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This isn’t so much a swing analysis as it is a compilation of my swings throughout a 20 year period. I got my first video camera (appropriated from my first wife’s father) back in 1981 and started taping my swing, not really knowing much about what I was looking at, except that I was a big fan of Tom Watson and read Hogan’s Five Lessons religiously. In the first batch of swings you can see the Watson influence, and after 2 major back operations you can see how I opted for a more rotary Hogan type move. The changes I made in the mid to late 80’s are substantial and were mostly done before I ever started teaching, which I am somewhat proud of in that I managed to “dig” a career out of “the dirt” by evolving my technique to a less back-stressful action. I have to temper that remark with the fact that no good swing is “easy” on the back, but as soon as you see my early 80’s swings (and the swing I played junior, college and mini-tour golf with) you will probably cringe as much as I do. Whoever came up with “reverse-C” (maybe the worst idea ever regarding the golf swing, just ahead of “square to square”) should be shot.
You will also see a second major change from a long, across the line backswing and a stuck downswing to a much shorter, less behind the hands swing courtesy of a setup change (from square to a fair bit open at address). I have since gone back to a square stance, and while my swing is now much better than any of these you see here my deteriorating physical abilities have made me a much worse player due to my inability to perform the swing consistently and my further inability to practice for any decent amount of time without hurting myself. I guess the moral of the story is that to play good golf it is nice to have good technique but without practice (on ball striking, short game and putting) it doesn’t get you where you want to go.
Anyway, it was neat to find these old swings, if only to see the shorts and the hair.
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