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the Mike Austin Method (how to kill the ball)


JerryMB

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Hi Guys, the Mike Ausin Method, was developed by Dr Mike Austin, a unique person in golf history, Mike in 1974 in the U.S. National senior open on a flat hole hit a drive 515yds, a PGA record still today, and he hit two other drives over 400yds that same day, amazing considering that he was playing a balata ball and was using a short persimmon driver, Dr Mike has advanced degrees in Physics, mechanical engineering, and Kinesiology, he is now 94 yrs old and not in good health, yet still gives some lessons, has anyone here got any of the books or videos of his method? or is using the swing? :smile1: JerryMB

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Gave it a try for about three weeks using the Dan Shauger book and DVD. I went in for the full deal and trained about one to two hours a day using all of the drills and examples. I didn't get any appreciable increase in distance or accuracy, scores went up about 4 strokes a round, wrists were getting sore as hell from flipping the club through impact, and have since gone back to traditional style golf. The pitching method is neat and might help someone who struggles with accuracy but it didn't do anything for me as I've been very successful with my traditional chip/pitch shot.

It may work for others but it speaks volumes to me that Austin never won any tournaments and nobody on tour (that I know if) is using this type of method. If they are and have success, then that's good for them, but this method isn't for me.

There are several other reasons why I left this behind but a major thing for me to consider was that no other teaching pro in my area uses this. If I need help and go to a pro for a lesson and they see me using this method then I'm not going to get much out of it.

Three weeks might not have been enough time to get settled in it. If there are any positive stories on this, I'd really like to hear them.

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CLMELTON, :smile1: , HI, the the throwing of the club as well as the counter rotion of the club starts at the start of the downswing, most people try to do it down by the ball, which wont work right,  JerryMB

With all of our fabulous hand eye coordination(sarcasm), and the fact most of us have no time to practice, being that precise seems a little hard to fathom. Counterotation? Suplinate? Pronate? words for someone with too much to think about.

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CLMELTON, :smile1: , HI, the the throwing of the club as well as the counter rotion of the club starts at the start of the downswing, most people try to do it down by the ball, which wont work right,  JerryMB

I worked completely through the Dan Shauger book and did the best I could. Video'd everything, sat down and analyzed it and still didn't see any appreciable improvement, even with "throwing from the top" or using the counter rotation from the bottom so my left palm was skyward at the top. One thing that bothered me about the DVD was they never really show Bowden hitting full driver shots (or I must have missed something in there).

How much difference is there between a pure Mike Austin style of swinging and Dan Shauger's methods are there? When I look through the Dan S. book the one thing that strikes me is that his illustrations and descriptions seem to work only in two dimensions. When you consider that there is so much more occuring I think that maybe his interpretation of the levering concept is being oversimplified when the body can move in multiple directions. For example, I can move the base of my spine from left to right and back and forth at the same time.

The only other thing I wonder about is why don't we hear more about this method? It's almost at a cult status but nothing in the mainstream of succsessful touring pros is attributed to the Austin style. Personally, I've had better success working with "Tour Tempo" and "Swing Like a Pro."

I wonder if maybe a different club design might fit this swing style better.

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clmelton, even though Mikes been around for ever, his playing career was some time ago, even most fans of today have no clue Mike hit a 515yd drive or had a tv show outwest, its been the researcher only thats found Dan and his book and DVD, that might change though, Dan is teaching a seminar in Texas at the North Houston driving range the 10/23 and 10/24, and is starting to develop a tour around the country, as for the swing, its by no means a easy swing at first, there is enough new things to work on such as the drills, also one thing i find is not being able to see ourselfs in motion, most of the time i find students have a misconception of what they are doing, so i am not surprised when someone has a proplem with a certain area, also its not oncommon to see the old swing try to creep in somewhere, since you have been taping yourself, is there anyway you could post some footage? :smile1: JerryMB

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Jerry,

Would love to have footage to post but I taped right over it when I went back to the old traditional style. If you want to see videos of a swing that goes brutally inside and comes bsck around on an outside path, I've got that ugly looking thing :surprize: Then I have a look at where I've fixed it and gotten something that looks more like the pro in "Swing Like a Pro." Digital camcorders are awesome and I wish I had started using one ages ago.

I looked around on the internet last night and found out a bit more about Austin and Shauger. There's an interesting story here:

http://www.travelandleisure.com/tlgolf/inv...5A978DBD626B0B3

I hadn't really gotten into the whole Austin background when I bought the books but it sure seems like he was an interesting guy. Looks like he had putting woes worse than Hogan. After the 515 yard drive he three putted for a bogey.

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CLmelton yea it didnt help when Mike got hit in the face with a golfball in 1954, and lost the site in one eye for a year, it played havoc with putting even when he got his vision back, If you want to have a fun read, check out Philip Reeds new book, In Search of the Greatest Golf Swing, Mike Austins full story, they got to be nuts not to make a movie about this guy JerryMB

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Hello Jerry,

I've been using the Austin Method for over 4 years now. I have recently converted to the new swing with much success. I also have one student who has converted over and she is doing much better than her traditional swing.

I find it takes much less effort to get good distances. I made an effort at long drive this year, mostly finding the right equipment. I may continue next year with the revised swing.

This new method is the evolution of Mike's old swing. He has never used this swing as he had a stroke at about age 82. I have studied everything I could find on the man and his method, and have spoken to him many times. I found it most fastinating he averaged 308 yards in a long drive contest at the age of 77. Too bad he couldn't putt.

GolfBald

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