Great to finally see a "Mike O swing." I've learned a lot from your writing Mike; it began with some pretty old forums!
Thanks Matt,
As a side note in regards to my swing- in the early 90's I needed to have rotary cuff surgery to prevent my left shoulder from recurrently dislocating. Worked great but created a condition where I can only rotate my left humerus about 10 degrees instead of 40-60 degrees for my right humerus. So if I'm going through the drive up at McDonald's I have to turn my whole body- can't just turn my left hand out with my arm to get the change. Hence, nearing the finish of my golf swing- I don't have a "normal" finish with the left arm.
But I just try to make that swing better and better - day by day- frustrating- you bet!, two steps forward- one step back- only wish it was that easy!
Great to see the Mike O swing. For some reason, I always had this image in my mind that you would look a bit like Homer Kelly...don't ask me why!
Few things that jumped out at me, but I'm not suggesting you should go and change it. You hover the clubhead before taking it back. Your shoulders are very closed at Address (espcially relative to the comparatively squared away position). Your right arm is very straight at Address. There's this slight jerk at the last part of the backstroke, where your hips and shoulders suddenly turn a bit more, and your pivot center sways a bit -- probably a flexibility issue combined with the fact that you are trying to get to the very End. The early Sweep Loading Action, which looks a bit "muscular" and rigid to me, might cause you to find it difficult sometimes to throw that sweetspot against your Lag Pressure Point for Drag Loading.
Thanks Matt,
As a side note in regards to my swing- in the early 90's I needed to have rotary cuff surgery to prevent my left shoulder from recurrently dislocating. Worked great but created a condition where I can only rotate my left humerus about 10 degrees instead of 40-60 degrees for my right humerus. So if I'm going through the drive up at McDonald's I have to turn my whole body- can't just turn my left hand out with my arm to get the change. Hence, nearing the finish of my golf swing- I don't have a "normal" finish with the left arm.
But I just try to make that swing better and better - day by day- frustrating- you bet!, two steps forward- one step back- only wish it was that easy!
I thought the foot action looked pretty good.
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Last edited by 12 piece bucket : 10-11-2006 at 07:50 AM.
Great to see the Mike O swing. For some reason, I always had this image in my mind that you would look a bit like Homer Kelly...don't ask me why!
Few things that jumped out at me, but I'm not suggesting you should go and change it. You hover the clubhead before taking it back. Your shoulders are very closed at Address (espcially relative to the comparatively squared away position). Your right arm is very straight at Address. There's this slight jerk at the last part of the backstroke, where your hips and shoulders suddenly turn a bit more, and your pivot center sways a bit -- probably a flexibility issue combined with the fact that you are trying to get to the very End. The early Sweep Loading Action, which looks a bit "muscular" and rigid to me, might cause you to find it difficult sometimes to throw that sweetspot against your Lag Pressure Point for Drag Loading.
Ah! Here come my brothers in arms- not happy until every board is perfectly in place!
Hover the clubhead. Actually I never hover the clubhead- well almost never- I did it here. I recently worked on closing my shoulder line at address- since with my shoulder injury it's tough for me to take it on plane at startup unless I close that up. But I found it easier to close or get the feeling of closing that shoulder line at address by slouching, when I saw that I made an effort to maintain the closed shoulder line and have better posture at address. This is my first swing doing that and coincidentally I started with the clubhead off the ground- as you implied no biggie- but it's not more normal procedure.
The "slight jerk"- wow Bucket flashed before my eyes, I've gotta concentrate here! This idea could be a very helpful comment for me. I continue to try to shorten and simplify my swing. I'm not trying to get to the end, far from it,in this swing I am trying to just take my hands to hip high on the backswing- which produces what you see. (A side note here- you brought up a pet pieve of mine- if I understand the context of your comment properly- remember a swinger can go two feet back, 3 feet 6 inches back, to the TOP, to the END- doesn't matter- there is no reason to try to go to the END- nothing magical about END) That movement is feeling more and more normal for me- but your comment about "slight jerk" is an area that ties into - the area- that I am working on- and for me to dwelve into how long that has been there, why it is there, etc. are the areas that I will probably look at. It's my immediate guess that, that move has been in my game for 33 years now, since the beginning that's one way in which I was able to gain power when I was a kid starting out- extra stretch. It's probably tied into my transitional downswing move and many things that I'm not even aware of are associated with it. It's a WEB and it's not always easy changing one thing as the WEB has to change with it.
