Sam Snead had a similar move. The great South African player Bobby Locke had a pretty extreme version of that move. Bruce Lietzke had the same move. Basically, on the downswing, the club travels on a path above the back swing path, but the club head is still delivered from the inside of the ball. Given the success of the above players, I have a hard time thinking of it as a flaw.
Stewart Maiden was Bobby Jones's teacher and he taught an inside-square-inside path. I know this because that's what Harvey Penick taught and he cribbed a ton from Maiden. I don't think anyone, at any time, taught or advocated a swing that came from over the top. If Jones had that movement in his swing, it was because he was self taught, AND he was athletic enough, UNDERSTOOD the game ankd swing enough, and PRACTICED enough that he could overcome this swing fault. That's actually something we probably shouldn't focus on, but we all have. It is doubtful that anyone has a textbook perfect swing, it's that everyone has faults...but it is the golfer who has worked out his game, despite the faults, and put it together that he knows he can score.
Jones, and maybe a little bit of Walter Hagen are really the only players from that era we have lots of film of their swing so it's really the only one that can be studied and broken down. Because of that, it is hard to say whether or not Jones's swing is actually representative of his time. The evidence simply doesn't exist. What we do have is plenty of swings from the big 3 era and on. So you can look at the swings of Palmer, Nicklaus, and Player (who all had major faults) and learn from them. What stands out to me the most about the players from the 1950s-1980s is how much more movement they all have in their lower body than anyone that turned pro in the post-Tiger era. Tiger really started a change in the way everyone wanted to swing, keeping the lower body still (relative to prior generations) and really using the deep shoulder turn to generate his power.
My advice, it doesn't matter how Jones swung, or how Hogan swung, or how Rory swings. All that matters is how Noxluxcaelum swings.
Noxluxcaelum reacted to Hook DeLoft in Old school vs New school Swing
