” significant late move to the rear. Thought you’d appreciate those adds.
Louis Lane I was thinking of Rocco since he is also Jimmy Ballard.
Hard to time
Great golfer and great swing
Steven Olson He’s underated
Right hip up to play on top rather than under
Curtis Strange, wow! Played the by NICKLAUS VIP Irons by MacGregor back in the day. I had a set of those once. Had a better than average short game, IMHO. Saw him and his brother play at Pebble Beach. Identical twins! Honestly, I could not tell them apart. Your swing still looks pretty good to me. Congrats!
Looking at that swing again, I would show that to anybody today. It has everything going on big time. You know it's funny when I first started teaching the golf swing 30 years ago, we used to just manage the swing then it got into micromanaging the swing and now it's in mega micromanagement swing mode. Everybody needs to slow down and take a good old dose of Strange. And I ain't talkin about the strange you got in the neighborhood either.
Both great swings! And 2 totally different ways to do it. Much more timing on Curtis’ swing. Would love to see how far Curtis could hit the ball with modern equipment, he went at it!!
Curtis was less dependent on timing than most due to how well he was connected throughout his swing. No matchups or angles to time up. He talks about that !
Though Curtis Strange would slide back from the ball with his head, he would slide it right back to where it needed to be at contact. Hogan's swing is more under control it seems. But, Curtis Strange really did a good job with his swing. Would be interesting to study him a lot to understand what made him consistent with a swing where he slid his head back away from the target and then back toward the target and stopping it right behind the ball with the clubhead in the hitting area. I like Christo's observation about the way Curtis Strange breaks his knees to the target -- Lee Trevino's move... and so many others. I think Curtis Strange was just a real physically talented guy. I like Ben Hogan's swing better and would choose to emulate that. I think the take away here is that you can make a few less-than-ideal moves in a swing but make up for it with a few good-as-gold moves -- like breaking the knees to the target.
Billy Graham Good lesson for sure!
No slide, up and covering to hit down.
He was a Jimmy Ballard player
Hal Sutton, Curtis Strange, Rocco Mediate
If you watch Jimmy Ballard on UA-cam you will see a lot of references to Hogan
I certainly owe you a beer or an Arnold Palmer for all the golf knowledge I’ve got from your channel. Hope to see you at one of your intensives some day. I really wish I could demo those Ben Hogan clubs, they sure look and sound great.
Ray Ray Awesome Ray Ray! Thanks for watching!
@@MiracleSwingExperience FRED COUPLES HAS A BEAUTIFUL EFFORTLESS SWING
mw10259 100%
I believe he finished second in 89’.
Curtis was very flexible and Jimmy would occasionally be concerned that he would go over the wall.
Cristo, don’t forget Willie Anderson who wins back to back to back US Opens and four our of five. From ‘03 to ‘06.
Brendan Horton I should have added “post war era!”
Strange- upright with high right elbow. As was Nicklaus. Hogan- flat with tucked right elbow. Similar follow throughs but much different backswings.
Curtis didn’t move off the ball. He had a lateral shift as Tiger when he was younger and Adam Scott.
Christo... what do you see in Hogans address/stance? Yes it's diagonal, but why, and what do you see in particular?..... if you respond, I'll email you.
Elvis Presley Is say he got pre-wound up in his address what say you, Elvis?
H. Stenson kinda has that "sit right" move these days. You can kinda overdo it and it gets a little "slidey". Its is easy on the back i'll tell ya that. Post-up back, post-up thru.
Curtis kind of burned out at a pretty young age but he was a helluva player. His mentor was Sam Snead who had one of the classic swings ever. Thanks for sharing this.
I believe it was Chandler Harper that mentored Curtis when he was younger.
Curtis was a long time Ballard guy.Self destructed early 90s when he wanted to take his game to next level😂. Ballard told him to keep what he had and work more on scoring but Curtis left in a huff.
Something that most instructors have in common is no knowledge of the body movement whatsoever. They don't know anything about kinesiology. I think it should be required. They don't even have it in the PGA teaching manual. But that's another story. Quit using words like turn until you understand what is really happening with the motion. You're welcome.
Always thought he had the most rhythmic and fluid swing in golf.
Is that a Hogan staff bag in the background?
TV in Thailand Yup! 🙌🏻
My Swing Evolution it’s not easy to make out, the lettering was what caught my eye....it did look like the”H”...do you believe the bag was Curtis’?
@@tvinthailand7707 no, it's Tom Kites bag. Tom is the guy in red shirt.
Looks like Strange has a lot more clubhead speed, but it could be an illusion from blurriness. Why doesn't Strange play on Champions? He had one of the best swings of the 1980s.
He did. More steady money in the booth.
I also heard he has more fun fishing and drinking beer rather than the grind of tournament golf
Yep it's a long way from Stack & TILT!!!
Check out his current swing. It's a good model for the weekend player. This 80's swing has a whole mess of rotation in it-- powerful but hard to manage.
The down swing should feel like throwing a rock to skip across water.
MMQ Yup
You have to move off the ball to get your left shoulder over your right foot? No. I disagree. Hogan may have felt he was doing that, but he would never advocate all that lateral movement away.
At the 7:10 mark, in your video, it is obvious there is not much similar in the Hogan and Strange swings, IMO.
And at the 12:12 mark....Hogan's legs never got into such positions.
Hal Sutton and Curtis were the models for Jimmy Ballard....
Ballard was the "guy" in the early 80s much like a Butch Harmon now...
Ballard was a Hogan guy to a point, but advocated that exaggerated move off the ball, but not over the "wall"...
(Do you like Rocco Mediate's swing?) He almost won the open in 2008, and his swing looks like yours from 6 years ago.
Christo, I think you are going backwards by looking at these types of swings.....not in the "classic swing" mode at all, IMO.
Go to Knudson.....
And, for the record, Ralph Guldahl won back to back opens (37 and 38)….and Bobby Jones (29 and 30)
historicus146 Thank you, and I forgot to say post-war era.
Don’t call that moving off the ball as long remains loaded in trail leg
So you’re not a JB fan Christo?
JB is the best .
Set your eyes over the ball different. I just sent you a video that explains this. You can do it.
The Letter Lessons Teacher I’ll check it out!
My Swing Evolution
And let us see highlights commented upon by Christo himself if “Lettter Lessons” has something awesome to tell us there... please.
Finishes with right shoulder almost directly over right foot and closer to target than left shoulder. Full release of body and club.
The greatest of all time , Jack, said that golf’s unarguable fundamental was a still head
First thing Jack did was move his head in his set up. He pre set it, moving it to the right..Feel and real are totally different. He also talked about Jack Grout holdIng his hair during his swing which Jack Grout denied. Nicklaus also talked about turning as if you were in a barrel and Jack did the complete opposite. His shaft moved up and not around.
Jack the teacher said that while jack the player’s head moved a ton . First thing he did was cock it several inches to line up where his spine is as going!
He was one of the shortest hitters on tour! Hogan's Left shoulder is NOT over his left shoe so Jody is wrong on that one.
Average not short !
Curtis tried to move his shirt button over trail toe.
I notice Curtis had both heels in the air just past impact. This unweighting move you see a lot in players today.
Howie Dunbar Good observation. Justin Thomas!
Sorry Christo, chicks dig the long ball. Strange off the the tee was average length at best.
Rich Diana He May not have been long but 3 money titles and 2 US Opens is badass!
I seen him at THE OPEN at ST Andrews.... SHORT HE WAS NOT.
I played against him in HS and believe me he was plenty long. Only when he got on tour he throttled it back to be more accurate.