sam snead

[countingmx]

My fascination with the sound of the word "Snead" brought me here.

[040469ian]

THAT...., is a thing of beauty!

[Itwillbetriplenice]

To the top of the back swing looks just like Bubba Watson.

[112frankybaby]

@Itwillbetriplenice bubba is way more to the outside though, so no way.

[TheBillygolfs50]

He's got a bright future in Golf.....

[golddragnet]

Looks like a powerful swing, I assume he was a long-hitter

[dschultz6072]

@golddragnet yea he hit the ball ok.

[uberathlete]

That swing is effin beast!

[Andoy1]

I ber he'd dominate today. I think they were better in those days because the old equipmentt was harder to hit and control.

[doubleL0001]

the greatest swing in golf ever

[TheDistilledMan]

something about the way the long backswing enables his torso to unwind before his arms fall into the slot, is very pleasing to the eye

[timetogo888]

What a move,sheer power from a Master !!!

[Kaptainrdean]

Watched some 9 hole competitions with Sam Snead from 'Shell's Wonderful World of Golf'. I was amazed by the mans talent for the long game. He was crunching drives around the 300yd mark with the old persimmon drivers, but more importantly, with the shitty no spin, no distance golf balls they had then.

[sneadiam]

ha i am related to this guy and i play golf :)

[jr55ful]

greatest athlete to ever play pga golf. Ran the 100 yd dash in h.s. at 10 flat. Held (may still) h.s.state scoring record in football. At age 70 could kick top of door jamb with one foot still on floor.Cannot imagine the scores he,Nelson and Hogan could post with todays equipment.Maybe not much cause the center of the clubface still doesn't need help.

[53to3]

one of the great swings!

[crispybeak]

Sweet swing.

[golfswagga23]

extra long backswing that works for some reason, still keeps his angles though

[gitfidil76]

why all the comments about an old or new style of swing. looks very similar to the modern power swing to me. lots of lower body and hip rotation. big shoulder turn. all very "modern".

[petereuropa]

What say it's absolete, out-of-date? Perhaps it's a good way to go for some people. Look at video Young Jack Nicklaus. He also lift his left heal from the ground on the backswing - and what a power. In golf there are often different way to swing. And think about Tom Watson at the Open this year - he is not so young but powerful!

[petereuropa]

Any other on youtube who have some comments on this great player and gentleman? Well, I must say, in my opinion: he won three (?) Masters, one Open Championship (at that time it wasn't that easy to go by airflight to Scotland) , one (?) USPGA Championship. But he never won US Open. But he was 4 times Nr 2 in US Open (or?) (right?). He was Nr 3 in Masters at an age of 62!. He was great!!! And if you look at Jack Nicklaus' driver swing, he also is lifting his left heal, when he swing with a driver

[1danrobbins]

When reading his book he says the first move he makes on his downswing is to put his heal back on the ground.

[petereuropa]

@1danrobbins: you are right! That's the way hedownswing. As for example Phil Mickelson also lift his heal, I will watch his, PM's, downswing to after your comment. Thank's for the info. Just longing for spring now - to try that swing and play golf.

[petereuropa]

Well, I apologize Mr Snead, if you read this on youtube from some cloud above. But if I look at different driver swing and compare them with your swing, then I must say: in my opinion, and I am a very high hcp (so I'm no expert), you have, in my opinion, the best power on impact at the ball as all the other. I believe that it depends on your left heal (=up). The other who are just as good on impact as you are: Tiger, Phil N., Villegas and some other golf players.

[petereuropa]

Perhaps: As he is lifting the heal of his left foot, then the driver swing is "more right" to his body. As I have read on youtube, he never had problems with his body. This driver swing movement can be the right way to play golf for people with back or knee problem. If Sam could play that way, then you can too.

[petereuropa]

His driver swing: Hi's driver swing was ahead of the time when he was the Champ. It's a very modern and powerful swing in my point of view.

[DeniedHealthCare]

Nope it's not modern; his swing is old school, classic and wonderful.

