Perfect Golf Swing: A Critical Review

 

June 2008: I have completely revised my "impact chapter" and I have re-named it the "impact and followthrough" chapter. I have included a lot of new material that is derived from Homer Kelley's book "The Golfing Machine".

March 2008: I have added a new review paper to my website - see "Head Movements in the Full Golf Swing" in the miscellaneous topics section below.

February 2008: I have added a new review paper to my website - see "Swingplane" in the miscellaneous topics section below.

February 2008: I have added a new review paper to my website - see "A Personal Guide to Shawn Clement's Swing Video Lessons" in the miscellaneous topics section below.

January 2008: I have added a new review paper to my website - see "Jim McLean's Triple-X factor - A Critical Review" in the miscellaneous topics section below.


January 2008: I have produced my second swing video lesson on "Weight Shift in the Golf Swing" and it can be found in the video section below. This 60 minute video lesson complements the review paper I wrote on "optimal weight shift in the full golf swing", and I compare a rightwards-centered backswing pivot action to Bennett/Plummer's S&T swing style.


Click on any of the hyperlinks to rapidly navigate to the relevant section of this review.


The modern, total body golf swing

Miscellaneous topics


Video lessons



Introduction:

 

This website consists of three sections. The first section is a free online review of the modern, total body golf swing and it is based on traditional teaching - see introduction to the modern, total body golf swing below.  The second section is called "miscellaneous topics" and it has review papers on different aspects of the golf swing, and it reflects my latest thinking on the golf swing, with a major emphasis on golf biomechanics. The third section is the swing video lesson section and it includes video lessons on different aspects of the golf swing.


Introduction to the modern, total body swing section


The series of chapters in this section of this website offers beginner golfers a free, online review of the full golf swing.

I started playing golf about 6 years ago, when I retired from practicing medicine, and I noted that no free online review of the full golf swing was available. There are many golf-related websites that offer a beginner golfer a few free golf tips, but I could not find a single golf-related website that offers beginner golfers a free in-depth, scholarly analysis of the modern golf swing. I therefore decided to write this scholarly review of the modern golf swing, and this free online review is entirely based on traditional golf instructional teaching. Readers should note that this review does not offer a beginner golfer any secret formula that will magically enable him to instantly perfect his golf swing. I don't believe in wishful thinking (magical formula or secret formula), and I personally believe that a beginner golfer will most likely perfect his golf swing if he has an in-depth understanding of golf swing mechanics, and a ready willingness to practice-practice-practice. I suspect that only a small subset of beginner golfers are really interested in acquiring an in-depth knowledge of the golf swing, and I hope that this educational review will successfully help educate that small subset of beginner golfers.

There are many methods of swinging a golf club when executing a full golf swing, and this review only covers a single golf swing style - the modern, total body golf swing style. This swing style is used by the majority of PGA tour players, and it is also the swing style used by the majority of advanced amateur golfers. A beginner golfer should first decide which golf swing style best suits him, and he should independently consider all the possible alternative approaches. For example, he may consider adopting an "arm swing" approach, as recommended by Leslie King ( http://www.golfpro-online.com/tuition/lking/index.html ). A beginner golfer must realise that this particular online review only deals with the modern, total body golf swing, which is a lower body golf swing style. The lower body initiates the dowswing, and the total body (lower and upper body) powers the downswing. The arms and hands are essentially passive in this type of golf swing and their main function is to hold onto the golf club and offer fine control.

I start off this review by briefly discussing the basic principles of the modern, total body golf swing in the overview section. The complete, in-depth golf swing details are subsequently provided in the other sub-sections of the review. My approach to the modern, total body golf swing is based on traditional golf instructional teaching that famous golf instructors (eg. David Leadbetter and JimMcLean) offer beginner golfers in their golf instructional books/DVDs/schools, and that PGA tour players (eg. Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo) have described in their personal golf instructional books. I can be perceived to be a neutral conduit through which their golf knowledge is distilled and funnelled, and I do not believe that I am personally encumbered by an unsound set of subjective biases that markedly impairs my ability to be a neutral communicator of traditional golf instruction. I have also been greatly influenced by the scientific research performed by the "Swing Like a Pro" researchers (SLAP researchers) who filmed the swings of many PGA tour golfers, and then analysed their golf swings using sophisticated computers. The SLAP researchers searched for "commonality features" that characterise the swings of professional golfers, and they then created a biomechanically perfect model golfer, the ModelPro golfer, who theoretically has a perfect golf swing (  http://www.modelgolf.com ). Readers should note that their scientific research results are consonant with traditional golf instructional teaching, which increases one's confidence in the validity of their biomechanical research conclusions (and vica versa).

