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Mike Austin holds the world's longest drive in competition (not long drive contests) at 515 yards.
In 1974.
With a persimmon wood driver.
Oh, and at age 64.
While I don't know much about golf, and most people here know that I primarily coach pitchers, I was working with a pitcher the other day who was taking a few cuts off a tee. Pretty athletic 12 year old kid who has a good arm and says he's slumping a bit at the plate. I borrowed a few cues from the HI camp and told him to think about his hips as a merry-go-round and his upper body like a ferris wheel. He had a bit more power, then I told him to work his lead elbow up (a cue that has always worked for me).
Bang! Bang! Every ball was coming off the tee 10-15 MPH faster and was solidly connecting to the length of the cage.
I'd describe his previous swing as a disconnected bat-draggy swing where he pulled the knob a lot. His dad means well and has done a lot of research, but he came to me because I actually studied the kinesiology of pitching and took high-speed video and offered kinematic analyses using software. (It's still a work in progress, but my 3d biomechanics lab will be open in Seattle in 2010.)
He asked if I had ever heard of Mike Austin, and I told him that I hadn't. He told me the backstory of Mike and how what I was saying basically echoed what Mike taught - that "maintaining the hinge angle" (PCR?) was a bunch of bullshit and that there needs to be overlap (!) and a stretch from the backside that fires an active upper body.
Pretty interesting stuff. I know Tom and others are more into golf here, so if they want to contribute anything, that'd be interesting. But he immediately took to the instruction, and well, it seems I might have a hitting client now.
In 1974.
With a persimmon wood driver.
Oh, and at age 64.
While I don't know much about golf, and most people here know that I primarily coach pitchers, I was working with a pitcher the other day who was taking a few cuts off a tee. Pretty athletic 12 year old kid who has a good arm and says he's slumping a bit at the plate. I borrowed a few cues from the HI camp and told him to think about his hips as a merry-go-round and his upper body like a ferris wheel. He had a bit more power, then I told him to work his lead elbow up (a cue that has always worked for me).
Bang! Bang! Every ball was coming off the tee 10-15 MPH faster and was solidly connecting to the length of the cage.
I'd describe his previous swing as a disconnected bat-draggy swing where he pulled the knob a lot. His dad means well and has done a lot of research, but he came to me because I actually studied the kinesiology of pitching and took high-speed video and offered kinematic analyses using software. (It's still a work in progress, but my 3d biomechanics lab will be open in Seattle in 2010.)
He asked if I had ever heard of Mike Austin, and I told him that I hadn't. He told me the backstory of Mike and how what I was saying basically echoed what Mike taught - that "maintaining the hinge angle" (PCR?) was a bunch of bullshit and that there needs to be overlap (!) and a stretch from the backside that fires an active upper body.
Pretty interesting stuff. I know Tom and others are more into golf here, so if they want to contribute anything, that'd be interesting. But he immediately took to the instruction, and well, it seems I might have a hitting client now.
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