Austin's Swing

I just got the video from a friend of mine. The video is interesting and before I apply anything that my hurt my swing, I'd like to ask a question or two about it to our Pros on the Forum.
1) Mike Austin advocates that the left arm must be bent at the wrist at impact. I thought the arm was supposed to be straight at impact or at least at the same position as the set-up. Is this correct?
2) He says that by throwing the club at the ball you will get more Head Speed. Is this correct? I feel that accuracy would suffer with this method.
3) He also believes that the RIGHT Knee must be almost straight on the takeway, which I thought creates the Reverse Pivot.
4) It looks like his right elbow on the top of the Backswing is kinda out of the body and flying out. This defenetly creates less stress on the body, but how accurate is he about this technique? The right arm does feel like its coming in more close to the body and hitting the ball from the inside.

I guess that's it.
T

Mike Austin has one of ten thousand million golf theories. What you point there is about a 3rd of what his swing theory advocates, but I understand what you're trying to say.

I'm not all together a "fan" of Mike Austin's theory to be honest but it clearly works. But then, you can swing anyway you like but if it works, it works ... you know what I mean?

Bear in mind though: Mike Austin's swing theory was developed solely around hitting with immense power and long driving, not for average players like you or I. He was a very powerful swinger of the golf club, very talented and an exceptionally good golfer. So, he did the correct things anyway.

If you have strong wrists, you can develop huger additional power by 'cupping' your left wrist a bit and throwing the club at the ball, provided you were strong enough and co-ordinated enough not to throw it out of the way of the ball, which most of us would do.

I think golf is a pulling game rather than a pushing game. Pull the club through impact rather than pushing it through. I have a rather complicated explanation but simply put: if you pulled an object you will pull it straight becuase the centre of gravity will correct the path. If you pushed an object, the object will go in the direction you are pulling it, not necessarily the way of the centre of gravity would like it to go. To push on object straight, you have to push the centre. Think about it ...

I think the average player needs flex in the right knee to create leverage and help to create a turn. But, it does weaken the power slightly. If you know the X-swing, you'll understand what I mean. Basically, the power a golf swing generates is related to difference between the right-side turn and the shoulder turn. The greater that angle, the greater power you can generate. If you keep the right side rigid you increase resistance and power. BUT: you need to practice that and need to be able to create a good turn without the use of the right knee and limited turn in the right hip.

The flying right elbow helps create more width and length in the swing. It does 'disconnent' the swing somewhat but if you're co-ordinated and a powerful swinger, who cares? You'll more than likely you'll get back on the correct swing path.

So, nothing worng with Mike's swing theory provided you're willing to put some work into it. It is definately developed with power and distance in mind, does require serious amount of co-ordination and good body strength and flexibility.

Hope this helps.

__________________
Golf is easy ... once you know how.
Graham Arnott, teaching professional
Kelrosa Golf Studios
www.kelrosagolf.com
Class 'A' PGA Member
Full Member: World Golf Teachers Federation (GB&I)

Re: the pull vs push.

I don't remember if I saw it here or elsewhere, but the visual (someone posted a pic) was that of a loaded pull cart.

If you pull the cart, you can make it go wherever you want, and easily.

If you push it, it zig zags all over the place.

Good point, Graham.

Thanks, LowPost42 ... I like an analogy of the cart. That's my point exactly!

mmmm .. As soon as I hear the term throwing the club at the ball that conjurs up what I beleive to have been the root cause of most of my problems the last year. As soon as you do this you are utterly reliant on timing and release of the arms and hands. It is by definition an arms led swing

As soon as I changed this and worked with much more of a connected swing I hit the ball much straighter (and often longer when my tempo and timing click)

As a mid handicapper i'd run a mile from those 4 points you list in the first post

On watching the matchplay golf at the weekend the commentators were talking about many of the leading tour pros working on more of a compact swing or as they called it 'pump action' swing that not only is more consistent and accurate but also brings greater yardage. This sort of description seems very different to the Mike Austin methodology.

I have read bits and pieces about Mike Austin, the theories and effort he has put into developing his perfect technique over the years (which is by all accounts immense), which is great but who actually uses these methods? is there anyone who can backup his theories? To my knowledge there is not.

That's why I posted the 4 points, because I believe they sway from the traditional "the right method" that has been tought by some of the best teachers of Golf. He has some good points on the video like, keeping your head behind the ball, leading with your hips, keeping your left arm close the body forming the figure 7, and others that are part of a good swing theory.
Out of the 4 points that I mentioned the only one that I would like to try a bit more is the right elbow coming up.
In the video he doesnt really bring the elbow at a 90* angle, he keeps it pretty close the the body just a bit outside of the right hip, some of you know know that I mean. Also, his swing seems extremely FLAT. I agree that this swing would serve more a long drive hitter than traditional Golf.
I understand the X-Factor TeachingPro, and I agree with you that the angle formed by the Turning Hips in relation to the shoulders creates the Tourque needed for a smooth, powerfull swing. Mike Austin seems more like a Baseball Player than a golfer with his straightening right Knee.

My understanding is that Austin has a set of swing mechanics designed for maximum distance. His method relies heavily on mechanical advantage - not necessarily a bad thing (think of those that snap the wrists through impact for more distance), but IMO his techniques are for the very capable - not joe average golfer.

Mike is a hitter of the golf ball - pure and simple.

It really depends upon which video you watched? The PeaceRiver video featuring Mike Dunaway is an earlier version of the Mike Austin method. The newest method/final word on this method is put out by Dan Shauger. His book "How to Kill the Ball" is a very interesting read and is the authorized Mike Austin method. The biggest difference between the PeaceRiver information and the Dan Shauger book is the addition of the counter-rotation in the backswing. This method differs from the traditional "roller method" bigtime. If you've never tried any other method other than traditional golf methods this would be a bizarre experience to say the least. Bottom-line is does this method work, yes it does and it works well! If you read the material, in my opinion, there are many advantages to the Austin Method over traditional methods. Before you ask me, then why don't the pro's use this method if it's so great and the answer to that would be because they have a tremedous amount of time and energy put into traditional methods and they aren't about to change to a completely different method. However for the average golfer who really hasn't had, shall we say, great results with traditional methods I think the Austion method would be well worth your attention.

Thanks for the good summary of the current state/impression of the Austin swing.

Since this thread has been resurrected...Can anyone explain what this counter-rotation in the backswing is all about?

Dave Pelz, Short Game Bible. It's true, too.

Physics, baby, it's all physics.

That'd be it.

Lead with the left, punch with the right. (for right hand players).

I look at it this way - if it was that good everyone would be doing and Mr Austin would probably be the greatest golfer of all time.