What a fantastic surprise to see this, thank you! Jaacob still looks like he can hit it a mile; great hair too :) Not many people around nowadays who can explain the MA swing as well as JB, what a treat!
Cool. Took lessons from Mike Austin out in Studio City, California for years and was lucky enough to tape hours and hours of lessons. A genius and quite the character.
Chuck, where have you been? I haven’t seen you post anything in a couple of years. I wish you would show more on your channel as I thought your videos were awesome.
@@tjw1929 Many are on youtube under mentoredbythelegend. I had a website with video lessons but it was, unfortunately, hacked. I am attempting to rebuild it. Thanks!
The spine as a lever (or long arm). I've never heard anything like this. Jaacob explains this so well. And his physiology talk on the C7 and it being what should be rotated around. Really good stuff.
Fascinating. I recently hurt my back and my normal full swing resulted in immediate excruciating pain. So I started trying a hands only swing and found that I only lost a little distance. I slowly added in body turning while keeping it very handsy through impact and was getting better impact, more distance and no back pain!
Sometimes when I've worked with people with back, hip, or knee injuries, incorporating more hands through impact can really help with power. It's quite amazing how far you can hit it with a good solid hand hit. Glad you found something that works for you!
Very interesting - I have watched Mike Austin videos many many times - hoping that some of it will sync in over time - the one swing tip that did stick is when Mike says the golf swing is a side arm baseball throwing motion - the faster you throw the sidearm motion the more whip you will get (or something like that) - truly, that works well for me, though I need more more more - thank you for this video - I will definitely watch every one of them
Yeah, Austin demonstrates the side arm throw in that 1960 video where he was wearing the skeleton suit. It's a nice simple thought if you want to get a basic sense of the swing without having to think about the mechanics too much.
Roger King describes it as 'you have to walk like a sexy woman'. Jacob is the only/first one that explains its function well: to transport the 'unit' into the slot.
Great explanations and simplifications. I particularly like his explanation of the Austin pivot being used to transport the 'unit' into the slot and that the current obsession 'ground/vertical force' doesn't work with it and isn't needed to hit it far. Making use of them, and having high hands, might be the way to go from 110/120 to 130+, but to go from 80/90 to 100/110CHS, such other stuff seems much more relevant and far easier to do. Steve Pratt and Roger King are also worth checking out on youtube for Austin swing inspired teaching.
Hmm, I would say that Austin pivot incorporates all the ground forces really well. To move the lower spine towards the target while pivoting around the C7'ish vertebrae as a fulcrum...you get rotational force, lateral force, and vertical force. The vertical force is more a target-foot side one-foot jump, though, versus the two-foot jump that is currently popular. I've got an article on GolfWRX about this if you want to check it out.
Mike's swing was on another level. Like Moe, the man was a complicated genius. Its great to see Jacob still sharing this information. I personally struggled with the Austin pivot, I'm curious to see if it works for you
I remember Jacob, from years ago, while studying the Austin swing. Jacob , along with Steve Pratt, are the last two remaining standard bearers of this long lost and highly sophisticated golf swing, that only a very few understand !!!!
Throw it with the hunds! He has quite an orthodox in 2024 club path and club kinetics, but what would be lost though is explaining how to compound lever the 12 sets of joints AND throw the clubhead. It is so different you could only get a lesson for example from someone who understands it, or your regular pro would change some element, probably the inside takeaway and the pivot most obviously and you would instantly lose all the advantages. You just can’t half do it although to the untrained observer it looks pretty ‘regular’.
Yeah, sadly in a matter of just 9 years, Mike Austin, Dan Shauger, and Mike Dunaway all died. I just visited Phil Reed while I was in town filming with Brendon, although he’s a writer and not a teacher/coach/instructor. I didn’t think about it, but maybe we should’ve grabbed Steve while I was there too. Ah well, maybe next time! Chuck Dayter also has some good Austin videos online if you want to explore the Austin space.
@@JaacobBowden How about John Marshall? I think he learned from Dan like you did and I think he is teaching it in Atlanta. He's had some vids on youtube.
This series that covers Mike Austin probably the best and easiest methods will help all golfers who want to improve. So many teaching Pro’s are getting 100-200 an hour for lessons that teach their images of the swing. For the cost of internet, I just want say kudos for this. Golfers will gain more improvement with Austin 🍺🍺👍
Wow I’d have loved to have a lesson with him. A lot of his stuff I’ve learned myself , from 100s of hours and over a decade of self practice … when I put it all together I make some pro shots at pro distances but my consistency is dog shit . I’ve also noticed that sometimes my best shots are when the swing looks effortless, as described here …. Going to be using some of these pointers, and a lot of it is just reinforcing what I’ve already figured out . Thanks for the video
the release mentioned here is basically a flexion to extension pattern that many top players like dj, hovland, morikawa use. its really just a way to matchup the backswing and downswing. if you had flexion in the backswing with the hands, and then attempted an old school turn down release you would hook the shit out of the ball. its really just a way for the hands to release stored energy creating speed but also maintaining a relatively passive club face as compared to the classic extension to flexion roll release. i believe mike malaska teaches this method as well.
Malaska explained DJ's swing once, same thing. Shut face in BS (DJ actually says he's just trying to let the CF look at the ball all the time) and a slap release (Steve Pratt's term). When Cogorno discussed throw and twist release at MPCC, they also went through the same stuff you state: shut/flex matches throw/slap release, f.a. roll matches twist aka f.a. roll release.
I’m a hands-n-arms guy - I say that because I don’t “hold” a forward press and expect the clubhead to shoot forward in the hitting area. Doesn’t mean my hands aren’t in front of the ball and clubhead at contact - they are in front. I have some position goals, and not just for my torso, but for the shoulders, hands and arms and club - which is why I say I’m a hands n’ arms guy, even though I use my torso and legs too. I just don’t believe the legs do anything but mess up the swing if you try to “turn” to make clubhead speed. Well, this guy has a rather unique way of using the legs, so I can’t say I disagree with his method, but I’d have to try it out - don’t have the time. Been working with a little trick I attribute to Lee Trevino and that seems to make the game easier, straighter. And I’ve been minimizing my leg motions, though still using my legs - using a little trick Christo Garcia pried out of Ben Hogan’s caddy about Hogan’s right knee “secret.” All this plus generally using my body as Milo Lines demonstrates in his lessons, but not squatting as much, but bent at the waist quite a bit… So much goes into a reliable swing that gets you down to scratch golf. It’s a labor of love. Could I teach what I’m doing? One kid came up to me at the driving range and in a complimentary way was picking my brain I showed him what I was doing and it seemed to click with him. The question is “what are the universal basics of a powerful well controlled swing?! And would anyone really tell all the secrets? Who is privy to the swing secrets of the complete fully controlled powerful swing? The top guys on the PGA tour? Or are they struggling a bit too? Tiger seemed to have it at one point. Does he still have it?
I agree with a lot of your thoughts on this. For me, making sure I finish the swing with proper posture, on balance, with the idea of being "athletic " with my legs . Add the sidearm throw feeling , which eliminates early extension for me.
reminds me a lot of a video you did with monte at oak creek; he has you try and release super early with the wrist/hand like that; almost a slapping action.
In reading all these comments, perhaps Brendon and I should organize a Mike Austin summit? Brendon is in the LA area. Hmm, Steve Pratt is also in the LA area.I'm currently based in Detroit. The Austin drive happened in Vegas. Any interest? And, if so, where and when?
Always been interested in Mike Austin's philosophies, but the presentation of the ideas were always hard for me to fathom. Glad you are taking a crack at this. Guess Phil Reed might be able to help too.
@@BEBETTERGOLFThere are quite a few videos of Mike explaining his "compound pivot" here on YT. When you understand it, it will make perfect sense to you. I think it's better suited for taller players like yourself. Check out the swing of Maude-Aimee LeBlanc. It's looks just like Mike's. Colin Montgomerie has a compound pivot also.
Same for me sofar, but I think Jacob actually explains the WHY? very well: to transport the 'unit' into the slot. Check out Steve Pratt and Roger King for more: 'you have to walk like a sexy woman'. Steve explains the plane, wrists slap release stuff really well, esp. in one of his recent vids 6min on plane, Roger calls it an underhand throw and Malaska's expl. of DJ's swing also matches.
