This is very typical of the… at first glance… “looks like Hogan” but…
Serious issues here.
- John Gustin is crossing over at the top… therefore negating the possibility of tripping the shaft. You can’t trip the shaft from here.
- On the way down, he’s not lagging the club as much as I believe he could… if he had tripped the shaft.
- Post impact, he’s engaging a full roll swinger’s release, the exact opposite of what Hogan did using a hitters release.
- Clubshaft flips post impact at P4 because he’s opened up his rotation too early and the left shoulder has stalled causing the clubshaft to flip wildly due to overacceleration and pivot stall.
Looks like Hogan though with the lower body action… I agree, but doesn’t complete a full shoulder rotation before moving laterally. Trying to move laterally before the shoulder rotation is finished inhibits the rotation. It’s a common flaw with those who falsely by into the idea that Hogan was moving laterally before he completed his backswing (shoulder rotation)
Appreciate the analysis on Gustin. All fair.
One item you mentioned was the transfer of weight left happening before the shoulder turn is finished.
For me, forever, it was a staple of the swing for great ball striking to start the move left before completing the full takeaway.
Completing the full backswing and THEN starting the transfer IMHO challenged the ability to hit it from the inside consistently.
Secondly the physiques of the clubhead still moving to a complete backswing yet weight shift already started does a fine job of accomplishing what you call “tripping” as well.
I fall in the classic swing camp where many of the great golden age players did much the same in moving left before the takeaway is completed.
Respect immensely your teachings and knowledge but if I am interpreting your comments on this singular item, for me, I disagree. There are various ways to swing it. Respect your thoughts.
Keep up the great work! I will continue to stay abreast!
I was only basing my critic upon the Hogan comparison. It’s not even in the conversation. That being said, Gustin has a very good golf swing. I would put it in a much more similar action to Julius Boros. Boros had a timing based swinger’s release and had a great career. I was good friends with his son Guy Boros, and we talked a lot about his Dad.
Hogan was very specific about how he did things, and there are so many Hogan fans who claim this or that person swings “like Hogan”. I’m not getting overly picky, but I don’t want to see a swinger’s release… then someone putting that player in Hogan’s camp. Faldo, Nick Price, Peter Senior were much more in Hogan’s camp with hitter’s releases… while most would not think they are very similar, but fundamentally they are very much the same in more ways than not.
I was not at all disagreeing with your critique and comparison articulated about Gustin’s swing. I am not on a hill disagreeing and saying you are wrong in the comparison of swings. Not whatsoever.
My only feedback of disagreement of comments made was the mention of the weight shift to left side and toward target happened before he finished the backswing. If I interpreted correctly you disagreed with that swing axiom.
In that aspect and that aspect alone (having nothing to do specifically with Gustin but my thought on the golf swing overall) I believe it is extremely important to start your weight shift left before the backswing is finished.
A few of the whys behind that was mentioned as well in my comments prior.
Beyond that specific I am good Mr. Erickson. Appreciate your time and commitment to sharing your philosophies. Will continue to follow your exploits and content. Best to you.
I was going to add and forgot to that I 100% agree on the roll release. That falls into the camp of Johnny Revolta out of the Chicago area that Mr. Gustin was also a close friend of and were swing confidants of that classic swing era.
Ok… let me further explain my position on the “backswing”. I consider the backswing definition to be defined by the shoulder rotation…NOT the golf club… shaft or clubhead. The backswing is over when the shoulders finish their rotation. That doesn’t mean that the club cannot still be moving. The left arm has some wiggle room to compress into the torso, and the wrists might have some range of motion left over if the wrists have not fully cocked prior to the end of the shoulder rotation (not recommended). Also the pace of the backswing has a huge effect here… the quicker the backswing, the more momentum the club has to continue some compression inward toward the body or a slight expansion back like a rubber band might have. This is what people are seeing…
Add to the confusion, Hogan tripped the shaft through transition which is a mechanical move that would create a further illusion that the backswing is continuing if one bases the observation upon arm and shaft travel.
Being inside this kind of action, I’ve diligently explored these concepts and found that it is absolutely imperative that the shoulder rotation finishes it’s journey before any lateral movement or tripping of the shaft is “intentionally” initiated. If you fail to do this, you’ll end up losing power because the shoulder’s won’t rotate fully. Every time someone sends me a video of some Hoganite that is working on this “look” their shoulder rotation is compromised.
Exactly what I am seeing with Gustin here…
Now when things get into full speed aggressive motion, their could be a very slight overlapping conceptually here, but if you look at Hogan’s backswing being defined by shoulder rotation, you’ll see what I am talking about… and if you actually apply this into your own golf swing… you’ll get much better clarity as well.
Back to Gustin, I can see he is aggressively trying to move laterally before his shoulder rotation has finished, and it stops his shoulder rotation. He doesn’t trip the shaft because he probably got sent down the wrong road reading Five Lessons with the tilted plane image that can easily promote crossing the shaft over at the top… and you cant’ trip the shaft from there.
Without the full shoulder rotation, the torso opens too soon, can’t access the 4:30 line as deep as Hogan did… then the torso pivot rotation runs out of room… or range of motion… and pressure is lost on the shaft and we can see the evidence of this clearly post impact as Gustin flips the shaft up because his left shoulder can’t stay ahead of the golf club. This all stems from his attempt to move laterally too soon in the backswing… as I have seen with so many chasing this “look”.
If I shot a video where I tried to move laterally before finishing my shoulder rotation, the same thing would happen to me… and my swing would look very similar to Gustin’s. Maybe I should do that.
Anyway, this is why we have the ABS Forum and I appreciate your thoughts, concerns, and participation here and respect!
