Mar 20 2010
The Mike Austin Golf Swing
While people talk about the different golf swing types, you can hear about the simple swing, the natural swing, the stack and tilt swing, the conventional swing. As well, when discussing the great swings from the PGA professionals, you will find out about the Tiger Woods swing, Ernie Els swing, and Ben Hogan swing. So, what’s the Mike Austin swing and why don’t many of us know about it?
Mike Austin’s contention to fame is that he’s the person credited with the longest drive yet in competitive golf, as per the Guinness Records. On September 25, 1974 at the U.S. National Seniors Open Championship at Winterwood Golf Course, Mike at 64 years of age, hit a 515-yard drive. What was amazing, aside from his age, was that he did it with a 43.5″ steel-shafted persimmon 10 degree loft wood driver with the old soft balata ball.
Mike was playing in a foursome with PGA Champion Chandler Harper. After hitting a number of 400-yard drives, Chandler said, “Mike, let’s see you actually let one go.” Austin hit the golf ball on a 450-yard par 4. It flew to the edge of the green, bounced onto and across the green and disappeared off the back. Chandler found a ball on the following tee and called to Austin, “This really is impossible, but there’s a ball over here.” They determined the golf ball as Austin’s and measured the distance back to the center of the green. The drive was 515 yards. Even today, the record still stands for the longest drive in a golf tournament.
Mike earned a graduate degree in mechanical engineering plus a doctorate in kinesiology and he employed that knowledge to develop his swing. The Mike Austin swing is different than the standard PGA swing teachings in one or two ways, some of the most noticeable being how the hips slide sideways as opposed to turning, the club-head is thrown from the top in the swing rather than getting released at the last moment, and also the golfer bends forward from the hips and not bending using the knees.
The Mike Austin swing seems unforced and straightforward since he found a method to employ the body’s joints in a way that they were intended to move that is a more natural way. He used the legs as the primary power source seeing that these are the most powerful muscle group on the body. He claimed that his swing didn’t instigate back injuries that are so frequent among professional golfers and also amateurs.
Later on in life, Austin altered his hand motion from a rolling hand-action to one which curls under, a counter-rotation with the forearms, and keeps the blade squarer for a longer time. This is one of his keys for being able to not just attain astounding distances but in addition to make solid contact every time.
The Mike Austin swing is very similar to Ben Hogan’s swing in that the transition from back-swing to downswing is started with the hips. Should you examine both of their swings, you will see they produce a tremendous amount of club head speed with little effort in the club-head through the ball. They didn’t rely on muscle power, instead they equally understood how to realize a really effective golf swing.
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