I have read many golf instructional books, and I personally think that most of them do not place enough emphasis on certain problematic issues that are particularly difficult for a beginner golfer to learn - for example, the initiating downswing movement that starts the downswing. Harvey Penick refers to the initiating downswing movement as golf's magical move, and a beginner golfer has to get this movement correct. I have therefore described the start of the downswing in great detail in the downswing section of this review. I have also provided extensive detail on other critical golf swing elements - like the backswing takeaway, and the body's position at impact. In this review, I have decided to use Aaron Baddeley's golf swing as a role model for the modern, total body golf swing. My main reason for using a certain swing video of Aaron Baddeley's swing as a role model, is related to the fact that readers can freely download the same swing video, and the V1 Home Swing Analyser software program, from the V1 Home website, which will enable readers to play the swing video back at variable speeds - real-time motion, slow motion, and frame-by-frame. I believe that viewing a PGA tour player's golf swing in slow motion, and frame-by-frame, can be very instructive for a beginner golfer. I would also encourage beginner golfers to buy the premium version of the V1 Home Swing Analyser program ($39). This version will enable a beginner golfer to compare a swing video of his own swing to a professional golfer's swing, side-by-side on his computer monitor's screen.

Finally, I have also included a "commentary, criticism and controversy" section, and I will include insightful comments from website visitors in that section. Readers can e-mail me their comments at the following e-mail address-:  jmannemg@earthlink.net


Introduction to the miscellaneous topics section


When I started working on this website in late 2006, I initially planned to only write a free online review of the modern, total body swing. However, my interest and knowledge of the golf swing has increased exponentially since that time, and I increasingly came to believe that I had much "better" ideas to communicate than those found in traditional golf instructional books. In particular, I developed a special interest in the biomechanics of the golf swing, and I came to realise (as a retired physician) that I knew much more about human anatomy and human biomechanics than most golf teachers, and that my greater insights could be very valuable to beginner golfers, who are interested in maximising their knowledge of the biomechanics of the golf swing. I strongly believe that if a beginner golfer learns much more about golf biomechanics, that it will be easier for him to modulate/modify his personal swing in a biomechanically natural manner, and that a biomechanically natural swing will ultimately result in more consistent ball striking. I believe that there are many swing fads in the modern era of golf, and I think that many of these "seemingly-attractive" swing fads are based on unsound golf biomechanics. I therefore plan to critically review many different swing fads in future review papers, so that beginner golfers can critically learn to independently discern their biomechanical flaws by independently developing an in-depth understanding of golf biomechanics.

My in-depth review papers are only suitable for a small subset of beginner golfers, who prefer an over-analytical approach. Some golfers get confused by too much information and "paralysed by analysis". My review papers are not suitable for golfers who prefer a simplified approach that is based more on "feel", rather than a more biomechanical approach that is primarily based on in-depth knowledge of what every part of the body is doing at every moment in the golf swing.


Introduction to the swing video lesson section


When I started this website in late 2006, I didn't even own a video camera, and I originally had no intention of producing swing video lessons. However, I have subsequently come to realise that swing videos are a powerful teaching tool because it allows a beginner golfer to see the "body moving in space". I therefore started producing a few swing video lessons in late 2007 on important swing faults and concepts. My swing video lessons are produced in a single session and do not include any further editing. They are therefore encumbered by inadvertent statement-errors and incomplete descriptions. This website also does not have the bandwidth to host my lengthy swing video lessons, and I therefore had to divide each swing video lesson into many segments (each segment lasting <10 minutes) so that I could freely post them on U-tube.

I eventually plan to complete an entire swing video section covering all aspects of the golf swing - from the grip. address setup, backswing, downswing to the impact and followthrough. These swing video lessons will duplicate much of the written material in the "modern, total body golf swing" section, but it will be more thorough, and more focused on human biomechanics.


Website design, text size, spelling, photos and copyright issues


Website design

I have deliberately chosen a very simple website design, so that this review will have a scholarly, book-like appearance. I have therefore decided to mimic the design, and functionality, of my medical education website's clinical problem-solving guidemaps at http://jeffmann.net

I frequently use hyperlinks in this review, and the hyperlinks will enable readers to rapidly navigate to a relevant section, or subsection, of the review. A reader merely has to click his "back button" to go back to the original spot in the review.

Although my website's design is simple, I have used my Photoshop skills to produce high quality composite photographic images, that should enhance a reader's ability to appreciate certain golf swing instructional points.

Text size

The text size is user-controllable and a website visitor merely has to use his browser's text-size control function to make the text size smaller, or larger.

A website visitor can even change the text's font style using his browser's font control function.