@@BEBETTERGOLF think of the spine as a ball or a plumb Bob tethered from that C7. The Bob or ball on the string is the coccyx. As it swings right and left and rearwards it describes the bottom arc of a semi-circle. It’s designed to accomplish two things, 1) transfer maximum body weight laterally and 2) move the spine lever without moving the centre of the swing arc (top of the tether) swinging the hips in a semi circle to the right on the backswing and then to the left on the downswing, transfers the maximum amount of weight whilst keeping the centre of the swing consistent. The alternative is to compare to Jimmy Ballard who transfers a maximum amount of body weight but also allows the entire C7, the head and upper body to translate rightwards too. That compromises consistency of the arc and therefore strike, and also the base of the lever isn’t pivoting around the fulcrum (c7) as the fulcrum itself is moving. If you take a look at Ben hogan five lessons, about page 35, one of the last pages on the grip, there is a drawing from the rear view illustrating the club being balanced; well that is a great picture of the spine tilted towards the target as Mike Austin prescribes.
IMPRESSIVE… got me up swinging club in the living room. I’m sure it maybe known but think of how a pitcher pushes off mound or Def. End grinds foot and pushes off when ball is snapped. If there is a way to work a push off the back foot ball pad during downswing timing the X factor and retaining a small horizontal rock off the ball and a rock back through that doesn’t sway past the left sides starting point while rotating hips through this could generate BWS (bull whip speed). There’s a lot of power that comes from the foot ball. Heck Justin Tucker pushes off of it then strikes a football with it
Having watched all the Mike Austin videos on UA-cam, I believe his main thing is how he pivots. He was the first one who advocated “shift and turn” with the lower body. The “throw release” comes next.
When having fast hands at impact with a full swing, should you be putting torque on the handle to speed up the club head or should you have supple wrists to let it whip?
I'd think it's one of those things where there's a tipping point. In my testing, people can control about 92-96% of their max speed before things get wild. I would assume it's the same the subset of the full swing of having fast hands. There's a suppleness for whipping and probably some applied force, but it's controllable only up to a certain level. From there it's Russian roulette what you get.
Ties in well with the Malaska L2L drill, proper use of the wrists, and full use of wrist extension and flexion through strike maintaining face square to arc. I find it easy to achieve full wrist action on the way back but need to train the same action after strike as I’m not used to it.
Austin would call this "impeding the pendulum". Interestingly, I've gotten in the habit of holding off my release a little bit. So, I'm trying to work on getting it back as well. I need to refresh on Malaska L2L. I'm imagining from a face-on view, the club moves 360 degrees around when the arms have only moved from 9 to 3 on a clock. Austins 2 L's would be later in the swing at 7:30 and 1:30, which would have the effect of compression at impact. Fred Couple does this too.
Yes, we forget the old timers who took those secrets to the grave, Kudos to Brendan for bringing on guests, Jaacob with past knowledge . . we need more old style swings.
Oh Jaacob ? What is with the hair ? Man you have changed . I did not recognize you at all but I know the voice . Watched all your stuff back in the day .Go the mullett .
Haha, it’s actually all at the same length past my shoulders, just clipped up with a claw clip to keep it out of my face during the swing. But from far away it looks like it’s short on top and the sides but long in the back (someone in the first video of this series said it’s called a Kentucky waterfall haha). As I got older my hairline was getting higher and my hair thinned a lot after my dad died. So I wanted to have it longer while I had it, in case I can’t later in life.
My miss is when I don't get my hands through with any kind of uncommitted swing and the ball goes right, we call that a swipe at the ball. The description of hand action here is exactly what I have to do to hit the ball solidly. I learned to play 50 years ago and this is actually how I first learned to swing. Whenever I have tried to do that exaggerated lag swing, which is more of a hit than a swing in my opinion, the results have been horrendous. When I get tired the timing does become more difficult and the results can be mixed but I still hit driver far enough to play back tees and will pull a 7 iron from 160 yards out so I know this swing works most of the time.
The spine lever vs modern long drive technique of crouching down and then pushing up is interesting. I think the crouch/push produces more power but as he says it requires good timing which makes it less reliable on the course.
I still think your videos with AJ Bonar and his instructions hold more water than most other teachings. Bobby Lopez would be a close second, then Mike Malaska.
Jacob like Mike Austin has some great speed because of the grip strength. I have a lot of former D1 baseball players as friends and they absolutely rip the ball because their hands/forearms look like Popeye the sailor.
100% truth. I lost a lot of my wrist and forearm strength hence a lot of distance. One time a long time ago I was working for 3 months doing construction work. Hadn't hit a golf ball for those 3 months! When my contract was over I hit an old cheap wooden driver over 250 yds. I was shocked. Normal.was about 220. 34 years ago!
I agree, having or developing strong hands really helps...and quite a lot of MLB and NHL players hit a golf ball very hard. In long drive, it's common to find guys that played in the minors. Even I had a tryout with the Minnesota Twins at the old Metronome. Jamie Sadlowski isn't big, but there's video of him doing 495 lb hexbar deadlifts for 10 reps. That's huge hand strength. When I caddied in John Daly's group at the Senior PGA Championship, there's a photo of him and I walking together (it's on my Instagram). I'm 6'2", have 8 inch hands from wrist crease to middle finger tip, and have ranged in weight during my golf between 202-236. I'm a large person. But Daly's forearms were like logs next to me in that photo. Mike Dunway had big forearms and a meaty grip when shaking his hand. There's lots of stories about Austin's strength as well. He was 6'2" and about 215 as well and apparently he picked up an engine block out of an old Volkswagen bug by himself. Even when I was around him in his 90s, I could tell he had remnants of big strong hands and forearms. He smacked my hands once with his off hand when I didn't do something how he wanted. It stung haha.
Fun Austin story that Brendon and I didn’t get to, but somewhere out there is a video of Mike Dunaway and I hitting balls together side by side. It was maybe 2003 or 2004 and I was 27/28 and Dunaway would’ve been 48/49. Dunaway flew into LA to visit Austin..:and myself, Phil Reed, Dan Shauger, Mike Austin, and Dunaway all went over to the John Wells Driving Range in North Hollywood where Dan taught. I think Dunaway even came straight from the airport. Dunaway and I both started hitting balls in adjacent stalls with all the others looking on. I’ve seen a lot of professional and amateur swings over the years and I can’t think of a more beautiful swing in person that I’ve ever seen than Dunaway’s. He effortlessly hit the ball on what seemed like a string with every club in the bag over and over and over. What a sight it must’ve been because I don’t recall either one of us really missing a shot, which was lucky for me because I was so nervous with it being the first time I met Dunaway and us drawing a crowd with the cameras being there. I think Dan had the video footage at one point but sadly I don’t know what became of it. I wish it would turn up somehow again, both for me to relive it again, but also to share it with all of you.
@@1DCCX No, it was another earlier time. The section with Mike Dunaway chipping was from a separate trip for Mike D to visit Dan Shauger. I wasn't there for that visit.
As with Milo, his grip is much stronger than yours. That means they are already forearm-turned at impact, whereas you are not. Their clubface will always be an angled hinge action (not horizontal hinge action) causing the high fade. In order for them to affect a straight ball or draw, they must monitor trigger finger pressure to trace a square or closed plane line through impact (consult Lee D for the tgm cure for strong grip angled clubface correction...in fact, please ask Lee D to do a video with you on just this previous sentence and grip topic. Until you know which grip is being used, we're just roping the wind.) Your grip and that release that Mike Malaska (the same thing taught here by Mike Austin) teaches will always send you high and right. If we could change gears, I'd like to see you go down the Teacherman baseball hitting drills rabbit hole. And how it translates to the big hitters in golf.
I miss days when I had free flowing hair like that. Driving my El Camino. Just driving that thru the neighborhood with my hair flying around were some good times
Love it! I can see it! There's a modern day social construct to cutting/coloring hair, shaving, etc. Sometimes I wonder what everyone would look like au natural. This is my natural hair color in this video. I think the length is maxed out too. I've been thinking about not shaving to see what that would look like. When my dad lost his hair during chemo, I shaved my head bald...and let everything grow for 4 months. I haven't gone past that with the beard, though. Getting some white and grey now!
