Da Vinci Code Swing Anyone?

[DownAndOut]

I've been following John Hensby for a few years now where he has experimented with various golf actions to find the 'secret'. He's 75 (or even older), ultra fit , and used to teach the Moe Norman swing in some schools in Australia. In fact , he has many videos showing how to do Moe 'hybrid' type swings (no-one can actually swing exactly like Moe). He is confident now that after so many years he has found a method (not Moe Norman style -which he previously thought was best for him) which 99.99% golfers do not do. Although I have my doubts about the physics of the swing it is quite interesting that he has found an ultra short swing style that has not affected his ball distance (in fact he claims it  has improved by 1 club). 

What do people think of a golf swing where one keeps the rear elbow almost fixed behind the seam of your shirt, and basically use a rear forearm throwing action coupled with a reactive 'unhinge' of your dorsiflexed rear wrist just before impact to power the swing? No active pivot , no carry of the arms past the front of your body as you pivot, no perception of lag or flat left wrist through impact? Actually not even a straight lead arm in the backswing is needed for his Da Vinci Code swing, yet his ball striking seems phenomenal (which he demonstrates on his videos). Twilight zone stuff (for me anyhow) and shows there are many ways to swing a golf club.

Here is a more detailed explanation of his Da Vinci Code swing.

 

 

 

[WUTiger]

Somewhat interesting, but I never got the "A-ha!" moment that this would upgrade my golf game.

A couple of observations:

• The softball pitcher position at top, and downward, reminds me of the "hands drop" downswing trigger some pros suggest.
• A local pro emphasizes proper hand loading and unloading as the basis of a good golf swing. He teaches a vertical take-away move similar to the DaVinci demonstrator.
• One confusion point. Longtime swing guru Jimmy Ballard (1980s) talked about The Connection, and used it to refer to a relatively stable position of the upper arms in relationship to the shoulder line during the swing. Our DV demo guy talks about connection, but has fairly free swinging of the arms throughout the swing. Not sure what DV guy means by connection.

Not sure what to make of the DaVinci swing idea. Interesting, but I'm not getting onboard. 

[jsgolfer]

I thought this was a new Dan Brown book.  

[natureboy]

It was very surprising to me to see on Hank Haney project and just on the local range how many golfers don't really use their wrists constructively to generate club speed. That said, I don't hear a lot of whoosh with his clubs vs. a more full swing that also involves the wrists.

Where do you see his ballstriking? You can't even see where his balls are going in the posted video (which could be a lot shorter).

Edited December 2, 2016 by natureboy

[Golfingdad]

Seems awfully restrictive.

[Piz]

It's Ben Hogan's chipping advice applied to a full swing: one plane versus two plane.  Yeah...it works; but so do lots of things.  A much too elaborate explanation of a simple mechanic.  

[Hacker James]

i watched with no sound. wanted to slap the guy :C'mon hit the dang ball, why doncha?"

 

[iacas]

I watched the video. All nearly 20 painful minutes.

12 hours ago, DownAndOut said:

Although I have my doubts about the physics of the swing it is quite interesting that he has found an ultra short swing style that has not affected his ball distance (in fact he claims it  has improved by 1 club).

I believe it. I believe that instead of hitting his 7-iron 110 yards he now hits it 125 or so.

12 hours ago, DownAndOut said:

What do people think of a golf swing where one keeps the rear elbow almost fixed behind the seam of your shirt, and basically use a rear forearm throwing action coupled with a reactive 'unhinge' of your dorsiflexed rear wrist just before impact to power the swing? No active pivot , no carry of the arms past the front of your body as you pivot, no perception of lag or flat left wrist through impact? Actually not even a straight lead arm in the backswing is needed for his Da Vinci Code swing, yet his ball striking seems phenomenal (which he demonstrates on his videos). Twilight zone stuff (for me anyhow) and shows there are many ways to swing a golf club.

There are many ways to swing the golf club.

This is not a good way.

And what he says he does is not even what he actually does.

There's a pivot there (a small one). There's an extended (relatively straight) left arm there. It remains that way through impact, too. To counter his active flip he's moved the ball well back in his stance.

---

Here's the thing… this one guy, who seems to have plenty of free time, has gotten decent with what I'll call flat out is a bad swing. It lacks a pivot, it lacks arm and thus clubhead travel, and it lacks a solid impact position that's going to lead to failures to achieve a consistent face orientation at impact and low point control.

@DownAndOut, why are you so intent on chasing all of these little things? It's perfectly fine to be interested in the golf swing as a "thing," and it's even better (here, at least) to discuss the nuances of the golf swing, or to put forth theories or ideas and to discuss them. I'd love that.

But this isn't that. This is a crackpot with yet another "magical" swing that will cure all of what ails the struggling golfer. These videos all have the same sort of pattern, too: some unknown guy telling you how simple and easy golf can be if you just master these simple and easy things, and you'll add distance and shoot lower scores and have better sex and it's all that easy, just try my Hogwarts Magic Voodoo Priestess Mythical Name Swing method.

We had a guy who had paid a guy to film him with - at the time a pretty high-end digital video camera - on our range a few years ago. His whole swing theory was that the right elbow was the center of the golf club's swing arc. In demonstrating this on camera (I'd love to see the outtakes), he flat out duffed several shots, each time blaming something else like "well, I was a bit too far back on the mat for that one" and so on.

That video never did get released. Maybe he never paid the videographer or something.

[DownAndOut]

"why are you so intent on chasing all of these little things? "

Because its a fun hobby of mine and  I love experimenting with this sort of stuff (being just a recreational golfer who plays about 10 times a year).