[papillon10056]

so long haha

[missingsolution]

HOW GOOD IS SLAMMIN SAMM

[paulski5]

Great swing. NOT Stack and Tilt. Snead let his right knee straighten some and won 80-something times, did not need surgery on his hip or knee, and played at a higher level I'd have to think longer than anyone. Lots of guys bent their left arm and did fine. I'm not an advocate per-se but I have an open mind on it.

[YakuzaRich]

Long swings really don't result in inaccurate shots. Swing plane and hip action (or lack thereof) tends to adjust the clubface as well as spine angle. Sam was extremely accurate with this long swing. Hogan, even after the accident had a swing quite a bit past parallel and was accurate.

[vjb007]

Absolutely correct. "Long" swings only get one into trouble once the left arm bends, or the right knee locks. As Nicklaus said, he didn't care if his club touched the ground on his backswing, as long as he didn't bend that arm or lock the leg.

[YakuzaRich]

The left arm can bend. Here's a pic of Tiger's swing, where his left arm is noticeably bent. You are correct on the right knee, but that's more of an issue with spine angle (because the knee will eventually re-flex, but the spine will rise). Most long backswings are partially the result of the golfer taking the club too far to the inside. Thus, they get off plane. So they are really inaccurate because they are off plane, not because they have a long swing.

[vjb007]

Yes, the left arm can bend...there's no one way to swing the golf club. And there's all kinds of ways that inaccuracy can creep in. The typical golfer, tho, wants the arm as straight as it can be. Otherwise, they cut down on the arc, and less of an arc usually means less distance. There are ways around it. And people find ways around it, professionals included. But at the same time they like to stick to fundamentals. Golfers who have a physical advantage can get away with more.

[vjb007]

One other point, as well. If Tiger's left arm does bend, it may well be a contributing factor in one aspect of his game that could be improved: Accuracy off the tee. As has been pointed out, tho, accuracy off the tee doesn't mean as much today. In the past, in the rough might well mean in the trees. But there's fewer trees today on the courses, and it's not the factor it was in the past; you don't pay the penalty for inaccuracy as much. "It's a different way to win," as Bob Rosberg put it.

[YakuzaRich]

Left arm bend doesn't effect accuracy. Even Sam's left arm bends here at the top. Tiger's spine angle problems causes his inaccuracy. His spine angle rises from the down the line view and it tilts backwards from the face on view. The latter is the bigger problem for Tiger because when the spine angle tilts back, it naturally opens the clubface. Which is why Tiger's bad shot usually goes dead right.

[vjb007]

No golfer's arm is "board" stiff but, for all practical discussion, Snead's arm doesn't bend (tho his right leg straightens somewhat, but never completely). But if the left arm bends enough, it means one must make a compensation to retain the original arc before club hits ball---one can't say that a specific swing "flaw" exists in a vacuum. Thus left-arm bending CAN lead to topping the ball, and shanking, even a change in swing path. Compensations create trouble for most golfers.

[vjb007]

In summary, the main reason a bent arm (or any other swing flaw, really) often leads to a bunch of seemingly unrelated problems is that the golfer, at some point in his swing, senses he's out of position and does half a dozen things he thinks might correct the problem in time. Most often he fails. In other words, the swing has to be totally integrated, as Hogan says. How effectively a golfer can otherwise "compensate" depends largely on his raw talent and his physical conditioning.

[DeniedHealthCare]

Scientist do not agree with you about the left arm. Do not message me back. Do some real swing research for your own edification.

[vjb007]

If you demand we not respond, it indicates you're not sure of what you say. In that context, your kind of "scientist" actually wouldn't know. The way to find out what a bent arm does is to swing a club, as many have, and find out the myriad problems that can result. They may be different for a given golfer, but ultimately a bent left arm results in a full spectrum of errors unless the golfer is gifted enough to successfully make some sort of compensation to his/her particular swing.

[vjb007]

(continued) To wit: From "Golf My Way," by Jack Nicklaus, p. 127: "Almost as bad a way of getting the club back is bending the left arm. It's a lazy way to swing that not only reduces power, but also causes much the same sort of erratic shots as does loosening the grip at the top." (The similar results for loosening the grip, as he mentions in the paragraph above this quote, are that shots will "go just about anywhere except on target"). As a knowledgeable golfer understands.

