Wild Bill Melhorn Swing ( Video Focus Is Not Good But Audio OK)

[@wbw3account]

Mehlhorn was one of the "grass whip" proponents, swing a golf club like you were cutting grass with one of the old weed cutters that was shaped like a golf club. He cut the grass while moving towards an imaginary ball (thus swinging with a walking motion.) This timed his arm motion to his leg motion, just as you always swing your arms with the same pace as you walk. If you swing your arms faster than your legs are walking, you get out of time and bad things happen with the golf swing. He also said he never swung the club with more than 60% effort-there were only a couple of times in his life than he swung with full effort. No tension in the swing-he also said people in his era did not have back problems from golf, and did not believe in the modern golf teaching of restricting the hips. I have gone to teaching this swing to a lot of my students, (most of which are older), and use it myself. Several years ago I learned that there is a guy named Bobby Shave who was a personal friend of Mehlhorn. I called him up and talked with him a while. He was very open about Mehlhorn's teaching. Bobby has books and videos that I have since ordered which gives a lot of insight. I still teach a RSS swing to those who are interested in it, having studied it from Adam Sean, one of Gary Edwin's original RSS certified instructors, and also going through several levels of GE's instructor certification myself. It is very efficient, but personally, the grass whip swing seems to fit with my older students better. (BTW, you can still by the old grass whips online and some hardware stores.)

[@1atomicgolf]

The grass whip is a great way to feel the real swinging force in a golf swing..as well I think it promotes more of the purity of the circular/arcing action of the swing and the normal lower height of the hands/arms through the ball and post impact... I love all the older swings from the 30's 40's ...they just had so much 'swinging' dynamics in them ...and as you rightly point out those swings were no pressure on the body like today's hi torque swings clearly are. I know zero about Melhorns true swing dynamics but I want to learn about them .. I am always reluctant to advance any opinions on great swings because I simply don't know what those players did in their swings but someone asked me if I could do something on Melhorns swing just to highlight Wild Bill and bring his name back to prominence a bit. I love the walking analogy for the golf swing... Mike Austin was a great advocate of it as was Snead ... as well I really believe most golfers can benefit greatly from increasing their entire body turn on the back swing like Bill and Bobby Jones did... I think the truly great swings of Golf have 'Been'... they are not being improved upon 'Today' in terms of body utilization in its best and naturally applied form. cheers JH

[@DASH1ful]

i think one thing where he gets it wrong is where he describes what you would do if someone called you from the side. the way he steps round in reponse is not relevant to the golf swing, simply because his feet move out of position. but, by the same token his philosophy of naturalising the swing was correct, and it does open the door to us becoming our own best teacher. and, when you stop to think about it if something did catch your eye from your right side you would activate the muscles in the left of your right leg to allow your chest to turn when you turned to look. i did read many years ago that bill invented the idea of swinging in to in; which is totally correct. the biggest fault in golf is trying to hit the ball squarely. and, when you look at the way bill naturalises the movement of the left hand and arm he is demonstrating something along those lines.

[@jardinesydney9447]

Well done even the birds in background were applauding you.the modern swing is too complicated to learn,i think the old swing is gradually coming back.There is Positive Impact golf and Bobby Shave teaching Mehlhorn swing,it looks easier to learn and none of this resist with right knee,keep left foot on ground etc,etc.I,m going to try it out too.S/J.

[@1atomicgolf]

The 'Old' swings were definitely so much easier on the brain .. and I guess those swings looked like they did because there was no visual scrutiny of swings like there is today with video/computer analysis etc .. people just saw a swing type happening and copied it .. Melhorn swung the club as it should be swung.. with total lack of inhibition...just feel the clubhead being 'heavy' at all stages of the swing .. when Hogan/Snead/Nelson said he was the best ball striker he must have been doing something right .. cheers JH

[@scottrobinson2678]

Thanks for the reply. I was just hoping you would follow up on your comment in this video that you would like to study Melhorn further, and come back with a new video. As I mentioned, down the line would be cool.

[@herbgoldstein5]

Hi JH, hope all is well Wishing you and yours happy new year

[@1atomicgolf]

Hi Herb, Happy new year to you .. I'm hoping this year will turn around for the good.. we need some phycological respite from what has been thrown at us in the last two years. cheers JH

[@scottrobinson2678]

J, have you filmed the follow-up video yet? Also, it would be great to see down the line. Thanks

[@1atomicgolf]

Hi Scott, I haven't done anything more on Melhorn because I don't know anything else about his swing ... I think guys like Robert Shave/ Rockey Kinsey are the guys to lookup for information on Melhorn.. the swing is just really 'turning in a barrel' with low hands as I see it .. I must say I hit the ball great that day doing what I 'thought' was Melhorn's swing type. cheers JH

[@neilredmen2007]

Could you elaborate abit more on moe normans takeway and downswing? moe norman the best ballstriker ever thank U i would appreciate it

[@1atomicgolf]

Hi Neil, If you look through my videos on my channel there are lots of Moe Norman videos explaining the facets of his swing.. the following is one of a series that you might look up ..kzbin.info?o=U&video_id=pdQyEXytB0I......let me know if you cant find the vids on my channel and I will do a short overview video of Moe's takeaway etc. cheers JH

[@keviniwankow8294]

What pivot?

[@johnmalarkey4908]

Rocky Kinsay videos show the drills to make thus swing work. It's easy.

[@1atomicgolf]

I am not a Melhorn student at all and know very little about his swing... Rocky does know the swing and as you say knows a lot of stuff about it and how to apply it ..I just mentioned Melhorn's swing because someone asked me to have a look at and give my thoughts on it...Melhorn was thought of by his fellow Pros in his time as a great ball striker. cheers JH

[@williamkraus5598]

@@1atomicgolf melhorn bent both elbows

[@rexbraggins9765]

bobby shave said wild bill would put 10 balls down and walk down the line hitting them. you know what jh look up bobby shave he has 4 or 5 vids on here and you have a bigger under standing of golf than me.cheers rex

[@1atomicgolf]

Hi Rex, I have seen some of Bobby Shave's videos and he does give some good insight into Wild Bill's swing... the teeing up of multiple balls and just walking forward to hit them one after another is a great example of the 'swing/walking' process he describes. cheers JH

[@Spudroe]

The grass-cutter/grass-whip action.

[@uofm68]

pretty short backswing.

[@stryderpreside]

You’re not pivoting that much in your backswing and your backswing is short

[@1atomicgolf]

I 'cant' pivot much .. or turn much in my backswing, I cannot emulate Melhorn's actual swing mechanics or range of backswing motion. What the video is trying to extoll is the 'theory' mechanics of Melhorns swing process... whereas my actual swing does not look like Melhorns, I am trying to incorporate his base mechanics in 'my' swing . As with all the JH practice tee videos ... I can only extoll the specific mechanics of the swings I talk about, and even though I don't physically 'look' like Melhorn swinging, I am applying his mechanics as much as I possibly can , and the ball flight definitely shows a difference as a result. cheers JH