Finally, all in all- very good points. Something that was a major transition for me in my golf game- is I'm always working on my biggest problem. Early on in my golf game life if someone said Hey Mike! Did you know that your head was bobbing up and down 2 feet- I would immediately freak out and start working on that. Overtime, I've approached it differently. I know what I'm working on- and if I get some feedback- then I put that in the back of my mind (especially if I'm seriously working on something already) and make a mental note that at sometime in the future I might want to work or look at that once I'm done fixing (X) say sticking my tongue out on the downswing.
Not having that "slight jerk"- NOW, THAT'S GOING TO BE SCARY! Bring on the hosel rockets!! Fore Right!!
Is this a compliment? from the Bucket! Wo! What's up here Doc! Must have been a slip- you were thinking it and made the mistake of posting it But I would say you just agreed with me- looks pretty good- could be better- but in my mind I've got bigger fish to fry. Some changes will make other changes go away.
However, that said- knowing my swing and just my approach- Here is how my mind is thinking. The "slight jerk" and the right foot action rolling back on the mat- are probably tied together. The slight jerk is "the extra effort" not needed. So whenever possible if I can tie things together - sometimes it makes it more understandable to change, and you can change one "big issue" while really changing or being aware of more than one thing in your movement. Some might say- Hey, your probably jerking because you are trying to swing shorter, but that's not the case for me- I've had that essential move with the John Daly backswing- Oh Ya! I can do that no problem!!
1) make the back swing more solid, and the downswing more solid by keeping my backswing shorter (won't go into all of the issues for that right now- but certainly the how is so important), making it smoother by getting Bucket out of my swing (slight jerk), observing how the right foot roll back ties into this mess!
Have you tried right anchor? I suspect that would help you solidify the backswing quite a bit and let you not worry about how far back you take the club. Not sure if that is just from the foot slipping, or you really were trying for right anchor here?
Given your shoulder issue, you might try opening up that left foot a bit rather than squaring it off, which would help you get to a square stance and not inhibit the pivot coming through. This would likely allow for more square feet/hips/shoulder lines.
Are your misses generally pulls?
Love the tempo - great stuff
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Have you tried right anchor? I suspect that would help you solidify the backswing quite a bit and let you not worry about how far back you take the club. Not sure if that is just from the foot slipping, or you really were trying for right anchor here?
Given your shoulder issue, you might try opening up that left foot a bit rather than squaring it off, which would help you get to a square stance and not inhibit the pivot coming through. This would likely allow for more square feet/hips/shoulder lines.
Are your misses generally pulls?
Love the tempo - great stuff
Don't have a lot of misses- but YES if I'm going to miss an iron into the green- it will be a pull.
Maybe it is the camara angle, but as Tong mentioned your right arm appears very straight. Do you ever work on establishing your Right Forearm Flying Wedge at Address?
Is this a compliment? from the Bucket! Wo! What's up here Doc! Must have been a slip- you were thinking it and made the mistake of posting it But I would say you just agreed with me- looks pretty good- could be better- but in my mind I've got bigger fish to fry. Some changes will make other changes go away.
However, that said- knowing my swing and just my approach- Here is how my mind is thinking. The "slight jerk" and the right foot action rolling back on the mat- are probably tied together. The slight jerk is "the extra effort" not needed. So whenever possible if I can tie things together - sometimes it makes it more understandable to change, and you can change one "big issue" while really changing or being aware of more than one thing in your movement. Some might say- Hey, your probably jerking because you are trying to swing shorter, but that's not the case for me- I've had that essential move with the John Daly backswing- Oh Ya! I can do that no problem!!
1) make the back swing more solid, and the downswing more solid by keeping my backswing shorter (won't go into all of the issues for that right now- but certainly the how is so important), making it smoother by getting Bucket out of my swing (slight jerk), observing how the right foot roll back ties into this mess!
Why yes that was a compliment! You can breath again.
I'm not sure if I can contain myself much longer if y'all keep talking about jerking.
I thought the motion looked good! As for the outfit . . . didn't your mama teach you not to match the Tigers with the Moo Cows? I smell a makeover . . .and a bath needed in your near future.
Ah! Here come my brothers in arms- not happy until every board is perfectly in place!
I continue to try to shorten and simplify my swing. I'm not trying to get to the end, far from it,in this swing I am trying to just take my hands to hip high on the backswing- which produces what you see.
Something that was a major transition for me in my golf game- is I'm always working on my biggest problem.
Mike, I think something that's very important and you should work on is to know where everything is in your swing, relative to your body and to the ball. In other words, if you think you're taking it hip high, but it's actually right shoulder high, then you must reprogram your machine/computer so that you know exactly what it is you are doing whether what you are doing is ideal or not. I wouldn't say this is a "problem" as such, but something to keep in mind whatever you're working on.