The Old School Swinger Golf Swing
There is nothing more beautiful in golf than the tranquil movement of the old school swinger golf swing. It looks completely effortless and borders on the poetic.
Made mostly mainstream by Jack Nicklaus but stretches all the way back to Bobby Jones with other noteworthy players like Tom Watson, Tom Weiskopf and Mike Austin. Some of the elements also live in more recent smooth swingers like Fred Couples, Payne Stewart, Ernie Els, David Duval, Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomery and to some degree Phil Mickelson. In the modern version it would be mostly Scottie Scheffler and possibly Justin Thomas that would fit this category.
My name is Petter Tärbe and I have a history as a decent scratch player, a golf instructor for some years, but first and foremost I’m a huge golf development nerd that loves to pass on what I know.
Let’s jump into it!
All the way in the bottom you have a terminology list for all the weird words I’m using.
Does the old school swinger golf swing Fit You?
Matching your golfing persona with the technique you want to pursue is key to your success. (read more about this in my change guide)
You better be laid back for this swing style. You can't be hasty/quick/nervous like me but rather be good at giving yourself time. In other words you need to be relaxed and tension free to do these moves. This involves a sense of letting go of control for most people but rest assured, the tension free transition alongside the release exit will be perceived as a very reliable play feel. And once you understand that power is just a product of technique then you'll never feel the urge to be stiff again.
From an athletic perspective it's a huge advantage if you feel your golf swing in your hands. They lead the way in the protocol. Read more about what I mean here if you will. Becoming buddy with your wrists and understanding that they are your biggest assets is an absolute must for this swing style. You also need to picture that you let your club release fully (I'll walk through the release further down).
From a brain availability perspective you will have a big advantage if you can "think your golfswing" during the transition into this swing. You need to have head space in the early downswing to make this work.
Before In-Depth Description
Learn from the Master: The world's best player of all time describes what he does on youtube and it is available for you: click here. I would very much suggest that you watch this with full focus. Twice.
In-Depth Based on Own Experience:
There are two "parts" of this movement. You have the body positions where I exclude the arms and the hands for now. I refer to this as the “body macro”. Then you have the arms, the wrists, the club and the swing arc they achieve together. This i refer to as the “arms macro”. Of course they work in unison and this terminology is only for explanatory purposes.
Body macro - from start to finish: All old timers have very steep backswing positions (they have lifted their lead heal, they have spines that lean towards the target) and then they accompany this with a silky smooth transition where the weight quite quickly (but observed quietly) move to their to the left as the first thing in transition and where the body halfway down to the ball start to explode up to a reversed C position (think montgomery finish and you’ve got it). Basically it’s a backswing with a steep spine, a weight shift (BEFORE the arms macro start, clarity further down) and very smooth initial downswing that explodes to what I would call a pure upswing with the body. The upswing is then of course the opposite of the backswing, it is leaning away from the target.
Arms macro - backswing: All old school players will be “across parallel” at the top of the swing and yet this is said to be overswinging from most teachers…. Long story short - use soft arms and create a wide arc and let the wrists start break because of the weight of the club and not some positional "wrist hinge instruction". This will ensure a shoulder turn that will be very benificial. Once you have come as wide as you can the club will start moving upwards and towards the target.. Coming cross is no problem here.
Arms macro - the transition move: here comes the key move - let the wrist make the last small extra wrist cock (or radial deviation to be technical). This is the final move of the backswing from an arms macro perspective and this extra wrist cock creates a stretch short cycle in the wrist that will now shoot them back to from where they came. So this leads us into the transition which is basically to let the wrist go back and this has now created a much wider arc. This is not a deliberate “cast” but a natural movement that 1) creates width and a better swing plane 2) creates speed. And, hint hint, you can assist this wrist uncock to create even more “speed” in the beginning of the downswing. It's important to note that this is only at the top of the transition that you are actually "active". The rest is a reaction. The final backswing wrist cock and uncock action can be referred to as the release sequence start.
Arms macro - downswing and release exit: So now the wrists have sent the clubhead away from you and the target and down a solid downswing path (that isn’t too steep) without you having to invest any power at all. What next? Now you need to understand to make this automatic power machine continue without chaotically closing the clubface with a forearm roll but to still keep the power. You do this via exiting the release like it shown here from the Mike Austin release: click here. It ensures a stable (non-panic-closing) face through the impact zone. Of course, this will however also demand of you that you don't hold a too strong grip or over rotate. See the grip section at the end of the deep dive.
