At the 1974 United States National Seniors Open Championship (predecessor to the Senior PGA Open), at the age of 64, Mike Austin drove a golf ball 515 yards, on level ground, with a persimmon head driver measuring 43 1/2” in length. The shot was favored by a tail wind thought to be about 30 miles per hour.  It occurred on a course in Las Vegas known then as the Winterwood Golf Course. It has since been renamed Desert Rose, and the hole on which it was accomplished is a long flat slight dog leg to the right where the green is visible from the tee about 450 yards away.  The tee shot landed just short of the green and rolled roughly 65 yards past it.  It is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest ever in a competition sanctioned by the USGA.

Mike Austin, who passed away in 2005, was honored by the PGA of America in 2004, at the age of 94. He was one of the original members of the “350 Club” (America’s long driving team, exclusive to golfers who have surpassed 350 yards in competition). He earned a Ph.D. in Kinesiology from the National Academy of Applied Science. Austin's life story includes many notable accomplishments outside of golf, among them victories in boxing and serious opera performance.

With the salty mannerisms and other personal characteristics often found in geniuses, he taught for years in California. Among his protégés are Dan Shauger, Mike’s pupil and friend who Mike worked with for over 25 years (Dan currently teaches the Austin swing in North Hollywood, California), and Mike Dunaway, one of the world's most renowned long driving champions.

The Austin Swing

Mr. Austin’s unique and powerful swing is based upon principals that use leverage and the strengths of one’s arms and legs in ways that are not possible in the conventionally taught golf swing. The procedure also eliminates the problems of acute timing required by the conventional swing for producing precision accuracy and trajectory. It is a smooth, natural, rhythmic and athletic motion that is a pleasure to watch.

Years ago, the common technique in high-jumping was a head-first “straddle” dive over the bar, with tummy facing the ground. The Olympic record using that method was 7’ 5 ¾”. In 1968 a young high school jumper by the name of Dick Fosbury, over the resistance of his coach, invented and employed a new method of jumping backwards over the bar, tummy facing the sky.  He won the 1968 Olympic gold medal by clearing 7’ 4”. Since then, virtually all high jump competitors have utilized his method. Likewise, in the world of professional football in the United States, field goal kicking was radically changed when instead of using the legs in an on-line forward motion, Pete Gogolak employed a body-rotation style as is done in soccer. American style kickers lost their jobs to soccer-style kickers whose kicks were 15 to 25 yards longer and just as accurate. The point of these analogies is simply this: prior to knowing about, or even considering an alternative method of the high jump or of kicking, the whole world just accepted what was passed down and used without considering, or comparing it to, other methods. In the same way, all who have discovered and tried the Austin swing agree that his swing method will be the standard golf swing of the future, given its inherent utilization of physical strength, leverage and control of direction that simply does not exist in a conventional swing method.

Another successful proponent of this method is Jaacob Bowden, a newcomer in the sport of long drive, who at only 6’ tall and 210 pounds (not large for that competition), achieved 381 yards in one of the Pinnacle Distance Challenge contests.  People of all levels of experience and ability rave about this easier swing, and attest to its superiority over conventional golf swing technique. Anyone who tries it will discover that it’s easier to learn and that it creates effortless power and accuracy.

Mike Austin was known for his great physical strength, but his prodigious drives were not the product of that great strength alone.  His scientifically superior mechanics (his expertise includes kinesiology and engineering) enabled him to develop a swing that applies leverage in the most effective way possible.  Calculations show that his club head speed for that record-breaking tee shot had to exceed 150 mph, a number unheard of at the time.

The principles of the swing are straightforward: they simplify the control of direction by eliminating slices and hooks, and it requires a lot less practice to remain  ‘tuned up’ than what we are used to.  It is not possible to mix and match its elements with a conventional swing, since many of them are precisely the opposite of what golfers do in those swings with their arms, wrists, hips, shoulders, and legs.  If you take instruction in this swing and later take a conventional swing lesson, the instructor will probably have no clue what you are trying to do and will tell you that you are doing everything wrong.  You will never believe conventional instruction again, once you have been schooled in this revolutionary method!  There will be similarities between conventional mechanics and Mike Austin swing mechanics. Obviously all airplanes have wings, rudders, and cockpits, but some are jets and some are props. And all airplanes require pilots who need to be trained in managing their craft, whether jet or propeller driven.  So yes, expect some things to be similar, but what is different and enormously important here is the basic means by which direction is controlled and power is produced.

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         JOHN MARSHALL    ·   770-436-2643   ·    email: jmarsh4653@aol.com