I know you can. I demonstrate it when i give lessons. I can hit a 7i 100, all forearms. Jackie burke talked about it in chasing silvers video series.
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Great discussion…
Reminds me of how Hogan said he only hit 1 or 2 perfect shots in a round. God forbid he had scientific analysis machines back in the day to tell him he was wasting his time, he may well have given up!
Just because he might not have done it every time, doesn’t mean he couldn’t do it when ‘occasionally’ perfect 
Jackie Burke is a walking encyclopedia of golf.
Him and Al Barkow are real treasures.
That pressure in the right trigger finger…,
That’s mod 1-3….
This is what we should feel at impact…
Notice the gap on the left armpit on first picture on bottom sequence. The handkerchief would have fell out. Ballard claims Sam Byrd told Hogan he had to maintain in the WHOLE swing to maintain connection. Hogan looked exactly like this at this point in the swing. The left arm pit connection (packed arms) comes at impact…,
Anyone else notice this?
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Yes- pressurized rotation packs the left arm back in
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Yay Jackie! When you got it, you got it. Obviously at an elevated age running the legs into the process gets a little testier but he still has a pretty damn good range of motion he’s moving through at 94.
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Bam!
That’s it..
These types photos are extremely misleading because of the frame speed of the cameras that were being used at the time. If the photo is black and white the shutter speed is even slower 100-400 B&W & 1/250-1/500 for color. Compared with modern 1/1000 to 1/2500 of a second.
The best way to think about it is what you saw in a 1950s black and white photo is akin to blinking your eyes really slow as someone walks by you. You miss a lot of what is happening when the eyes are closed versus today blinking your eyes really fast and still not missing anything as the person walks by.
In one of the coaches forums that I’m a member in it use to be a huge debate when coaches would post 2D photos and try to teach from them. Now it’s not much pushback since so many coaches understand the huge benefits of 3D motion capture and fast shutter speed cameras and we rarely see 2D photos being used for any instruction unless it is broken down into frames to see whats happening before and after.
And these modern cameras are extremely expensive to be honest. Some of my coaching peers have no less than 8 cameras and a few have up to 24. It’s mind boggling to see the amounts of income that is being spent on teaching studios today.
The entire teaching, playing, manufacturing, R& D industries have changed so much it’s also mind boggling at times. I try to stay up on the cutting edge as much as possible because a lot of my clients require technology to feel whole which is another topic in itself and sad to be honest.
So I say all of that just to say that the shaft location that you are seeing in this photo is Photo Distortion
We know this- but there are many ways to know if shaft flex is being held.
My students can do it whilst doing drill 1- here is a student doing the left hand drill- as can I doing the two hand drill
If we increase torso rotation speed and hand speed (from drill 1) against the system that is trying to slow it down it can be done.
I have been able to do it all my life because I have never tried to hit the ball with the clubhead- I have tried to make the ball move by using the entire club particularly the grip end.
And we can also hear it by the extra sound a sprung shaft puts on the ball like these from 93 Masters
{vimeo}21418033{/vimeo}
People will always argue about photos and assume you just need all the fancy tech stuff to show something.
But John and I know we can see ground forces by doing drill 2 with the carpet (for eg) Just like if we hit PV5 with a vertical shaft we all know the pivot is moving faster than the club or hands can.
And all these have a bearing on the shaft flex.
I had one of my students be filmed by the Sportsbox people and they called me up that evening to say they had never filmed any other player who did what this player did. And that was his hand speed whilst trying to slow down due to the radial club release actually picked up speed beyond impact again. Not just picked up speed but went back to the highest speed the hands had throughout the entire swing when they maxed out. Out of hundreds of players they filmed for their research only my guy did it different. But of course his data will get thrown away because it isn’t the norm and because everyone else does it another way they will say that is the commonality.
Here is a normal golfer on the left who was showing in a video what “should” happen…with continual hand stall so the clubhead swings by and picks up speed (but does it?)….compared to my pro on the right who picks up hand speed and therefore is continuing to stress the shaft because the hands are now increasing in speed against the system trying to slow them. Only guy out of hundred they have measured 
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I have to say thank you to you and to @lagpressure and others on the forum for allowing me to find the spark I had for this great game again. I am a former PGA club professional and, the first mentor that I often speak of is John Gentile. He was a graduate of Q School in 1971 and was a winner of the National CPC and a lot more. The way I hear you and John and several others here talk about the swing are the same words of wisdom I would get from him. Sincerely thank you again. Perhaps my retirement job will be to teach golf again…the right way!