Sequence in Chronological Terms
(as simple as I can explain it right now)
- Make a wide backswing and somewhere after mid backswing lift your lead heel and rotate the knee towards your trail knee (very important since this creates the opposite in the downswing that will clear your hips easier)
- Let the wrists cock with the weight of the club and let your body start leaning towards the target a little bit (this will make the weight shift so much easier and will make you steep enough in the spine to make an “upswing” later).
- Just before the arms macro finishes the backswing, get your weight to the left foot in the body macro (this will lead to what Nicklaus calls a knee shuffle where the internally rotated left knee now will move externally = against the target). This is the door opener for getting force into your shaft. It’s very very important for this system.
- Then give the time and space for the final backswing wrist move that will automatically transition your arm macro for you. And as you notice, the final part of the arm backswing happens just after the weight has started moving to the left. This powers the system.
- Let the smooth transition happen and finally move your body macro in an upswing along with your arm marco to the release exit position ala Nicklaus, Montgomery, Weiskopf etc. After that it is fine for the arms to cross over. Then you have maintained a pretty steady and fully released club head for 30-40 cm in the hitting area. Pretty sweet right?
This sounds like a lot but it really isn’t. It’s super easy to accomplish if you just let go of your “control” and understand that having loose and working wrists is a friend and that moving your body isn’t something that damages control but quite the opposite. And the key is to get your weight to the left just before the wrist power move occurs.
The Grip ala Jack Nicklaus Explained
The left hand is the strong support system - hence, gripped in the strong part of the hand. The right hand is the power lever, hence placed in the fingers for mobility. The weak left hand position is not weak at all. It is optimized to be able to present a square clubface. Why? Well, think about it. The weak grip has already a rotated left forearm so it's already set for the early release start sequence. A strong grip forces you to close the forearms in the downswing which in turn hinders your power and makes timing of the delivery much harder. Likely this is why Jack says strong grip, weak swing. (yes, the opposite to normal PGA coaching.)
Sidenotes & Nuggets
Less forearm rotation with the weak grip: When I perform this there is quite little forearm rotation in the backswing and downswing (at least if you compare to e.g. the hitter golf swing). Hence, once you get around to completing both the body and arm macro it's very easy to time.
Take heavy clubs when testing this: This is based on feeling the center of mass in the club and feeling the power move. Although your aren't really powering the swing it's important to "feel the club". I'm certain you will have bigger success if you bring out a heavier club, e.g. a S300 true temper shaft or something like this with more weight.
Deviations from the release exit pattern: Fred Couples, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelsson all use the same body movements as Jack (give or take) but they use another “release exit”. They roll their arms and it’s quite easy to say that they likely have atheltic abilities and hand eye coordination on such a high level that it’s nothing for the normal golfer to try to achieve. If I do what they do I snap hook 6-7 shots per round. If I flap release / mike austin release exit I almost always find my ball…
Experts With Material
pass…
Not your style of swing? Read more about other frameworks:
Interested in the dynamics of how you actually go about and change your swing? Go into my How to change your golf swing guide here.
The Slingshot Golf Swing. What Dustin Johnson, Victor Hovland, Cameron Champ, Cameron Young etc are pursuing.
The Hogan Golf Swing. Ben Hogan's foundations that lives on through many modern players like Tiger, Rory and nowadays Ludvid Åberg.
The MORAD 86 Golf Swing. One of the best swings ever of course by Mac O'Grady.
Or by all means - just go to the main page for much more heavily researched golf information.
Terminology List
Transition = how you change from backswing to downswing. In this protocol an important piece.
Wrist cock = the same as radial deviation = take your right arm and straighten it in front of you. Take the thumb and point it in your eyes direction. Then pull the thumb towards you. That's a wrist cock.
Cupping & Bowing / Hinge & Unhinge = Bowing is Dustin Johnson's left hand on top of the backswing. Cupping is the opposite. Hold your right arm straight out in front of you with your thumb pointing straight up. Hinge to the right = cupping (or extension). Unhinge to the left = bowing (or flexion)
Hand path = The club head and the hands don’t follow each other even though it might feel like it. In this article the described hand path
Breaking mechanism = For the club to fully release you need to create a deceleration of the hand path in relation to where they came from. In this pattern the hands come from the inside from a low position and the break is that you switch around the path up and left. This triggers the club to release.
Club head travel = the path that the clubhead takes in a swing. If the path is long in the downswing it has more room to accelerate.
Flap release = the term in the old school swinger release. That you utilize your wrist hinge to release the blade more than forearm rotation. Breaking mechanism from the left turn that you do at the exit of the release.