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Let me suggest this…
If the 1rst priority is to get the shoulders rotated fully, THEN make the big lateral move…
you’ll end up much more into the Hogan methodology. If you focus upon moving laterally before the shoulders fully rotate, you will more than likely have a limited shoulder rotation.
Looking again at Gustin, he’s pretty much done with his shoulder rotation before he moves laterally, but his shoulder rotation is very limited compared to Hogan’s… and I believe the main reason for this is his initial focus on moving laterally … and not maximizing his shoulder rotation as the first priority… which then creates a cascading effect of the other things I mentioned above.
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So here’s my theory’s on Mr. Hogans golf swing and my journey thru golf was Hen Bogan’s swing out of necessity after his car accident I believe so,as my journey in golf started very late mid 30’s and here is how it started after a head on collision in California on I-5 a drunk driver going the wrong way on an exit ramp hit me the passenger Cpl. Schwartz and Cpl. Manning the driver head on the car flipped down a very steep embankment rolled 14 to 18 times extracted Cpl. Manning from the car with his Tibia bone sticking out of his skin as he was Medevac to a surgical hospital I was in a different situation with my right leg out the windshield and my head trapped underneath the dashboard it took a while to e tract me as the jaws of life in those days were pneumatic and I was way down that embankment, after finally releasing me from my entrapped situation I was medevac to a Neurological specialty hospital induced coma three day’s later I was a survivor and moved to a hospital Mainside Camp Pendleton where I spent three and a half month’s so after being medically released from my military service I was very depressed as I was a lifer and just love everything about the Marine corps. Now I am back home depressed bedridden and demoralized! My chin could not lift off my left shoulder like it was frozen there I would have to turn my whole upper body to have a conversation with people, also the TBI made me dizzy and walking was more like shuffling with family coming over for support and hoping I would make a comeback, my uncle Johnny said on a visit let’s go out and took me to his nine hole executive golf course he and his retired buddy’s and friends from school days would play uncle John was 72 at the time and here my golf journey begins Thats first day I couldn’t make it past four holes just riding in that golf cart but my persistent uncle a few days later and for several months would take me to his league and friends gathering at the golf course hearing their stories outside the clubhouse having coffee or drinks beer mostly! Bout the tenth maybe eighth time I rode all 9 holes and tried to hit a golf ball just one elbows on hips protecting my spine and chin still froze to my left shoulder! Now at this time I didn’t know anything about golf had no perspective but to hit more than one shot and it began 2 or three balls as uncle John would play getting a little steamed Thats he had to pay for me and I could hit more than a few balls each time we went there! Finally one day and hitting four balls Thats day that one shot sailed about two hundred yards on the fourth hole down hill but it felt amazing and I was hooked and endured the pain for the chance to hit like that again I was off to the races in golf and then the season was over snow fell and I am back to being a house hermit! The next season I couldn’t wait for it to come and there we are now in pain but having fun at the end of the next season I was playing not good but something happened that chin frozen to my left shoulder was not anymore I would still turn my upper body to speak to someone but just out of habit I could turn my neck! Now third season my uncle John took me out to buy clubs my first set were lynx super predators Wilson woods and an Achusnet putter! Now at this time I new nothing but hit the ball read a few golf magazines uncle Johnny would bring over! But now I have my own clubs my neck is drastically improved and I want to learn everything I can about the game of golf! I got Ben Hogans five lessons and would go to every thrift store I could looking for video VHS tapes accumulated around seventy one of them I would stop each one on just the grip all seventy one of the then set up posture ball position takeaway and downswing etc well you get the picture I had seventy one teachers breaking the swing down in little bits from grip to finish! Now I am a golf junkie I started working at a driving range hit balls on my days off and bought Hogan clubs exclusively as he was the most talked about golfer on the range we had Arnie and Jack fans but mostly people had Hogan clubs in their bags and I went back and learned about his swing moved up from radial to Apex II’s to Starburst to 1999’s I am now working full time at the range and playing video of everyone’s swing and teaching but what would stop people the most was Hogan and Bobby Jones videos! I learned my swing when I started not being able to do much but turn turn elbows on my sides and chin on my front shoulders I was flat and around me way inside that I would turn my body right to promote straight shots with a draw that turned into a trap draw ! Got a pga teaching card made it to level two before another bad car accident and could birdie with the best of them as I started running the range a 54 station golf center with two sides a course record two hole in one’s three eagles and could shoot 5/6 under many times on the front nine before pain would take over along with my diabetes from lying around for years depressed! So here’s my thought from breaking down videos as I did while learning as I did! I think Mr. Hogans advice on keeping the elbows on your sides throughout the swing mirror’s Bobby Jones how I play golf videos,as a Christian man and going to church every Sunday Mr. Hogan was paid to tell people the secret to golf not everything he did in his golf swing! I believe that his swing trigger is why he could initiate such power and lower body movements with his fast twitched muscles! I see his swing trigger as the right heel lifting a little to initiate his lower movement shuttle and just a little bit but it gave tremendous weight shift so much that the xtra spike in his golf shoes was needed everyone can see it from the top of the backswing down but I see it earlier than that! I believe his video lessons were an extension of Bobby Jones lesson worded differently but very similar as he and Gene Sarazen were men he idolized! And Mr. Hogans swing trigger gets us closer to how he played golf I’m sure Jimmy Demaret and Byron Nelson new a lot about their friends golf swing mechanics! That’s my insight to what I’ve learned and love advance ball striking post and it’s threads from followers!
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Great comments. Where do I ‘like,’ ‘subscribe’ and ‘share?’ 
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Semper Fi
Thank you for your service and thank you for sharing your story with us
Ooh Rah !!!