Steve Pratt's Hit it longer.com

Dustin Johnson rode an opening round of -9 at Pebble Beach last week to a 5th place finish.  I believe he is just getting warmed up.  He is in the field this week at Riviera, and I think he may win the L.A. Open.

This is because Dustin is closest to the perfect golf swing of anyone is the world right now - closest to the Mike Austin swing.   You can get a number of great golf swing tips from studying his swing.   Let's take a look at the similarities:

At the top of the swing, Dustin is a bit laid off, with his left wrist more bowed than Mike's.  These are interrelated, and a bit less efficient, but that is where the discrepancy ends.  Notice how both players have their right arms fully away from the side of the body, with the right wrist fully pinned back into dorsiflexion.  Both Mike and Dustin are in a very powerful throwing position, ready to whip the clubhead at the ball.  Also, both their shoulders and arms are perfectly on plane.  The left arm is splitting between the right shoulder and ear - much more upright than the current trend of the PGA Tour, and much more efficient.  Finally, the leg action of both men is nearly identical.  The left knee is flexed in towards the center line, while the right knee is extending.

In the slot, both Mike Austin and Dustin Johnson are putting the right elbow in front of the pocket, tucked into the 'rock skip' position.  Here we see early indications that Dustin's lower body may be further ahead than Mike's - and this is causing his elbow to unfold a bit later than Mike's as well.  This will sometimes cause a high block off to the right, usually off the heel of the clubface.

In the early follow-through, we see further evidence that Dustin's lower body is further around than Mike's.  Mike's levers are in better synchronicity, allowing him to consistently square the clubface.  Indeed, Dustin Johnson is currently 165th on tour in right rough tendency, at 17.58%.  But notice that both golfers are using an identical pivot and leg action.  The right knee is flexed in while the left leg is straightening.  This allows the right side to work 'under' the left, then around.  Many other PGA golfers are not fitting the right side under, instead spinning around to the left, and trying to stay level.

Deeper into the follow through, you can see how quickly and fully both men are recocking the wrists.  The can only be the result of a full and free release through the impact zone.  The full relaxation of the wrist hinge allows for the maximum accleration into the ball.  In otherwords, they are getting out of the way of the circling clubhead, and not trying to direct it.   Gravity and centrifugal force are guiding it around the base of the left ulna bone, not conscious thought or muscle contraction.  This is how long hitting golfers like Mike Austin and Fred Couples can look so smooth and effortless.

I would like to see Dustin stand up a bit more as he reaches the finish, like Mike does.  I believe this will reduce some of the forces acting on his spine.  Specifically, holding the 'side bend' while his spine continues to both rotate and extend may pose more risk than necessary.

So although there are a few small points that make Mike Austin more efficient and accurate than Dustin Johnson, they really do share the same major fundamental points in their swings.  This swing of Dustin's was measured by Trackman at 124 mph, although he looked quite effortless.  Mike Austin was even faster, still topping 130 mph in these pictures at around age 70.

Enjoy the videos that I took these pictures from - here you can see the dynamic motion, the grace, the balance, and especially the speed and power thatt they both possess:

 The swings of Mike in the red shirt come near the end of the video.  Dustin's swings are from a clinic at the Memorial Tournament.  Jack Nicklaus is the voice you hear narrating.