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Good observations for sure but as professional golf coaches, we know that making a legitimate diagnosis from a single photograph is rarely—if ever—possible.
That’s especially true with players from the classic era, where camera shutter speeds were extremely slow by today’s standards. A single frame captures only one instant in time and often introduces motion blur that can completely misrepresent what was actually happening in the swing.
Technology is a valuable tool, but it isn’t the only path to understanding golf biomechanics. Coaches with a trained eye can identify movement patterns through validated drills and cause-and-effect relationships.
For example, Drill 2 with the carpet clearly demonstrates ground force interactions without needing force plates. Likewise, when a player consistently reaches PV5 with a vertical shaft, we know the body’s pivot is outpacing the hands and club—something that simply can’t occur without the proper kinetic sequence.
That’s not speculation based on a photo; it’s an understanding built from biomechanics, physics, and thousands of hours of coaching experience.
Also I’m in agreement with the hand velocity but I look at it a little different. I think both players are slowing down but the player on the left is simply slowing down at a faster pace. So I’m in agreement with much of what you say but there are some caveats that I would personally add to remove some grey areas
Cheers
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Those charts are a little above my pay grade, actually way above. Here’s what I see when looking at them and why the pro-player on the right will never be wanting for a plate of chicken.
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The tech stuff is pretty incredible but, I think that it has become way over used. I started my PGA apprenticeship in 1992 and the use of vhs was the “thing” at the time. Most of the top instructors that I had the good fortune of knowing did not use it to diagnose but rather to confirm their already existing diagnosis. In many cases to also prove to the client what was actually happening. As instructors we trusted ball flight, and focused on how the pupil was moving through the key positions and what the relationship was of club to hands and club to body. The cause and effect that Blades mentions. The last time I went out to the practice range there were 2 young men working with a launch monitor and “analyzing” approach angles and spin rates etc. I would venture to say that neither were capable of breaking 90. But they did know their spin rate and approach angle.
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In 1954 Jackie Burke wasn’t too far off the mark when saying:
“In the past, too much emphasis has been placed on the science of the golf swing rather than on the art of hitting the ball. There are thousands of theories on the former, almost none on the latter. Golfers are becoming unbearably self-conscious about their pivots, the way they shift their weight, and (this one always stops me) how they look after they’ve hit the ball. The golf world is turning into a society of shadow-boxers, and the day may not be far off when all our golf will be played in locker rooms.”
Seventy-two years ago.
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Years ago I worked as an independent “certified” instructor for Natural Golf( I know but it was a living). On one of the dvd series of instruction that they used Moe made a very profound statement saying something of the like that golf requires both art and knack. Equally profound is the “there is no “way” there is your way.” The Turnesa brother in the Metropolitan area were all excellent players all with nearly identical dna yet if you see their golf swings they are similar yet decidedly different.
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A lot of us a bit older grew up playing golf.. the great game. The target game of position, angles, trajectory control, strategy etc. We also know the game bifurcated into something else like softball bifurcated from baseball. No one is upset about softball because baseball still exists and is relevant.
Golf also exists, but it’s been tossed under the bus by the folks pretending to be in power and control.. and I believe they actually hate golf.. so therefore all the changes to make the softball version the popular version… while the great game is ignored and pushed aside.
It was inspiring to see Bryson go and play Northwood GC, an old MacKenzie layout in the giant redwoods north of San Francisco. I’ve played there many times. He’s very complimentary of what he is experiencing and seems to agree that “This is Golf” and that the modern game is really missing the point. So while he has been the poster child of everything that is wrong, I think he is actually supporting what is right at times with his youtube channel. Of course he should be playing there with the correct clubs that match the layout… not frying pans, hybrids and brooksticks. I hope he has that realization at some point. I think he will. He is in a position of significant influence and doesn’t seem to just pander to the USGA as so many pros seem to do. I posted the video link here on ABS in the Architecture thread.
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I don’t know how I didn’t see this post when I saw the one in the architecture section. I really enjoyed watching it. The works of MacKenzie and Captain Thomas and the Bells must be really special in California. I have sadly never played there being from the northeast and now living in the mid south. It’s just sad that the new game is making much of the beauty of those places, hallowed grounds in a way, almost obsolete. I was fortunate to play some MacDonald and Raynor courses. Those golden age designs are almost defenseless when the long and mid iron approaches have become what those designers would have called “drive and pitch” holes.
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