Mike Austin 1960 TV Golf Swing Show, Part 1 of 2

Long before Mike Austin had ever become 'world famous' for hitting his 515 yard drive, he was becoming well known in Los Angeles.

He starred in his own TV show in 1960 on KHJ TV Channel 9 where he demonstrated the perfect golf swing wearing his skeleton suit to show the framework of the body.

In about the same era, Mike had an indoor training center where he taught golf and several other sports including boxing. This was most likely modeled after Count Yogi's studio in Chicago, where he taught briefly in about 1940.

You'll notice in the video that Mike's longest drive in competition at this point is 447 yards, well short of his Guinness mark he would set in 1974.

You can catch part 2 here:

This is a fantastic swing model to learn, but most people get lost at some point along the way. Let me show you how to do all of these motions correctly in proper order. Click the link below to sign up for my online video training course:

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[steveperry]

when i need to brush up on my swing action i always come back to this video. i think anyone serious about golf should give this a view.

[therockinguitarman]

Every time I watch this video I realize how great it is. I start this down swing by trying to raise my right heel. TIMELESS

[NonnyStrikes]

It's incredible how natural it is. Anyone that has spent hours on the course... have felt that "pushing down with lead arm palmpad to cock the wrist" feeling. You can literally hit a pitching wedge 50 + yards with just this motion alone.

I went from hitting my wedge 110-120 to 170-180 by utilizing this motion with the body. Truly blows your mind when you get it. It's so easy on the body too.

[juliomadrigal]

Wow…just wow…love the clarity of the tutelage

[KarlG-yv]

Something seldom mentioned is just how incredibly strong Michael was. He was one of the strongest guys I've ever known. You combine that with superior hand/eye coordination and it's no wonder he could hit it so long. Michael is one of the people I really miss in this life. Truly bigger than life in every sense of the word.

[steveperry]

he was a golfing stud and way ahead of his time. i think he's the grandaddy of modern golf instruction, it's all there. i had never heard of him until i got youtube

[GermanBullitt]

The best way to learn the swing. There is no squat or any fency new taught stuff. I like that.

[Grizzlymccadams]

His swing is so balanced that the slow motion silhouette of his swing at the beginning looks correct as a right handed swing facing the camera and as a left handed swing facing away. It actually threw me for a second trying to understand what I was seeing

[TeddyCavachon]

At 11:00 where he explains how to start the down swing it is actually far less complicated to just create a bit of trailside side bend in the spine which will drop the hands causing the club head to stop and reverse direction and also create a reflexive lateral shift of the hips and body mass towards the target in the same way he did by raising and dropping the heels of the feet as the trigger.

One of the things which makes a golf swing efficient is the amount of physical exertion needed. A “one piece” takeaway like he uses here is actually powered by the way the front leg is bent and back leg straightened (both passive relaxing of actions) allowing gravity to act on the upper body mass and rotate the hips very much like a piston and connecting rod in an engine convert linear to circular motion. The rotation of hips, shoulders and hands together initially plus the leverage of lead arm and club head causes the club head mass to start accelerating around the hands. Each doubling of the velocity of the club head increases the kinetic energy by the square of the change in velocity F = 1/2 (Mass x Velocity^2) so a seemingly slow backwards movement of hips shoulders and hands has the potential to develop a huge amount of kinetic energy in the club head IF THE GOLFER’S GRIP ALLOWS IT TO FREELY SWING BACK AND THEN UP AROUND THE HANDS WHEN THE LEAD ARM SWINGS HORIZONTAL WITH THE GROUND.

The unappreciated genius of the now conventional overlapping grip first developed by Scottish amateur Johnny Laidlay then copied and popularized by Harry Vardon is how it allows the club to be held in a way which controls it but does not restrict radial-to-ulnar deviation cocking action. My observation is that less than 5% of recreational golfers know how to use the overlapping grip correctly with pad of trail hand up high over the thumb of the lead hand as Mr. Austin illustrates here. Most place trail hand lower which results in more finger pressure on the grip needed for control which in turn greatly inhibits the thumb-down to thumb-up ulnar-to-radial deviation cocking of the wrists which is necessary to allow the club head to ACCELERATE up around the hands with enough force to EFFORTLESSLY pull the lead arm back and up pulling the shoulders to the ideal 90° backswing position and stretching the leg and core muscles which are then used to power the lateral shifting and turning of the hips in the downswing.

You can’t release the lag to generate club head speed on the way down if a “death grip” on the club prevents it from lagging as much as anatomically possible on the way up with minimal effort and conscious control. One of the most critical points of the swing is where the club head mass is in 3D space relative to the feet and which direction the toe mass is pointing because the momentum action on the toe of the club is what turns over the wrists, with movements limited by the geometry and leverage the Vardon grip automatically supplies if used correctly.

Something to consciously realize about the physics of a golf swing is that when the hands are felt pulling the club mass, as in the very start of the takeaway and start of the downswing the golfer can steer the toe and face of the club head, but at the point where the swing force causes the club head mass to pull on the hands it is the orientation of the toe relative to the swing path vector which will control the where the club head wants to go next. That’s why orientation of the toe of the club during the takeaway move and having it automatically controlled at the top by grip geometry and leverage is critical for a swing to be both powerful (the easy part) and bring the club face back to the ball so it releases off the face straight to the target (the more difficult part). Austin’s method of allowing the club to freely swing around the hands pulling the trail arm straight through impact and release of the ball off the face to target has fewer variables and requires less athletic coordination than a conventional lagging swing making it more powerful and potentially more accurate for the average recreational golfer. It’s really as easy as chopping wood and like swinging an axe hitting the ball consistently becomes a reflexive no-brainer from the top of the backswing to the finish.

[bro]

He makes Hogan five lesson book a elementary book. What detail and biomechanics wisdom he had.

[fiercehander]

This is the one right here Mike was on his A game. Amazing demonstration!

[johndonohoe]

Brilliant! Easy to follow instructions.

[Popspicker]

What a genius, way ahead of his time!

[donhammond]

Love the Intro music for Mike's show on KHJ Los Angeles (Channel 9). Reminds me of the parody instructional video from the movie Dodgeball. And just like Patches O'Houlihan, Mike really knows his stuff...

[itssuperkyle]

great video truly tells all you need to know. Mike wasn’t the best teacher but he def fully understood what he was doingBig brain material

[wesleyhilde]

Dis is the golf swing. Gotta work on dis..

[stephenjohnson]

He is a genius. Just wish I had the accent.

[steveperry]

there is a lot more content in this version of the golf show.

[richardcarr]

how can you straighten the right knee and the right hip goes back but when he shows it again on the wall drill the right hip can't go back but moves to the right. This is very confusing! Which is it?

[michaelJdirk]

what’s the intro song called before the actual video starts