Mike Austin

looking into golf some more and I ran across someone who told me a little about Mike Austin. So then I did a little research on him and he is interesting to say the least. For those who dont know he holds the world record for driving distance, 515 yards, and he did it when he was something like 64 years old, with a persimon wood. Also, his driving distances into his seventies were very long. He studied kinesiology, which deals with the movements of the human body, and often times did demonstrations with a skelaton suit on.

I have purchased his videos and watched one of his dvd's that was around an hour long and the austinology, which is 7+ hours, I have watched 2+ hours of that. He makes a lot of sense and uses biomechanics, kineseology and has expanded on some things that most instruction has not mentioned. One thing for example is he says the human body is not set up to swing a golf club while the hips are level. in the back swing the right hip goes higher and the left one dips, in the downswing the opposite. He says this is a much more effecient way of doing things and takes strain off the lower back. To further explain his reasoning for it would be too much to write.

His views are very interesting to say the least and I am intrigued by the possiblity of trying something new. We will see how the process goes


Does anyone on here have any insight into his teachings? I find it odd that more is not widely known about the man who hit the longest drive in golf history, although he did have aa 30mph tailwind, the hole was flat

human body?
wasnt he "THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN"?

I know Mike died a year or two ago.

His method produces some seriously long balls.

Hi Shootin.
This may be of help.
www.mikeaustingolf.com/ - 7k


Aft

Thanks aft,
I have been on the website and that is where I ordered the videos, I was just looking to see if anyone here had any personal experience about him and his methods> there are a couple of things that he does that are VERY different then conventional instruction, but looking at his swing, and the swing of his disciples, speaks for itself. The pivot he describes it uniquely different and he encourages throwing the right hand at the ball. WHen you look at the swing in full speed you wouldl not notice much of a difference but in slow speed you see a couple of subtle movements that he says are necesarry. Since he studied the human body, he was also an engineer, I am giving this method a shot and will keep you guys up to date on what happens.

Hi Shootin.
Be wary of making too many changes at one time to your golf swing , or your whole game could fall apart...

Aft

well I have tried every other method out there so one more cant hurt

Why am I trying it?
I began Yoga classes about 4 months ago and learned some pretty interesting stuff about how the human body works. My instructor can do some amazing things with his body but yet he is not muscular, things that the average person would think take a lot of strenght he does with no strain Also, I can be struggling very much in a pose and he makes a slight adjustment in my alignment, and a pose I could barely hold for 20 seconds I can all the suddden hold for a couple of minutes or more. WHen in the right alignment the body freees up but tot he obsever you would not be able to tell the internal adjustments that are made.

So becoming more intrigued about the human body lead me to start looking for it in the golf swing. For example I learned in the last month that Ben Hogan was a fitness instructor in the Army. Is it a coincedence that he knew about fitness very well and has one of, if not the best swing of all time? But for some reason the fact that he was a fitness instructor is rarely talked about.

So then I start looking for answers, and on some sites with a lot of instructors I ask some questions about the body, and its movements in the golf swing, but I get very little in the way of answers in return. Many people can tell you how a swing looks on the outside, I can tell you off plane, elbow plane, shoulder plane, spine angle, tush line, etc........ but yet for some reason I am not producing and effecient golf swing that is repeatable consistently.

Hogan was perhaps the best striker of all time, Austin was perhaps the longest of all time, and both had a profound understanding of the human body. My goal is to go away from position golf where I try to place the clubhead, and change to motion golf, where I try to get my body to do a motion that will swing the club. I am tired of having to practice so much to keep a swing in shape, so I am in search of a swing that is more effecient, while also being easier on the body.


Cmays,
I have watched some footage of austin, and parts of his video. He says one should swing with their left arm on the shoulder line or close too it so the body stays in balance. his left arm gets just above his right shouder from what I have seen. Austin believed there was one correct way to swing a club but the various body types would make the same swing action look different

Hi Shootin
To some people, me included, golf is a life long search. Good luck in the search..
Aft

dont want the other thread to get off topic

working on it, but I have not been hitting balls as much. I am working on it in stages. first stage is learning how to hit chips while basically hinging and unhinging left wrist. That is pretty fun and amazing how crisp the chips can be and I can chip/pitch about 30 yards with no arm or body movement

second stage, add a right arm bend while keeping elbow on right hip. from there just release the right arm/straighten, and allow the unhinge. No body movement. 150+ yard six irons with no body motion and I have gotten the timing right on a few to hit it 175, agian with no body.

3rd stage will be to add the compound pivot but I am mainly working on stage 1-2. My mental approach to this is different then ever before. Right now I hit balls about twice a week and keep myself very focused. My stress level at the range is very low as well. I will be seeing an austin instructor in the latter part of this month so I have kept in touch with him over the phone and just worked on what he told me to.

aft, did not see this before. Thank for the kind words.
Golf is a life long search and life is a long golf search and life search is a lot like golf. You made sense but did I

G1
IN his video he talks about the up part you are referring to, rather then the out. I am still a little in the dark about it but I will find the light.

I read that link but from what I have seen in his video, the link is incomplete, incorrect. In the austin swing the hips do turn but first they must tilt. So while it looks like a slde, it is actually a tilting motion of tilt then turn. Point number three on there I dont get. In all swings we bend from the hips. In the austin swing you have one knee flexed less then the other SO you have hip tilt at address. Have you seen any of his videos. Have you been to the mikeaustin.com forums? there is not a whole lot of info on there but some good reading. The person who runs the site does not put a lot of info on there because without at least seeing the video people will not understand the method. It is kind of like here. i realize that if we met in person you would have no problem helping me out, but putting it into words is hard. That is also why mike never had a book written on it.

well know I understand what you meant about presetting the right hip at address. I feel I am starting to become more well rounded in understanding different methods. SO you gonna take that job? How do you like the yoga stuff?

thanks for keeping me and the kid in mind. You are a truly genuine individual. I measured the kids wrist to ground an he is at 29.5 and I measured his current clubs and they are 3/4 of an inch over standard. So if I cut down my regular flex clubs 3/4 of an inch he will swing clubs 1.5 inches shorter. and would that 3/4 make the flex change that much? his current clubs are stiff and plus 3/4. My clubs I want to give him are regular and standard, I will take 3/4 off of them. I was talking with the kid and he holed out two chips tonight when playing the lighted three nine hole golf course this evening. He is the type of kid that if you talk to him you realize he has something special, not just golf but life in general

I had the experience of meeting Thomas Dang, who teaches about the mike austin method. What I can say is that no book or video can do justice to what thomas taught me about it. I have austin videos and have heard people talk about austin but nothing was anything like what I learned. A ninja could not make a book or tape on how to be a ninja, so if anyone thins they understand the austin method from the material out there, well I can say there is a 99.99999 % chance they dont. I cannot put it in words and for people who think they understand what austin was teaching, unlesss you experience for yourself something similar to what I experienced you would not understand what I was talking about. Shootin4par will participate in these forums much differently then I have in the past because I know I cannot explain in words what I learned. The amount of swing questions I have decrease more then most people believe and I now understand why this swing has eluded me. Good luck in the search for whatever it is you are seeking. I know I need all the luck I can get.

thomas fully explained the throw and kinetic energy but to try and put it into words would be too hard. G-1, I walked away with my golf swing questions being answered and do not feel the swing is an illusion anymore. I believe me and you have gained a mutual respect for each other, all i can say is trust me on this one. I walked away from there with less then fifty words of written notes, and I always take notes. My golf swing is now a process of the set up, I shift back, shift through, and I snap release the club. that is it.