Thanks. Yes, I get some rotational forces, but my lateral forces always surprise people. It's way above tour average because such a lateral movement isn't a common part of modern teaching on tour, but that lateral force helps me drop the club into impact, kind of like a trebuchet. My verticals are high as well, especially when I was at my longest. It's more of a target-side foot one-foot jump, though, versus the two foot jumping you see around a lot right now. I wrote an article about this for GolfWRX if you want to check it out.
Haha what did he do? He gave me a good smack once in his living room when Dan Shauger and I were talking with him about the grip and hand action with me as the swing model. I was startled and also surprised he hit so hard. Needless to say, it got my attention and I never repeated my mistake again in front of him!
@@JaacobBowden I once took a practice swing extremely wet divot and hit Dan square in the face and it oozed down his face he just stood there and said Thanks Randall 🤣
This is some thing I also found interesting . Although all these guys used the Austin swing principle , none of their swings look the same . Thats is Austin , Dunaway ( most beautiful of them all ) Bowden .
Been working on my MA swing for years now and tries to simplify it, there's always some smartass club fitter trying to fix my swing. It's funny how they're the ones that can't accept any swing that seemed unorthodox to them and felt the immediate urge to fix it, stick to your job you're not a swing coach or instructor for a reason. Anyway, with this swing last month I hit my longest drives twice in one round 380, and 370-yard drive respectively. And when I check my clubhead speed it's nothing crazy around mid to high 110s but I guess that supple quickness that Mike kept saying over the years finally happened in those two drives and the ball flight makes no sense, both was low launch low spin with an apex of no more than 80 feet the ball must have rolled like crazy, and the strike was just ok. When Mike Dunaway's decided to simplify what he learned from Mike Austin in one his last instructional videos titled Escape Force Motion, once you get it right it's crazy how effortless accurate and powerful it is. And I'm a Golfer who have symptoms of Dyspraxia so if this swing can make me this much better there's no question a fast learner like Jaacob with hands on time coached with Dan Shauger can be fast and successful in long drive and pro golf in such short time.
Haha, yeah, sometimes in golf you have to "grey rock" and let things go in one ear and out the other. My rapid success was multi-factored. A vision. Naturally strong, athletic and kinesthetic. Willingness to take some risks and be different. Patience and persistence. Tracking progress and making adjustments. Getting in reps. Having a third party in Dan Shauger and Mike Austin to look at me. Slow motion. Working in front of the mirror or my reflection. Equipment fitting. Gym and body work. Creatine supplementation. Good sleep. Contemplating. Journaling. And probably more! The Austin swing helped, but a lot of other things went in to it.
Yes, he clarifies some of the points about the hip action that Mike Dunaway didn't explain clearly in his videos with Austin, leading to early extension and/or sh@nks.
I was going a lot in-to-out and historically my average shot pattern was a tight draw. But I've actually been playing around on a Trackman with zero'ing my irons/wedges out. 0 angle of attack. 0 face-to-path. I like the idea of my average shot netting out as a straight ball. It's strange at the moment. Being used to in-to-out, I feel like I'm coming over the top when I'm straight. And the shot shape looks like a fade to my eye, even though it's straight. Fun to play around with it, though!
So, there are two different religions of golf swing: impeding the pendulum (Jaacob Bowden, Mike Austin, etc.) vs. unimpeding the pendulum (Milo Lines, David Duval, etc.). There are many followers on both stream. There are also tour players on both. The question is which method is suitable for whom?
I don't think it's black and white as a right or wrong. Everything comes with a set of pros and cons...and you can find examples of all sorts of things out there that are functional. So, suitable. Nice word. I like that.
I really like listening to Mike Austin and more recently Jaacob (do watch his YT videos that are very structured and easy to listen to) and Steve Pratt (who has a LOT of detailed content). But one thing that has really irked me is that everyone casually references MA's 515-yard drive and leaves it there. Jaacob even has a video telling a story about how he went to the course where the drive was hit and played that same hole and so on. OK, I'll accept the drive as such-I know Guinness at least used to be sticklers about formality and wouldn't let any old wild fact count as a world record. But look at today's long drivers. The training they put it. The size of them (yes, Mike Austin was also a strong guy) and today's technology. Not ONCE has anyone been close to those 515 yards, as far as I know. Considering those times CONSIDERABLY weaker tech, Mike's drive has just got to be a question of how much wind there was, but also how many bounces he got off a cart path (or similarly hard-packed ground). It's still a cool fact/stat, but I think there should be more context when mentioning it. Otherwise we risk having people rejecting EVERYTHING about Mike as cult-like, or plain ol' snake oil. Which it isn't.
Funny thing is Mike A. swing if you get the basics of the pivot and the release the ball flight becomes super straight and sufficiently long. As a personal.example I practiced some of the concepts Jacob was showing and describing to Brandon for a few days. Specifically the day before my scheduled round of golf I decided to hit balls off a hard packed baseball infield with 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 swings. I was getting slightly longer carry distances than my more traditional method with much more consistency. I had played golf for about 30 years and my scores were generally in the 77-84 range on a par 72 from the white tees. My personal best EVER was 76 on the course we were playing and that was at least 15 years prior to this round. I shot a 70 !! My only misses were 3 thin shots using this release. It felt like a pitcher throwing a no hitter. It was crazy. So yes it works and with a swing that uses less effort.
Yeah, context is important. Austin was indeed a long hitter, but there was a big tail wind that day. It was Vegas, so I'm thinking firm ground plus a bit of elevation at 2000'ish feet. Part of the distance was across the green too, where the roll would've been even more than the fairway. So, these factors at a minimum went into that 515. When I think back about my 400+ yard drives, although I've swung in the 140s, ALL of those drives had some sort of circumstances that led to the extra distance and relatively big number. One in Canberra, Australia was downhill with a firm fairway. One in Vegas at Boulder Creek was slightly uphill, but had a big tail wind, firm fairway, and must've caught a slope in the fairway in just the right way. One was at Rustic Canyon in California with a tailwind, firm fairway, and probably a lucky kick off a fairway mound. There were more...but my best was 421, which was won a qualifier for the World Long Drive Championships in Warner Springs and set the venue record at the time. The grid was 420, my ball was still hot at 420 and the grid worker said the weeds killed it immediately. So, it would've been even longer. However, the elevation was also 3130 feet and the grid was rock hard. Conditions make a difference.
The only issue is that he didn't cover roller vs counter rotation versions of Mike Auston's swing. It is fair that he didn't because taught ppl different things.
I met Shawn once at the PGA Merchandise Show. Seemed really nice! One of the original UA-camrs before that was even a term. I think at one point he may have even had the largest channel in golf.
Potential sponsors should get in touch with me! Need a good team/resources to cover all the basic living, travel, and tournament expenses to play golf professionally.
Mind boggling, right? I remember reading about it as a kid in the Guinness Book of World Records and I couldn't fathom it. I've since played the hole a number of times and it's still hard to believe, even after seeing and playing the hole. All really long drives, including this one, had extra conditions at play. For this, there was a tail wind. Las Vegas is at 2001' of elevation. The fairway was probably firm. Some of the roll was across the green as well.
Thing that doesn't make sense if he hit a drive 515 yards then you would think he would have lots of drives well over 400 yds...wonder what his average drive was
I’m guessing that the older guy didn’t carry it 400 or whatever yards and end up with 515 , was it at a high elevation , was it windy , was the ground concrete , was it downhill … because that doesn’t make any sense , especially considering newer technology helping out so much and a guy who’s only 26/27 only getting fractionally further than a 64 year old … the ball must’ve rolled 150 yards 😂
He slapped my hands once. It stung and startled me because I wasn't expecting a 90+ year old man who was paralyzed on his right side to do that haha. But it got my attention! Different Austin people apparently got different things with the release...and he may have evolved his thinking over time as people can. That being said, what I got with him was a flip release that minimized club face rotation through impact. The throw stimulus was at the top, but with the timing of the pivot, the net of the two together "looked" like a late flip from a face-on standpoint, if that makes sense.
