Jaacob Bowden's Swing Man Golf Blog

Old Footage of Mike Dunaway's Golf Swing

For those of you that follow Mike Austin, here is some old footage of one of his protege's...Mike Dunaway.

 

The Man Who Hit the 515-Yard Drive

by James Achenbach

LA QUINTA, Calif. – In the end, golf is all about friendship.

It is New Year’s Eve in the desert, and Walter (Smiley) Jones, 70, is thinking hard about old golf friends. One of his dearest, Mike Austin, rests here in an urn.

Austin, an iconic figure on the West Coast, died in 2005 at the age of 95. “It will get us all,” mused Jones, determined to be the guardian of Austin’s reputation as well as his remains.

In the 1974 U.S. National Seniors Open, the precursor to the U.S. Senior Open that was first played in 1980, Austin hit a measured drive of 515 yards that still stands in the Guinness Book of Sports Records as the longest drive ever hit in competition.

Austin was 64 at the time. He used a Wilson 43.5-inch, steel-shafted persimmon driver and a 100-compression Titleist balata golf ball.

To read more, click here.

Video Tips in Universal Golf Magazine

Be sure to check out our two Swing Man Golf videos about Bunker Play and Dan Shauger's Spin the Meatballs Concept featured in this month's issue of Universal Golf Magazine!

Dan Shauger's Spin The Meatballs

Dan Shauger's Spin the Meatballs concept is confusing to some.  In this video Golf Instructor, Jaacob Bowden will explain exactly what Spinning the Meatballs means with the golf swing.

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Stay tuned for more videos in the near future!

Hooking your Woods

Question:

I have been having a problem with the lower body action in the Shauger/Austin swing. I am consistently hitting pulls that start left and stay left.  The ball is off my left heel for the driver and 3 wood.  How do I correct this?

Jaacob's Answer:

Actually, I think what you are experiencing is pretty normal.  I myself have experienced the same pulls with clubs where the ball position is off the left heel.

If you think about the swing arc from a ball position in the middle of the stance, the club comes from the inside, is square at impact, and returns back inside after impact.  If your body makes the same swing motion with a club where the ball is forward, the club naturally is already on the way back to the inside...thus the pull.

So...there's two things I can think of to do.  Either play the pull with the driver.  For example, I played a pull in the Long Beach Open last year and because it was consistent, I hit a lot of fairways.  I think Sean Fister, 3-time RE/MAX World Long Drive Champion, also plays a pull in his long drive events.  Or, you could just train yourself to swing out to the right a little more for those forward-stance clubs.  At the moment, this is what I'm doing for driver and 3W.  You'll have to consciously remind yourself each time in the beginning to do it, but once you get used to the motion you won't have to think about it anymore.

Rolling Hand Action and Curling Under Motion

Question: 

What is the rolling hand action and curling under motion?

Jaacob's Answer:

Conventional teaching has us open the club up as we take it back so that when the club is parallel to the ground the toe of the club is pointing to the sky.  This open club position continues on in to the top of the back swing.  On the way down the blade must be closed again in order for it to be square at impact.  The blade continues on in to the through-swing with the toe again pointed to the sky when the shaft is parallel to the ground.  The hand motion that accomplishes this is a rolling action of the hands. 

The curling under motion is the motion of the left hand (for a right-handed swinger) on the back swing that keeps the blade square back to the ball at the point where the club is parallel to the ground (see the below photo).  I find that there is less timing (which means less practice needed to stay grooved) involved with a motion like this and once you are used to it, it is much easier to hit the ball straight without any curvature.

 

Left or right knee starts Mike Austin swing?

Question/Comment:

When trying Mike Austins principles I found it difficult to understand what should initiate the swing - the left knee out or stretching the right knee.

Jaacob's Answer:

I'd experiment around on the range with focusing on different swing thoughts to find out what works best for you.  In this way, you can not only find the ones that work best for you...but you can also work on the ones that don't work well for you to help build a better subconscious mental map of your swing.

For example, one of my thoughts used to be getting my left shoulder under my chin at the top of the back swing.  One day I decided to experiment with my thoughts and instead I thought of getting my right shoulder behind me on the back swing...and then swinging through and getting my left shoulder on the follow-through where my right shoulder was in the top of the back swing.  At first, I had a lot of difficulty sensing where my shoulders where...but after a little practice I improved at it and it actually ended up becoming a swing thought that produced more powerful and consistent shots for me.

After discovering this, I decided to do this with other body parts too.  I'd take a few swings focusing on and improving the before/after positions of my feet, knees, hips, shoulders, etc.  I tried each thought until I could hit pretty good shots with each thought...and later on when I went back to my original swing thoughts I ended up swinging better than I had before I started the whole process.  I believe this was because I had built a better overall internal map of my swing in my brain.