[YakuzaRich]

I agree that you don't want a dramatic bend, but one of the big issues I see with amateurs is that they tend to make the left arm as straight as possible and that's counterproductive. Either way, too much left arm bend is usually a result of horrible flexibility. So instead of focusing on keeping the left arm straight, the golfer with too much left arm bend should work on their flexibility, IMO.

[BloodyDooku]

Sam snead is one of the greatest golfers of all time, and my grandaddy once played him. I don't know if he won, that would be cool.

[emncaity]

Good Christ, seriously? He _played_ him, or played _with_ him? At The Greenbrier, maybe?

[BloodyDooku]

i believe he played with a group of people and one of them was sam snead. It was probably just a game and not a competition. the location from what i've heard from him was at a golf course in Morehead city N.C. From what i heard sam snead was in town at the time and he was at the course, and so was my grandfather.  So apparently they played from there. And no im not lyeing because i have a picture with my granddad and a group of people with sam snead in the middle of them.

[emncaity]

All I can say is....wooooow. I hear an angel choir. Seriously.

[huntersingle]

just a gift, you know... us people could hit a million balls, get butch harmon and no no.

it is much easier teaching myself advanced physics

[rkodavey]

His swing is too long, he lifts his left leg up a lot on his backswing (a huge distance robber), and he doesn't extend well enough through the ball. Other than that, nearly flawless.

[pecky1234]

u relise he was the longest player of his day?

[emncaity]

Not "the longest," exactly, but definitely one of the longest of the top players (not long-drive specialists). But yeah, he was really long...really a freakish athlete, and a great example of how long you can hit it with a true swinging motion. It's hard to even think about how long he would've hit it with the equipment we have today, although the shame of it is, that same equipment would keep other players with less talent closer to him than they oughta be.

[westcoast714]

bubba watsons left heal comes up off the ground as well. he doesn't have any problems with distance

[westcoast714]

oops right foot sorry he is a lefty haha

[Macchiato78]

Mike Austin was the longest hitter of all time (check the Guinness Book of Records if you like) and advocated a slight heel lift (he'd stamp it down at the commencement of his downswing).

His backswing is very long, but that would probably have resulted in less control, not distance.

The majority on the long drive circuit lift their heel and have a long backswing.

[timlin0607]

Sorry, Mike Dobbyn has the record now. There is no way Mike Austin is as long as today's longest hitters.

[edkats]

His long swing results to a smaller arc on the downswing, compared to the original arc traced by his backswing. However, the lifting of the left leg actually compensates for the smaller arc, as it enhances centrifugal force and inertia, thus resulting to increase in distance. Lifting of the left leg, common among long drive competitors, is therefore not a distance robber.

[emncaity]

Yeah, too bad he didn't have you teaching him. If you'd only been around to give him all that theory, I'm sure he'd have won more than those eighty-plus tournaments against the likes of Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, et al.

[taesupart]

thanks

[bunghole1982]

Does a swing get any prettier than that?

[1tontomato]

Hogan and Snead have the same style of swing. I'm thinking Hogan learned from Snead?

[k2baloo]

Doubt it, they seemed to learn quite independently, and they were born within 6 months of each other, so they learned about the same time. Neither had seniority.

[vjb007]

The history indicates each was basically self-taught, developed their swings independently. You can see the differences, I think. One example---Hogan makes more use of his lower body; but there's not too much leg action in Snead's swing. Most of his career, Hogan played the ball with all clubs off his left instep; Snead moved the ball around. So the weight distribution was different. Hogan was a relatively fast swinger, to Snead's eye; Snead appeared to go from medium early on, to "slow" later.

[ultrapak]

in the legend league no golfer can compare even tiger

[crunchypotato]

amazing swing, very fluid and rhythmic, i wish i had that swing.

[SirLincoln]

Fantastic sholder turn and the release through the ball is awesome.

[emncaity]

Pure. Love to see some of these modern gurus explain to Sam all about "taking the hands out of the swing"--look at that fluid release, the arm swing, the body motion supporting it all...this guy didn't need self-correcting clubs and hot balls to hit it over 300 with the driver. (Latest testing of modern tour pros with the old equipment had them averaging out about 260--way shorter than Sam.)

[thomasyapo]

fluid