@@breakthrough8628 good question. It happened in 1974 in Las Vegas and the senior national championship I believe. the drive went over the green of a par 4 by a lot. It was Austin’s ball, marked. Austin bogeyed the hole. It was hot and windy that day. Guiness interviewed the other players that Mike was playing with including 7 time pga tour winner Chandler Harper. My friend Phil Reed (mike Austin biographer), went and interviewed Mr Harper about 20 years ago and he confirmed it. Apparently a man of impeccable character. When he hit it and they saw where the ball had gone they knew it was something special and they marked the spot. Obviously no trackman, shot link or video back then, some people have tried to explain it in other ways (sprinkler head, etc). Apparently no one was around to have thrown the ball further. Scientifically he would perfect weather and wind (which it was, Phil confirmed this with NASA historic weather data) and a clubhead speed over 150 and a perfect bounce. That’s about as much as we know. Without a Time Machine we will never know all the details.
Anybody who believes that Mike Austin could hit that drive without cutting a dog leg without a 35 mile an hour. Till wind and without the ground being as hard as a runway at l. A. X is a fool. I did long drive for 17 years lived in Nevada for 7. You elevate the T put a 35 mile an hour tail wind. I know plenty of guys that could hit the ball that far even at the age of 64 to eat for them. Guinness world book of records to call this the longest drive. Ever is ridiculous to say the least
Conditions matter for sure! I don't think the tee was elevated and the net slope on the hole was flat, but there was a big tail wind, Vegas has a 2001' elevation, the fairway could've been firm, and part of the drive was across the green. It's plausible it might've hit a sprinkler head or something like that as well. You are also correct that it is a dogleg right. I thought about this too. Was part of the distance just cutting off the dogleg? But I've played the hole, lasered the flag from the back tee, and also estimated with Google satellite imagery. I think 515 was legit as the crow flies. I don't believe this was the hardest hit ball ever, though. Some of the guys are swinging 170 chs and 145 bs now. It's amazing. Given the same conditions, those balls would have to be over 515. However, regardless of conditions, having a guy in his 60s in the 1970s hit a ball in a tournament over 500 is really awesome.
Sorry, but hopefully the information helps! Could've been the mics too. In re-watching these myself, I also noticed I was saying "like" a lot as a filler. I used to not do that, but it's been since 2021 since I filmed something of any length like these. A bit out of practice, I suppose. Also, these videos were ad-libbed. I didn't know what Brendon would ask. It was all just spur of the moment. He just turned on the camera and we started talking.
If you do enough research you’ll find your wrong!! Austin who took Mike Dunaway under his wing showed Dunaway hitting tee shots driving a four hundred yard par 4
@fourftr Yes Dunaway could all day long . I am a massive fan of Dunaway . Austin never outdrove Dunaway . Enough research ? I spent years trying to learn the Austin swing . Emailed Dunaway many times and he was always helpful .I think Dunaway has the most beautiful swing on the planet . I am a engineer . I understand the numbers .To hit a 460 yard drive you need to have a 170 mph swing speed . You know what the fastest recorded swing speed in history is ? 156 mph by Kyle Berkshire . There is no way a 65 yr old man is out driving the worlds longest driver who is young and fit and in his prime with old tech compared to the latest long drive clubs and balls . It simply cannot happen . No way did Austin hit a persimmon driver with a balata ball over 500 yards . The real story is that he hit a nice drive around 300 plus yards. It hit a marble yardage marker that propelled the ball another 100 plus yards over the green where it caught the slope and travelled another 70 plus yards . This was from some one who played the course back in the day and knows the story . Now that is completely believable. Why . Because I did a similar thing at my home course. There is no footage of Austin hitting 350 yards . Yes he was long for his time . Austin was also eccentric nutter . If it wasn't for Dunaways videos you would never have heard of Austin . Mike Dunaway walked the walk and talked the talk . Austin's record is no more a record as the pro's like Phil and Bryson who had massive drives that rolled down cart paths . It's a myth . Great swing I might add . No question. . But it never happened the way people think . If you can hit it 500 yards. You can hit it 400 every other day then ,right ? Again no footage of Austin ever hitting 350 let alone 400.
Conditions definitely play a role in long drives….elevation, wind speed, ground conditions, etc. It’s wild to think about but apparently that tournament round he hit multiple drives over 400 according to witnesses and his playing partners, one of whom was a major championship winner. I’ve played the hole a number of times and used satellite imagery to check the distances. Near as I can tell from where the tee box was to the spot on the back off the green where the ball was, it was right at about 515 as the crow flies.
@@JaacobBowden Respect your opinion Jaacob but it never happened . Like I said the numbers simply do not add up nor does the equipment used to achieve it . We can't go past the numbers and speed needed to achieve it .I could not care less what witnesses say because it cannot be replicated and never has . Can you tell me who the major winner was ? I heard all the stories and then I heard from a guy who was a member there and set the record straight . Granite yardage marker and now it all makes sense .
@@johnathanwetherill456 if I remember correctly, it was Chandler Harper. Unfortunately, I don't know if there's a way to prove how it got there aside from Guinness validating it. Harper died in 2004. Austin died in 2005. I'm not sure who else was in the group or saw it. Maybe there's a record of it somewhere. Phil Reed might know. But yeah, something certainly could've happened like hitting some rock hard surface like a yardage marker.
What you describe at 12:50 is under release. You should get in contact and interview Christian Small @momentumgolf. He will explain things much more clearly than many of the people you interview. Also, people use the word 'flip' when describing many different positions. It's over used and misunderstood.
Best explanation of the “Mike Austin Swing,”pivot and release. Thanks for the video and looking forward to more of your time with Jaacob.
What a fantastic surprise to see this, thank you! Jaacob still looks like he can hit it a mile; great hair too :) Not many people around nowadays who can explain the MA swing as well as JB, what a treat!
JB did a great job of simplifying the Mike Austin swing.
Cool. Took lessons from Mike Austin out in Studio City, California for years and was lucky enough to tape hours and hours of lessons. A genius and quite the character.
I would love to see those videos if you could share them.
Chuck, where have you been? I haven’t seen you post anything in a couple of years. I wish you would show more on your channel as I thought your videos were awesome.
Chuck why wouldn’t you want to give lessons to past on Mike’s swing
I am greatly interested in Austin videos: is there a possibility that you can digitise and post?
many thanks
@@tjw1929 Many are on youtube under mentoredbythelegend. I had a website with video lessons but it was, unfortunately, hacked. I am attempting to rebuild it. Thanks!
I knew Mike well over the years, what a character, he give me information now and again, enjoyed his company. He had all the shots
Awesome! Did you ever get to see him hit balls before his stroke?
The spine as a lever (or long arm). I've never heard anything like this. Jaacob explains this so well. And his physiology talk on the C7 and it being what should be rotated around. Really good stuff.
Yeah it works. When you get the pivot down you feel like Fred Couples when he's warming up on the range!
Brilliant video. I watched Jaacob hour long video from his UA-cam channel. It's excellent,as was this video. Thanks
This video is great it confirmed some of the feelings in the swing. Effortless power yes but takes a little to get used to how much power you gain.
Fascinating. I recently hurt my back and my normal full swing resulted in immediate excruciating pain. So I started trying a hands only swing and found that I only lost a little distance. I slowly added in body turning while keeping it very handsy through impact and was getting better impact, more distance and no back pain!
Sometimes when I've worked with people with back, hip, or knee injuries, incorporating more hands through impact can really help with power. It's quite amazing how far you can hit it with a good solid hand hit. Glad you found something that works for you!
Very interesting - I have watched Mike Austin videos many many times - hoping that some of it will sync in over time - the one swing tip that did stick is when Mike says the golf swing is a side arm baseball throwing motion - the faster you throw the sidearm motion the more whip you will get (or something like that) - truly, that works well for me, though I need more more more - thank you for this video - I will definitely watch every one of them
Roger King calls it an underhand throw.