Spelling

I have arbitrarily used both the "english-style" and "american-style" spelling of words, and I am very inconsistent in my spelling pattern from day-to-day. 

Photos

Most of the photos come from books or magazines, while a smaller number come from screen captures of single-frame images from swing videos. I scanned the images from books/magazines using a high quality scanner, and I then imported the scanned images into my Photoshop program, where I significantly enhanced the photographic quality of the images to maximise their visual quality on a computer monitor screen. I also frequently blended two-or-more images into a single composite image using Photoshop. I also had to decide on a final image size, so that it would comfortably fit on the average end-user's monitor screen. Knowing that end-users have different computer monitor screen resolutions, I chose a final image size that would make the final image "not-too-small" on high resolution monitor screens (1600x1200), and "not-too-large" on low resolution monitor screens (1024x768). The size of the final graphic images cannot, unfortunately, be altered by the end-user to suit his personal taste. The visual quality of the photographic images is highly dependent on the resolution capability of an end-user's computer monitor screen, and good quality images will only be realised if the end-user has a high resolution computer monitor screen.

Copyright issues

I believe that it is ethically acceptable for me to reproduce images from a book under standard copyright "fair use" doctrines, considering that this review is a scholarly review. My website is totally non-commercial and totally non-exploitative, and I have consistently acknowledged the source of all book-derived images in this review. Even though I have enhanced, or manipulated, some of the images, I fully acknowledge that the reproduced images belong to the original book authors/publishers, and not to me. I am confident that book authors, and book publishers, will not believe that I have unethically exploited their work, and I anticipate that this review may actually increase sales of their books. I will also honor the wishes of any book author, or book publisher, who adamantly requests that I remove their images from my review, and I will then seek alternative images to make the same educational point.


Book recommendations


I anticipate that some beginner golfers will wish to obtain book recommendations because they find my review too lengthy, and/or too confusing, and/or too biased. I therefore offer beginner golfers the following two book recommendations.

For the beginner golfer, who wants a simple book, that covers all aspects of the golf game, I recommend David Leadbetter's book "100% Golf: Unlocking Your True Golf Potential".
 


I have read all of David Leadbetter's books and I think that this is his best golf instructional book, because it covers the entire golf swing in an easily understandable, and comprehensive manner.

For the beginner golfer, who wants to maximise his understanding of the modern golf swing, I would recommend one of my favorite technical books - "Swing Like a Pro" by Ralph Mann and Fred Griffin. 



The SLAP authors have produced one of the most scientifically-based golf instructional books devoted to the full golf swing that I have ever read. They photographed the full golf swing of many professional golfers, using a high speed camera capable of recording 500 frames/second, and they then analysed the tens-of-thousands of images using a sophisticated computer. They subsequently produced a theoretically perfect golfer, the ModelPro golfer, who has the best commonaility features of multiple professional golfers. Their research findings are of great utility, and I refer to them extensively in my review. The advantage of buying the book is that it provides readers with much more detail than my online review article, and the authors also provide many drills that will help a beginner golfer master many relevant golf movements.

The best golf book for the serious, highly motivated student, who wants to maximise his knowledge of the physics/geometry of the golf swing, is Homer Kelley's book called "The Golfing Machine.


 

I first started an in-depth study of this complex book in April 2008, and I now regard it as the best book ever written on the physics/geometry/biomechanics of the golf swing. Homer Kelley worked as an engineer for Boeing and he initially became interested in the golf swing as a side-interest. His interest grew to such an extent that he ended up devoting 40 years of his life to thinking about, and researching, the golf swing. He kept notes on his ideas/concepts, and he eventually published his notes as a book. Homer Kellley died in 1983 and the "rights" to his work was licenced to Joe Daniels, who now runs the "The Golfing Machine" company ( http://www.thegolfingmachine.com ). You can purchase the book from the TGM company store. You can also inquire about certified TGM instructors in your area, and formal TGM courses that will allow you to become certified as a TGM instructor.

The TGM book is an extremely difficult book to read, and understand, and it will take the average reader a few hundred hours of intense study to fully understand Homer Kelley's ideas/concepts. I plan to write a number of review papers in the next 2 years (2008-2010) explaining (in my personal way) why some of Homer Kelley's key ideas are so important.


Book donations


I am personally collecting out-of-print golf books, and readers, who appreciate the work-effort and educational quality of my review, can freely consider sending me any old golf instructional books that they no longer want to own. Please send me an e-mail if you are willing to donate any books. 


Jeffrey Mann.

Salt Lake City, USA.

E-mail address: jmannemg@earthlink.net

First completed draft version of this review:  February 2007.