Actually, I tried the Da Vinci code swing last week at the range and shanked about 10 in a row

Funny that Iacus mentioned about that guy who thought  " His whole swing theory was that the right elbow was the center of the golf club's swing arc. "   Because (coincidentally) , I've mentioned that to John Hensby as a comment on his you tube video a few days ago.

If you see some of his shorter videos , he does hit shots with DTL views including short pitches.  He doesn't sell anything and is just on a quest for a golf swing which he feels is infallible where he won't 'lose' it. 

" This is a crackpot with yet another "magical" swing that will cure all of what ails the struggling golfer. These videos all have the same sort of pattern, too: some unknown guy telling you how simple and easy golf can be if you just master these simple and easy things, and you'll add distance and shoot lower scores and have better sex and it's all that easy, just try my Hogwarts Magic Voodoo Priestess Mythical Name Swing method. "

Tried finding more about him but all I could find was some profile below on another forum.

http://www.secretinthedirt.com/index.php/profile/475-john-hensby

 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2016 by DownAndOut

[DownAndOut]

On 12/2/2016 at 1:32 AM, natureboy said:

It was very surprising to me to see on Hank Haney project and just on the local range how many golfers don't really use their wrists constructively to generate club speed. That said, I don't hear a lot of whoosh with his clubs vs. a more full swing that also involves the wrists.

Where do you see his ballstriking? You can't even see where his balls are going in the posted video (which could be a lot shorter).

Hi Natureboy

Here is a video with his DTL strikes using some made up device to stop his right elbow/arm from travelling and pitching his right wrist through impact.

 

Iacus said " I believe it. I believe that instead of hitting his 7-iron 110 yards he now hits it 125 or so.  "

I remember him saying in one of his DV videos that he hits the 7 iron 145 yards with his Moe Norman swing and that its about the same with this DV swing.

Edited December 7, 2016 by DownAndOut

[DownAndOut]

Following on from the above comments , I actually asked John Hensby for some more information about his background and got the following reply.

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I drove Speedway Sprintcars and Nascars... the Nascar was on a short track ..not the Super Speedway 1mile/1.5 mile/2 mile tracks ..we didn't have those in Australia...I have also raced motorcycles...in fact anything that 'could' be raced I have raced it at one time or another. I was never a Pro Golfer..I actually didn't start playing Golf until I stopped racing at 34 years old... I have a background in Body Dynamics and taught a lot of different sports before I started playing Golf.... Because I didn't start playing Golf until I was fairly old for a Golfer I didn't really have a great desire to make Golf a profession and frankly the dynamics/mechanics of the game intrigued me really than the actual playing which is why I ended up teaching the game rather than playing it,. I could play to a proficient level and compete with most players other than the high caliber National level players, I played a lot of high dollar sweep-stake matches in those days and lots of times we had more money on our games than guys on the minor Pro tour were getting for first place ... that was the interest for me ...testing myself against seasoned high stakes professional gambler golfers. I have always been a fitness devotee and will probably continue to be until I cant do it anymore..hopefully that is some time away. I guess I have something a bit unique for someone who started Golf as late as I did, I have had 14 hole in one's in competition.... I dont think Seve Ballesteros ever had a hole in one which shows how crazy Golf is , his talent compared to mine was ridiculously so much higher ... its that 'bounce' of the ball that goes for some people and not others.

I still teach but will be finishing that at the end of the year, I am hoping to do some travelling around the country on a Golf 'Odyssey' doing some crazy driving of Golf balls from unbelievably spectacular and dangerous locations.....it will be something no one has done before in this country.

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[woodzie264]

@iacas, I've never heard you mention the gunslinger position, yet you made the Golf Digest Best Young teachers...how is that possible?

[iacas]

1 hour ago, woodzie264 said:

@iacas, I've never heard you mention the gunslinger position, yet you made the Golf Digest Best Young teachers...how is that possible?

I'm such a fast draw they never see my gunslinger position.

[Good Ash]

I started reading this thread and spit water all over my keyboard when I got to this part.

 

22 hours ago, DownAndOut said:

"why are you so intent on chasing all of these little things? "

Because its a fun hobby of mine and  I love experimenting with this sort of stuff (being just a recreational golfer who plays about 10 times a year).

Actually, I tried the Da Vinci code swing last week at the range and shanked about 10 in a row

 

 

 

 

[Buckeyebowman]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

I'm such a fast draw they never see my gunslinger position.

Shades of "Blazing Saddles"!

[Marigold_Sparkle]

He looks like he's wearing an invisible straight-jacket, as if he were locked up in an imaginary mental hospital.

[boogielicious]

7 hours ago, Marigold_Sparkle said:

He looks like he's wearing an invisible straight-jacket, as if he were locked up in an imaginary mental hospital.

And Nurse Ratched is the instructor!

[Hatchman]

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2016 at 11:38 AM, iacas said:

I believe it. I believe that instead of hitting his 7-iron 110 yards he now hits it 125 or so.

 

On ‎12‎/‎6‎/‎2016 at 8:45 PM, DownAndOut said:

"why are you so intent on chasing all of these little things? "

Because its a fun hobby of mine and  I love experimenting with this sort of stuff (being just a recreational golfer who plays about 10 times a year).

Actually, I tried the Da Vinci code swing last week at the range and shanked about 10 in a row

I had to laugh.   This really looks like my neighborhood fellows of older golfers I fit in with.   Who whirly bird, jump up, spin out, and try and hit the crap out of the ball just to the edge of the fairway.   But we play fast!