Yeah, Austin demonstrates the side arm throw in that 1960 video where he was wearing the skeleton suit. It's a nice simple thought if you want to get a basic sense of the swing without having to think about the mechanics too much.
This is basically how I swing. Looking forward to seeing the extra stuff in the members section...
Think this the best explanation of the spine pivot
Roger King describes it as 'you have to walk like a sexy woman'.
Jacob is the only/first one that explains its function well: to transport the 'unit' into the slot.
Very cool to go down this road.
Great explanations and simplifications.
I particularly like his explanation of the Austin pivot being used to transport the 'unit' into the slot and that the current obsession 'ground/vertical force' doesn't work with it and isn't needed to hit it far.
Making use of them, and having high hands, might be the way to go from 110/120 to 130+, but to go from 80/90 to 100/110CHS, such other stuff seems much more relevant and far easier to do.
Steve Pratt and Roger King are also worth checking out on youtube for Austin swing inspired teaching.
Hmm, I would say that Austin pivot incorporates all the ground forces really well. To move the lower spine towards the target while pivoting around the C7'ish vertebrae as a fulcrum...you get rotational force, lateral force, and vertical force. The vertical force is more a target-foot side one-foot jump, though, versus the two-foot jump that is currently popular. I've got an article on GolfWRX about this if you want to check it out.
Mike's swing was on another level. Like Moe, the man was a complicated genius. Its great to see Jacob still sharing this information. I personally struggled with the Austin pivot, I'm curious to see if it works for you
I remember Jacob, from years ago, while studying the Austin swing.
Jacob , along with Steve Pratt, are the last two remaining standard bearers of this long lost and highly sophisticated golf swing, that only a very few understand !!!!
Roger King now teaches that style as well and he has a bunch of rel. new videos on that on youtube.
Yeah Roger is very good at explaining it
Throw it with the hunds!
He has quite an orthodox in 2024 club path and club kinetics, but what would be lost though is explaining how to compound lever the 12 sets of joints AND throw the clubhead.
It is so different you could only get a lesson for example from someone who understands it, or your regular pro would change some element, probably the inside takeaway and the pivot most obviously and you would instantly lose all the advantages. You just can’t half do it although to the untrained observer it looks pretty ‘regular’.
Yeah, sadly in a matter of just 9 years, Mike Austin, Dan Shauger, and Mike Dunaway all died.
I just visited Phil Reed while I was in town filming with Brendon, although he’s a writer and not a teacher/coach/instructor. I didn’t think about it, but maybe we should’ve grabbed Steve while I was there too. Ah well, maybe next time! Chuck Dayter also has some good Austin videos online if you want to explore the Austin space.
@@JaacobBowden How about John Marshall? I think he learned from Dan like you did and I think he is teaching it in Atlanta. He's had some vids on youtube.
This series that covers Mike Austin probably the best and easiest methods will help all golfers who want to improve. So many teaching Pro’s are getting 100-200 an hour for lessons that teach their images of the swing. For the cost of internet, I just want say kudos for this. Golfers will gain more improvement with Austin 🍺🍺👍
I typically really enjoy your videos.
Wow I’d have loved to have a lesson with him. A lot of his stuff I’ve learned myself , from 100s of hours and over a decade of self practice … when I put it all together I make some pro shots at pro distances but my consistency is dog shit .
I’ve also noticed that sometimes my best shots are when the swing looks effortless, as described here ….
Going to be using some of these pointers, and a lot of it is just reinforcing what I’ve already figured out .
Thanks for the video
Great video Brendon!
the release mentioned here is basically a flexion to extension pattern that many top players like dj, hovland, morikawa use. its really just a way to matchup the backswing and downswing. if you had flexion in the backswing with the hands, and then attempted an old school turn down release you would hook the shit out of the ball. its really just a way for the hands to release stored energy creating speed but also maintaining a relatively passive club face as compared to the classic extension to flexion roll release. i believe mike malaska teaches this method as well.
Wow
Malaska explained DJ's swing once, same thing. Shut face in BS (DJ actually says he's just trying to let the CF look at the ball all the time) and a slap release (Steve Pratt's term).
When Cogorno discussed throw and twist release at MPCC, they also went through the same stuff you state: shut/flex matches throw/slap release, f.a. roll matches twist aka f.a. roll release.
I’m a hands-n-arms guy - I say that because I don’t “hold” a forward press and expect the clubhead to shoot forward in the hitting area. Doesn’t mean my hands aren’t in front of the ball and clubhead at contact - they are in front. I have some position goals, and not just for my torso, but for the shoulders, hands and arms and club - which is why I say I’m a hands n’ arms guy, even though I use my torso and legs too. I just don’t believe the legs do anything but mess up the swing if you try to “turn” to make clubhead speed.
Well, this guy has a rather unique way of using the legs, so I can’t say I disagree with his method, but I’d have to try it out - don’t have the time. Been working with a little trick I attribute to Lee Trevino and that seems to make the game easier, straighter. And I’ve been minimizing my leg motions, though still using my legs - using a little trick Christo Garcia pried out of Ben Hogan’s caddy about Hogan’s right knee “secret.” All this plus generally using my body as Milo Lines demonstrates in his lessons, but not squatting as much, but bent at the waist quite a bit…
So much goes into a reliable swing that gets you down to scratch golf. It’s a labor of love. Could I teach what I’m doing? One kid came up to me at the driving range and in a complimentary way was picking my brain I showed him what I was doing and it seemed to click with him. The question is “what are the universal basics of a powerful well controlled swing?! And would anyone really tell all the secrets? Who is privy to the swing secrets of the complete fully controlled powerful swing? The top guys on the PGA tour? Or are they struggling a bit too? Tiger seemed to have it at one point. Does he still have it?
I agree with a lot of your thoughts on this. For me, making sure I finish the swing with proper posture, on balance, with the idea of being "athletic " with my legs . Add the sidearm throw feeling , which eliminates early extension for me.
Freddie couples, David Duvall and Colin swing like the hand part rotates to sky
reminds me a lot of a video you did with monte at oak creek; he has you try and release super early with the wrist/hand like that; almost a slapping action.
In reading all these comments, perhaps Brendon and I should organize a Mike Austin summit? Brendon is in the LA area. Hmm, Steve Pratt is also in the LA area.I'm currently based in Detroit. The Austin drive happened in Vegas. Any interest? And, if so, where and when?
Phil Reed is also in the LA area.
Always been interested in Mike Austin's philosophies, but the presentation of the ideas were always hard for me to fathom. Glad you are taking a crack at this. Guess Phil Reed might be able to help too.
@@robertberardy405 the lower body action doesn’t make sense to me.
@@BEBETTERGOLFThere are quite a few videos of Mike explaining his "compound pivot" here on YT. When you understand it, it will make perfect sense to you. I think it's better suited for taller players like yourself. Check out the swing of Maude-Aimee LeBlanc. It's looks just like Mike's.
Colin Montgomerie has a compound pivot also.
Same for me sofar, but I think Jacob actually explains the WHY? very well: to transport the 'unit' into the slot.
Check out Steve Pratt and Roger King for more: 'you have to walk like a sexy woman'.
Steve explains the plane, wrists slap release stuff really well, esp. in one of his recent vids 6min on plane, Roger calls it an underhand throw and Malaska's expl. of DJ's swing also matches.
Hmm, maybe we should do a video about this and talk through it?
Also, a scheduled live Q&A could be interesting.
@@BEBETTERGOLF think of the spine as a ball or a plumb Bob tethered from that C7. The Bob or ball on the string is the coccyx.
As it swings right and left and rearwards it describes the bottom arc of a semi-circle.
It’s designed to accomplish two things, 1) transfer maximum body weight laterally and 2) move the spine lever without moving the centre of the swing arc (top of the tether)
swinging the hips in a semi circle to the right on the backswing and then to the left on the downswing, transfers the maximum amount of weight whilst keeping the centre of the swing consistent.
The alternative is to compare to Jimmy Ballard who transfers a maximum amount of body weight but also allows the entire C7, the head and upper body to translate rightwards too. That compromises consistency of the arc and therefore strike, and also the base of the lever isn’t pivoting around the fulcrum (c7) as the fulcrum itself is moving.
