The New Tour Swing

I try to teach by the pupil's sense of feeling rather than his understanding of mechanics. Percy Boomer

Our story on The New Tour Swing by Peter Morrice with teachers Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett, has drawn tons of comment, most from well-studied readers who think they recognize other teaching philosophies in the instruction package. There is David Lee's Gravity Golf, according to John Lopatto of Alexandria, Virginia:

__David Lee of Hot Springs, Arkansas, has been teaching most of their principles for years in his Gravity Golf instruction, complete with a soccer field goal kicker analogy, counter lean up and to the left before impact, and and proof that master ball-strikers Hogan and Nicklaus--especially Jack--employed these movements but could not correctly verbalize them. No surprise that John Daly was a champion football kicker in high school. __

There's Jim Hardy's One-Plane Swing, according to Vincent Gorman of Bolivia, North Carolina:

I read with interest "The New Tour Swing" article in June's Golf Digest and found the elements to be very similar to Jim Hardy's one-plane golf swing he has touted for years. At the ripe old age of 61 I adopted Hardy's swing principles after being injured and out of golf for about a year. I find them simpler and easier to employ than the two-plane swing and from what I can decipher the "swing whisperers" appear to be promoting a one-plane golf swing.

There's even elements of Percy Boomer, according to Dr. Kermit Till of Jackson, Mississippi:

There is nothing new under the sun. On reading this instruction article it sounded very familiar, a little like what Percy Boomer taught and wrote about in his book, ON LEARNING GOLF. So I dusted off my 35 year old copy, reread it. It is a delightful book, and I recommend it to all golf nuts. I just wanted to point out that the Plummer-Bennett model that they "discovered" was first taught by Percy Boomer way back when.

The good news is, it seems to work, at least for Kevin Dutiel of Brandon, Mississippi and several other readers:

__I went to the a grocery store the night before the Mississippi State Am Qualifier. I picked up the June 2007 Golf Digest Issue. I got up early to hit the Range before my 9:20 am Tee Time. I tired the " The New Tour Swing " and hit the ball very solid on a very windy. My main Swing Key was a vertical Spine Angle on the Back swing. As I see it, Keeping the spine in a vertical angle into the back swing...Brings the club head back to the same hitting spot. Very important to hit the range and find the right ball position though. Oh!!! I had a T11 to make it through the Qualifier. The Mississippi State Am is in June. " The New Tour Swing " is the real deal!!!! __

A number of you asked us to explore the similarities and differences of these philosophies. We'll do that in future entries. For a lively discussion of the merits, see this ActiveGolf.com forum.

—Bob Carney