Randy Jensen is a 5 time winner of the National Hickory Championship. He has never been out of the top 2 places! He is also a 6 time Golf Collectors Society World Hickory Champion, 2 time Scottish Hickory Scratch Champion, Canadian Hickory Champion, and winner of numerous regional hickory championships including 15 time GCS Heart of America Region 7 Champion.
| 1) At address, we see Bobby Jones has a wonderfully balanced starting position with his weight on the balls of his feet and his arms hanging in a very relaxed fashion. Both feet are flared out considerably, especially his right foot which sets up his big hip turn and back swing. If his weight were more on his heels this swing would be far less effective with his hands much too close to his legs. Jones employs a strong left hand grip and a relatively weak right hand grip, the palms are definitely not parallel (which is correct) and though Bobby's left hand is stronger than most players seen today, his right hand position mirrors those of today's top stars. Note the very relaxed left arm, slightly bent at address and the more subtle and much harder to see, relaxed and "down" shoulder position. Nearly all mid and high handicappers have too much tension running through their shoulders which contracts the shoulder muscles and raises the shoulders up slightly at address causing the shoulders to flex or contract during the swing which then contracts the biceps, bending both arms through the impact zone of the swing (a fault common to well over 90% of all golfers). These same high handicappers often straighten their arms totally at address which further increases the tension and actually creates the bowing arms through impact that they are trying to avoid. Bobby Jones starts with very relaxed shoulders and arms to set up the possibility of a very tension free arm swing that can extend the arms through impact as a result of swing speed rather than contract through impact due to inappropriate arm and shoulder tension. |
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| 2) At the beginning of the back swing, we see how quickly Jones sets his lower body and how tension free the hands and arms are. This quick setting lower body turn is different from many contemporary swings where maximum coil is attempted by letting the turning shoulders coil the lower body, resulting in minimum lower body turn, but more coil. Jones' early lower body setting technique puts quite a lot less pressure on the shaft at the beginning of the downswing, creating a smoother acceleration than a lot of modern swings and makes the higher torque of the hickory shafts a non-factor as far as potential shot accuracy. Note, too, how Jones has rotated his head to the rear as his shoulders start to turn to allow maximum range of motion for his shoulders. |
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| 3) Bobby's club moves quickly inside at this point, more than would be considered ideal today and his left heel has come off the ground. When the lower body sets this quickly and fully, the club will tend to be more inside. Jones has maintained the same cupping angle in his left wrist that he started with at address which maintains his square face angle relative to his hands though his forearms have rotated some 30 degrees open at this point to the toe up position. This is quite an advantage to a hickory player because when the downswing starts, a player is about 3 tenths of a second from impact and often it is difficult to keep the hands on pace with the rapidly turning shoulders and if the hands stop moving counter-clockwise for just an instant, a badly sliced shot results AND the extra torque of a hickory shaft will really send the ball extra far to the right when there is no counter-clockwise resistance at impact. By rolling the forearms open 30-40 degrees on the back swing, Jones gives himself some potential counter-clockwise momentum starting the downswing to ensure that the hands don't stall coming down AND he creates a strong counter-clockwise resistance at impact that can negate the potentially higher torquing (twisting) hickory shaft. | |
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| 4) As Jones moves to the top of his swing, we see a very tension free and long turn with the hips still rotating around and the left heel moving even more up off the ground. This is not something generally seen in world class players today and requires excellent rhythm and timing to be consistent. Any rushed move from the top would be the bane of this type of swing. The head continues to rotate to the rear to allow a really full shoulder turn and even though Jones' head ROTATES (as it should) it maintains its same position in three dimensional space, not sliding rearward or moving up or down but simply turning to allow a full shoulder turn----many players today would do well to incorporate this great move into their back swings as this can add extra power to your shots. With Jones' quick lower body set, his club path has continued on a relatively flat path back to the top of the swing with his hands lower and more behind him at the top. This puts the angle of Jones' arm swing plane and shoulder turning plane closer to each other, making it easier to time his arm swing and shoulder turn, which is really good because Jones already has some difficult to time elements going on in his swing. At the top, Jones' left wrist and left forearm angle matches his address position and this is another element that is often overlooked by casual golfers who usually change this cupped left wrist position from address to top of the back swing resulting in directional control issues. One of the really quirky things that Jones did during his swing was loosen the last two fingers of his left hand at the top of his back swing to aid in sensing the correct rhythm in the transition from back swing to downswing and then tightening those same fingers as he started down. Not a recommended move for anyone today as this regripping usually causes a change in face angle and erratic shots, but this unorthodox move, coupled with his long lower body turn, enabled Jones to achieve his world class timing which just proves there is more than one way to build a great swing! |
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| 5) As Jones' is doing that quirky left finger thing, he is also returning his left heel to the ground and rotating his lower body to the target which creates the "stretch" or coil that he uses to swing powerfully back to the ball. Many higher handicap golfers never achieve that feeling of "coil" that produces both distance and accuracy and a big back swing alone won't do it. Jones has a very "free" back swing and creates most of his coil in the transition move where modern tour players create the coiling action progressively throughout the back swing by restricting their lower body turn to some degree. However, both produce the coil, that is the key. Jones' quickly rotating lower body routes his club path a bit outside coming down like Sam Knead or Bruce Lietzke, again showing that it is not a perfect swing that we want but rather a perfectly repeating swing! Because the strong unwinding of the coiling action drives the arms down on the downswing, the wrists remain hinged until just before impact, which will create maximum resistance and power at the point of impact. Without this coil, the hands are forced to drive the club down too early resulting in the infamous "casting" move that robs average golfers of power, accuracy, and good contact! |
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| 6) Through impact we see what good arm extension Jones achieves as his soft shoulder and arm positions at address have created very little tension in his swinging action so that the outward flow of energy can effortlessly extend his arms providing ultimate power & accuracy. Also note how his head position has "recoiled" or moved slightly to the rear which demonstrates an element of good balance where a good player will counter the pull of the club's acceleration by pulling his body in the opposite direction to maintain perfect club head path. Jones' balance is superb throughout his swing and this is an often overlooked aspect of a good player's swing that the novice and middle handicappers don't appreciate in terms of how much of an impact good balance has on a golf shot. |
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| 7) Jones achieves a nice full release of his lower body and shoulders through impact in spite of keeping his head from rotating with his shoulders through impact. This puts a lot of stress on the neck and shoulders through impact and is not recommended for any kind of golf longevity. This is definitely a move for a young man only and perhaps if Jones had let his head rotate with his shoulders through impact, more like Annika Sorenstam or Jim Furyk, he would have felt more comfortable playing in his later years. |
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| Note the classic finish position in perfect balance with weight on the left side, right toe tip on the ground and hips facing the target with the shoulders turned well beyond that. Jones' great finish position reflects how well things went in his swing and the average golfer would do well to take a moment at the end of their swings to monitor their balance and finish position, and who better to pattern your finish after than Bobby Jones! |
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