If you take a look at Ben hogan five lessons, about page 35, one of the last pages on the grip, there is a drawing from the rear view illustrating the club being balanced; well that is a great picture of the spine tilted towards the target as Mike Austin prescribes.
This is very enlightening.
IMPRESSIVE… got me up swinging club in the living room. I’m sure it maybe known but think of how a pitcher pushes off mound or Def. End grinds foot and pushes off when ball is snapped. If there is a way to work a push off the back foot ball pad during downswing timing the X factor and retaining a small horizontal rock off the ball and a rock back through that doesn’t sway past the left sides starting point while rotating hips through this could generate BWS (bull whip speed). There’s a lot of power that comes from the foot ball. Heck Justin Tucker pushes off of it then strikes a football with it
Having watched all the Mike Austin videos on UA-cam, I believe his main thing is how he pivots. He was the first one who advocated “shift and turn” with the lower body. The “throw release” comes next.
When having fast hands at impact with a full swing, should you be putting torque on the handle to speed up the club head or should you have supple wrists to let it whip?
I'd think it's one of those things where there's a tipping point. In my testing, people can control about 92-96% of their max speed before things get wild. I would assume it's the same the subset of the full swing of having fast hands. There's a suppleness for whipping and probably some applied force, but it's controllable only up to a certain level. From there it's Russian roulette what you get.
Ties in well with the Malaska L2L drill, proper use of the wrists, and full use of wrist extension and flexion through strike maintaining face square to arc.
I find it easy to achieve full wrist action on the way back but need to train the same action after strike as I’m not used to it.
Austin would call this "impeding the pendulum". Interestingly, I've gotten in the habit of holding off my release a little bit. So, I'm trying to work on getting it back as well.
I need to refresh on Malaska L2L. I'm imagining from a face-on view, the club moves 360 degrees around when the arms have only moved from 9 to 3 on a clock. Austins 2 L's would be later in the swing at 7:30 and 1:30, which would have the effect of compression at impact. Fred Couple does this too.
Great content Brendan
Yes, we forget the old timers who took those secrets to the grave, Kudos to Brendan for bringing on guests, Jaacob with past knowledge . . we need more old style swings.
It's interesting how there's some modern day teaching coming back around to much older swing styles.
thanks
Oh Jaacob ? What is with the hair ? Man you have changed . I did not recognize you at all but I know the voice . Watched all your stuff back in the day .Go the mullett .
Haha, it’s actually all at the same length past my shoulders, just clipped up with a claw clip to keep it out of my face during the swing.
But from far away it looks like it’s short on top and the sides but long in the back (someone in the first video of this series said it’s called a Kentucky waterfall haha).
As I got older my hairline was getting higher and my hair thinned a lot after my dad died. So I wanted to have it longer while I had it, in case I can’t later in life.
There is an old video here on youtube with David Duval where he talks about this kind of release and he demonstrates it.
Interesting … HOF mullet too, well played
My miss is when I don't get my hands through with any kind of uncommitted swing and the ball goes right, we call that a swipe at the ball. The description of hand action here is exactly what I have to do to hit the ball solidly. I learned to play 50 years ago and this is actually how I first learned to swing. Whenever I have tried to do that exaggerated lag swing, which is more of a hit than a swing in my opinion, the results have been horrendous. When I get tired the timing does become more difficult and the results can be mixed but I still hit driver far enough to play back tees and will pull a 7 iron from 160 yards out so I know this swing works most of the time.
It's great you understand your misses and how to handle them. That helps for playing golf!
Interesting video.
Here is a thought with this try to make the bounce on the back of the toe hit the ground
The spine lever vs modern long drive technique of crouching down and then pushing up is interesting. I think the crouch/push produces more power but as he says it requires good timing which makes it less reliable on the course.
If you want to search on Google, I've got a couple articles on my GolfWRX author profile about this...a one-foot jump vs a two-foot jump.
I still think your videos with AJ Bonar and his instructions hold more water than most other teachings. Bobby Lopez would be a close second, then Mike Malaska.
Jacob like Mike Austin has some great speed because of the grip strength. I have a lot of former D1 baseball players as friends and they absolutely rip the ball because their hands/forearms look like Popeye the sailor.
100% truth. I lost a lot of my wrist and forearm strength hence a lot of distance. One time a long time ago I was working for 3 months doing construction work. Hadn't hit a golf ball for those 3 months! When my contract was over I hit an old cheap wooden driver over 250 yds. I was shocked. Normal.was about 220. 34 years ago!
I agree, having or developing strong hands really helps...and quite a lot of MLB and NHL players hit a golf ball very hard. In long drive, it's common to find guys that played in the minors. Even I had a tryout with the Minnesota Twins at the old Metronome.
Jamie Sadlowski isn't big, but there's video of him doing 495 lb hexbar deadlifts for 10 reps. That's huge hand strength.
When I caddied in John Daly's group at the Senior PGA Championship, there's a photo of him and I walking together (it's on my Instagram). I'm 6'2", have 8 inch hands from wrist crease to middle finger tip, and have ranged in weight during my golf between 202-236. I'm a large person. But Daly's forearms were like logs next to me in that photo.
Mike Dunway had big forearms and a meaty grip when shaking his hand.
There's lots of stories about Austin's strength as well. He was 6'2" and about 215 as well and apparently he picked up an engine block out of an old Volkswagen bug by himself. Even when I was around him in his 90s, I could tell he had remnants of big strong hands and forearms. He smacked my hands once with his off hand when I didn't do something how he wanted. It stung haha.
Fun Austin story that Brendon and I didn’t get to, but somewhere out there is a video of Mike Dunaway and I hitting balls together side by side.
It was maybe 2003 or 2004 and I was 27/28 and Dunaway would’ve been 48/49. Dunaway flew into LA to visit Austin..:and myself, Phil Reed, Dan Shauger, Mike Austin, and Dunaway all went over to the John Wells Driving Range in North Hollywood where Dan taught. I think Dunaway even came straight from the airport.
Dunaway and I both started hitting balls in adjacent stalls with all the others looking on. I’ve seen a lot of professional and amateur swings over the years and I can’t think of a more beautiful swing in person that I’ve ever seen than Dunaway’s. He effortlessly hit the ball on what seemed like a string with every club in the bag over and over and over. What a sight it must’ve been because I don’t recall either one of us really missing a shot, which was lucky for me because I was so nervous with it being the first time I met Dunaway and us drawing a crowd with the cameras being there.
I think Dan had the video footage at one point but sadly I don’t know what became of it. I wish it would turn up somehow again, both for me to relive it again, but also to share it with all of you.
@@JaacobBowden Jaacob, is it in How to kill the ball? At the front of the book version, there’s a section with pictures of Mike Dunaway chipping.
@@1DCCX No, it was another earlier time. The section with Mike Dunaway chipping was from a separate trip for Mike D to visit Dan Shauger. I wasn't there for that visit.
@@JaacobBowden Dunaway was the epitome of style and power. The sound his strike made was heavenly.
As with Milo, his grip is much stronger than yours. That means they are already forearm-turned at impact, whereas you are not. Their clubface will always be an angled hinge action (not horizontal hinge action) causing the high fade. In order for them to affect a straight ball or draw, they must monitor trigger finger pressure to trace a square or closed plane line through impact (consult Lee D for the tgm cure for strong grip angled clubface correction...in fact, please ask Lee D to do a video with you on just this previous sentence and grip topic. Until you know which grip is being used, we're just roping the wind.) Your grip and that release that Mike Malaska (the same thing taught here by Mike Austin) teaches will always send you high and right. If we could change gears, I'd like to see you go down the Teacherman baseball hitting drills rabbit hole. And how it translates to the big hitters in golf.
I miss days when I had free flowing hair like that. Driving my El Camino. Just driving that thru the neighborhood with my hair flying around were some good times
Love it! I can see it!
There's a modern day social construct to cutting/coloring hair, shaving, etc. Sometimes I wonder what everyone would look like au natural.
This is my natural hair color in this video. I think the length is maxed out too. I've been thinking about not shaving to see what that would look like. When my dad lost his hair during chemo, I shaved my head bald...and let everything grow for 4 months. I haven't gone past that with the beard, though. Getting some white and grey now!
Like Jaacobs swing. Looks like he is using the ground a lot
Thanks. Yes, I get some rotational forces, but my lateral forces always surprise people. It's way above tour average because such a lateral movement isn't a common part of modern teaching on tour, but that lateral force helps me drop the club into impact, kind of like a trebuchet. My verticals are high as well, especially when I was at my longest. It's more of a target-side foot one-foot jump, though, versus the two foot jumping you see around a lot right now. I wrote an article about this for GolfWRX if you want to check it out.
@@JaacobBowden Awsome, i will check that 👍 Thanks
I use to love watching Mike beat his students and look over at the old cronies on the bench at Whitsett.😊
Haha what did he do?
He gave me a good smack once in his living room when Dan Shauger and I were talking with him about the grip and hand action with me as the swing model. I was startled and also surprised he hit so hard. Needless to say, it got my attention and I never repeated my mistake again in front of him!
@@JaacobBowden I once took a practice swing extremely wet divot and hit Dan square in the face and it oozed down his face he just stood there and said Thanks Randall 🤣
@@randydevereaux832 hahahaha
This is some thing I also found interesting . Although all these guys used the Austin swing principle , none of their swings look the same . Thats is Austin , Dunaway ( most beautiful of them all ) Bowden .
I agree. Similar principles but different looks when you look at them with a fine tooth comb.
Been working on my MA swing for years now and tries to simplify it, there's always some smartass club fitter trying to fix my swing.
It's funny how they're the ones that can't accept any swing that seemed unorthodox to them and felt the immediate urge to fix it, stick to your job you're not a swing coach or instructor for a reason.
Anyway, with this swing last month I hit my longest drives twice in one round 380, and 370-yard drive respectively.
And when I check my clubhead speed it's nothing crazy around mid to high 110s but I guess that supple quickness that Mike kept saying over the years finally happened in those two drives and the ball flight makes no sense, both was low launch low spin with an apex of no more than 80 feet the ball must have rolled like crazy, and the strike was just ok.
When Mike Dunaway's decided to simplify what he learned from Mike Austin in one his last instructional videos titled Escape Force Motion, once you get it right it's crazy how effortless accurate and powerful it is.
And I'm a Golfer who have symptoms of Dyspraxia so if this swing can make me this much better there's no question a fast learner like Jaacob with hands on time coached with Dan Shauger can be fast and successful in long drive and pro golf in such short time.
Haha, yeah, sometimes in golf you have to "grey rock" and let things go in one ear and out the other.
My rapid success was multi-factored. A vision. Naturally strong, athletic and kinesthetic. Willingness to take some risks and be different. Patience and persistence. Tracking progress and making adjustments. Getting in reps. Having a third party in Dan Shauger and Mike Austin to look at me. Slow motion. Working in front of the mirror or my reflection. Equipment fitting. Gym and body work. Creatine supplementation. Good sleep. Contemplating. Journaling. And probably more!
The Austin swing helped, but a lot of other things went in to it.
Steve Pratt on UA-cam is very similar with the Austin stuff
Yes, he clarifies some of the points about the hip action that Mike Dunaway didn't explain clearly in his videos with Austin, leading to early extension and/or sh@nks.
Watching your Austin swing you need more in to out, "the honds go out and up the club goes in laddie"
I was going a lot in-to-out and historically my average shot pattern was a tight draw.
But I've actually been playing around on a Trackman with zero'ing my irons/wedges out. 0 angle of attack. 0 face-to-path.
I like the idea of my average shot netting out as a straight ball. It's strange at the moment. Being used to in-to-out, I feel like I'm coming over the top when I'm straight. And the shot shape looks like a fade to my eye, even though it's straight.
Fun to play around with it, though!
So, there are two different religions of golf swing: impeding the pendulum (Jaacob Bowden, Mike Austin, etc.) vs. unimpeding the pendulum (Milo Lines, David Duval, etc.). There are many followers on both stream. There are also tour players on both. The question is which method is suitable for whom?
I don't think it's black and white as a right or wrong. Everything comes with a set of pros and cons...and you can find examples of all sorts of things out there that are functional.
So, suitable. Nice word. I like that.
I really like listening to Mike Austin and more recently Jaacob (do watch his YT videos that are very structured and easy to listen to) and Steve Pratt (who has a LOT of detailed content). But one thing that has really irked me is that everyone casually references MA's 515-yard drive and leaves it there. Jaacob even has a video telling a story about how he went to the course where the drive was hit and played that same hole and so on. OK, I'll accept the drive as such-I know Guinness at least used to be sticklers about formality and wouldn't let any old wild fact count as a world record. But look at today's long drivers. The training they put it. The size of them (yes, Mike Austin was also a strong guy) and today's technology. Not ONCE has anyone been close to those 515 yards, as far as I know. Considering those times CONSIDERABLY weaker tech, Mike's drive has just got to be a question of how much wind there was, but also how many bounces he got off a cart path (or similarly hard-packed ground). It's still a cool fact/stat, but I think there should be more context when mentioning it. Otherwise we risk having people rejecting EVERYTHING about Mike as cult-like, or plain ol' snake oil. Which it isn't.
Funny thing is Mike A. swing if you get the basics of the pivot and the release the ball flight becomes super straight and sufficiently long. As a personal.example I practiced some of the concepts Jacob was showing and describing to Brandon for a few days. Specifically the day before my scheduled round of golf I decided to hit balls off a hard packed baseball infield with 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 swings. I was getting slightly longer carry distances than my more traditional method with much more consistency. I had played golf for about 30 years and my scores were generally in the 77-84 range on a par 72 from the white tees. My personal best EVER was 76 on the course we were playing and that was at least 15 years prior to this round. I shot a 70 !! My only misses were 3 thin shots using this release. It felt like a pitcher throwing a no hitter. It was crazy. So yes it works and with a swing that uses less effort.
Yeah, context is important. Austin was indeed a long hitter, but there was a big tail wind that day. It was Vegas, so I'm thinking firm ground plus a bit of elevation at 2000'ish feet. Part of the distance was across the green too, where the roll would've been even more than the fairway. So, these factors at a minimum went into that 515.
When I think back about my 400+ yard drives, although I've swung in the 140s, ALL of those drives had some sort of circumstances that led to the extra distance and relatively big number.
One in Canberra, Australia was downhill with a firm fairway.
One in Vegas at Boulder Creek was slightly uphill, but had a big tail wind, firm fairway, and must've caught a slope in the fairway in just the right way.
One was at Rustic Canyon in California with a tailwind, firm fairway, and probably a lucky kick off a fairway mound.
There were more...but my best was 421, which was won a qualifier for the World Long Drive Championships in Warner Springs and set the venue record at the time. The grid was 420, my ball was still hot at 420 and the grid worker said the weeds killed it immediately. So, it would've been even longer. However, the elevation was also 3130 feet and the grid was rock hard.
Conditions make a difference.
@@nicholasdemetriades9154 awesome you found something that works for you!
@@JaacobBowden Thanks for pitching in Jaacob!
/Andrée, from Otelfingen, Switzerland 😄
@@diminishedreturn Otelfingen! I've played there about a much as anywhere! Although, I don't think I've been there for about 10 years now.
Swing in a barrel. . .Percy Boomer!
Lots of different ways to hit a golf ball!
The only issue is that he didn't cover roller vs counter rotation versions of Mike Auston's swing. It is fair that he didn't because taught ppl different things.
This reminds me of Monte Scheinblum. Opposite of Milo.
Like this guy, a bit like Shawn clement.
I met Shawn once at the PGA Merchandise Show. Seemed really nice!
One of the original UA-camrs before that was even a term. I think at one point he may have even had the largest channel in golf.
Get that man a hat.
Potential sponsors should get in touch with me!
Need a good team/resources to cover all the basic living, travel, and tournament expenses to play golf professionally.
Well done, the guy is brilliant but that hair tho
Costa Mesa Country Club?
⛳
Hi! Do you edit videos yourself, or have you hired someone? I'm an editor and would love to discuss, if you’re interested.
Yeh right, 515 yrd drive
Mind boggling, right? I remember reading about it as a kid in the Guinness Book of World Records and I couldn't fathom it. I've since played the hole a number of times and it's still hard to believe, even after seeing and playing the hole.
All really long drives, including this one, had extra conditions at play. For this, there was a tail wind. Las Vegas is at 2001' of elevation. The fairway was probably firm. Some of the roll was across the green as well.
Thing that doesn't make sense if he hit a drive 515 yards then you would think he would have lots of drives well over 400 yds...wonder what his average drive was
It was Wind assisted and might have hit something? He was a member of the 300 yds club that used to tour Japan, brilliant swing
300yds in those days was exceptional
He considerably out drive his peers in competition. Wasn’t the best putter though apparently
275
@@jamesfitzgerald6636 He was in the 350 club that Mike Dunaway formed corrected that for you.
I’m guessing that the older guy didn’t carry it 400 or whatever yards and end up with 515 , was it at a high elevation , was it windy , was the ground concrete , was it downhill … because that doesn’t make any sense , especially considering newer technology helping out so much and a guy who’s only 26/27 only getting fractionally further than a 64 year old … the ball must’ve rolled 150 yards 😂
Hey. What do you mean a 14 handicap is not very good. JK. I know I am bad
Wouldn't Mike have slapped your hands if he heard you promoting that late flip? Didn't he promote releasing from the top of the backswing?
He slapped my hands once. It stung and startled me because I wasn't expecting a 90+ year old man who was paralyzed on his right side to do that haha. But it got my attention!
Different Austin people apparently got different things with the release...and he may have evolved his thinking over time as people can. That being said, what I got with him was a flip release that minimized club face rotation through impact. The throw stimulus was at the top, but with the timing of the pivot, the net of the two together "looked" like a late flip from a face-on standpoint, if that makes sense.
The 515 yrd drive has no real documentation of it. Respectfully, Can u supply a proof?
@@breakthrough8628 good question. It happened in 1974 in Las Vegas and the senior national championship I believe. the drive went over the green of a par 4 by a lot. It was Austin’s ball, marked. Austin bogeyed the hole.
It was hot and windy that day.
Guiness interviewed the other players that Mike was playing with including 7 time pga tour winner Chandler Harper. My friend Phil Reed (mike Austin biographer), went and interviewed Mr Harper about 20 years ago and he confirmed it. Apparently a man of impeccable character.
When he hit it and they saw where the ball had gone they knew it was something special and they marked the spot.
Obviously no trackman, shot link or video back then, some people have tried to explain it in other ways (sprinkler head, etc). Apparently no one was around to have thrown the ball further.
Scientifically he would perfect weather and wind (which it was, Phil confirmed this with NASA historic weather data) and a clubhead speed over 150 and a perfect bounce.
That’s about as much as we know. Without a Time Machine we will never know all the details.
I play off 4.
I tried this swing years ago.
Absolutely never again will i do this swing.
Holding lag doesn’t work!!!!! This is how the hands should work
Yes, the release, timed with the pivot, gives the illusion of holding lag.
Anybody who believes that Mike Austin could hit that drive without cutting a dog leg without a 35 mile an hour. Till wind and without the ground being as hard as a runway at l. A. X is a fool. I did long drive for 17 years lived in Nevada for 7. You elevate the T put a 35 mile an hour tail wind. I know plenty of guys that could hit the ball that far even at the age of 64 to eat for them.
Guinness world book of records to call this the longest drive. Ever is ridiculous to say the least
Conditions matter for sure!
I don't think the tee was elevated and the net slope on the hole was flat, but there was a big tail wind, Vegas has a 2001' elevation, the fairway could've been firm, and part of the drive was across the green. It's plausible it might've hit a sprinkler head or something like that as well.
You are also correct that it is a dogleg right. I thought about this too. Was part of the distance just cutting off the dogleg? But I've played the hole, lasered the flag from the back tee, and also estimated with Google satellite imagery. I think 515 was legit as the crow flies.
I don't believe this was the hardest hit ball ever, though. Some of the guys are swinging 170 chs and 145 bs now. It's amazing. Given the same conditions, those balls would have to be over 515.
However, regardless of conditions, having a guy in his 60s in the 1970s hit a ball in a tournament over 500 is really awesome.
All he did was complicate the swing more and what the hell is up with that hair
This was frustrating to watch. Let your guest talk and stop swinging or mess with the camera, while he is talking. It's like you can't focus
I think maybe he needs to breathe a little while he’s talking his voice is changing and it’s like fingers on a chalkboard to me
A bit like your punctuation:)
The information in this video is fantastic, surely?
Sorry, but hopefully the information helps! Could've been the mics too.
In re-watching these myself, I also noticed I was saying "like" a lot as a filler. I used to not do that, but it's been since 2021 since I filmed something of any length like these. A bit out of practice, I suppose. Also, these videos were ad-libbed. I didn't know what Brendon would ask. It was all just spur of the moment. He just turned on the camera and we started talking.
LOL. Austin never drove 515 yards . There isn't even a video of him driving 350 yards .
If you do enough research you’ll find your wrong!! Austin who took Mike Dunaway under his wing showed Dunaway hitting tee shots driving a four hundred yard par 4
@fourftr Yes Dunaway could all day long . I am a massive fan of Dunaway . Austin never outdrove Dunaway . Enough research ? I spent years trying to learn the Austin swing . Emailed Dunaway many times and he was always helpful .I think Dunaway has the most beautiful swing on the planet . I am a engineer . I understand the numbers .To hit a 460 yard drive you need to have a 170 mph swing speed . You know what the fastest recorded swing speed in history is ? 156 mph by Kyle Berkshire . There is no way a 65 yr old man is out driving the worlds longest driver who is young and fit and in his prime with old tech compared to the latest long drive clubs and balls . It simply cannot happen . No way did Austin hit a persimmon driver with a balata ball over 500 yards . The real story is that he hit a nice drive around 300 plus yards. It hit a marble yardage marker that propelled the ball another 100 plus yards over the green where it caught the slope and travelled another 70 plus yards . This was from some one who played the course back in the day and knows the story . Now that is completely believable. Why . Because I did a similar thing at my home course. There is no footage of Austin hitting 350 yards . Yes he was long for his time . Austin was also eccentric nutter . If it wasn't for Dunaways videos you would never have heard of Austin . Mike Dunaway walked the walk and talked the talk . Austin's record is no more a record as the pro's like Phil and Bryson who had massive drives that rolled down cart paths . It's a myth . Great swing I might add . No question. . But it never happened the way people think . If you can hit it 500 yards. You can hit it 400 every other day then ,right ? Again no footage of Austin ever hitting 350 let alone 400.
Conditions definitely play a role in long drives….elevation, wind speed, ground conditions, etc. It’s wild to think about but apparently that tournament round he hit multiple drives over 400 according to witnesses and his playing partners, one of whom was a major championship winner.
I’ve played the hole a number of times and used satellite imagery to check the distances. Near as I can tell from where the tee box was to the spot on the back off the green where the ball was, it was right at about 515 as the crow flies.
@@JaacobBowden Respect your opinion Jaacob but it never happened . Like I said the numbers simply do not add up nor does the equipment used to achieve it . We can't go past the numbers and speed needed to achieve it .I could not care less what witnesses say because it cannot be replicated and never has . Can you tell me who the major winner was ? I heard all the stories and then I heard from a guy who was a member there and set the record straight . Granite yardage marker and now it all makes sense .
@@johnathanwetherill456 if I remember correctly, it was Chandler Harper.
Unfortunately, I don't know if there's a way to prove how it got there aside from Guinness validating it. Harper died in 2004. Austin died in 2005. I'm not sure who else was in the group or saw it. Maybe there's a record of it somewhere. Phil Reed might know. But yeah, something certainly could've happened like hitting some rock hard surface like a yardage marker.
Found it frustrating trying to listen to this. Communicating the actual concept was terrible for this guy.
What you describe at 12:50 is under release. You should get in contact and interview Christian Small @momentumgolf. He will explain things much more clearly than many of the people you interview. Also, people use the word 'flip' when describing many different positions. It's over used and misunderstood.