Mike Austin was a legendary long driver and teacher who made the top 10 of Golf Magazine’s Top Teachers perennially. He would be listed among names like Ledbetter and Harmon.
Mike taught for many years at the little Studio City Golf Course, a 9 hole par 3 layout with a small driving range. Since it wasn’t too far from some of the Hollywood studios, the range would often get big celebrities working on their swings. They all knew Mike.
Well after Mike Austin’s famous 515 yard drive in the 1974 National Senior Open, Mike was still able to fly the 110 foot driving range fence repeatedly and effortlessly, into the Los Angeles River behind…a carry of around 300 yards. This was routine well into his late 70’s until a stroke rendered him paralyzed across his right side.
The Austin Method of swinging a golf club is a bit different than a ‘conventional’ type of swing that includes more free swinging of the hips and use of the feet and knees, coupled with an early and free release of the clubhead with supple quick hands.
Check out the video below where I’m hitting shots from a wedge to a driver.
The result, we believe, is greater clubhead speed through superior use of ground forces and hand speed, as well as accuracy via keeping the clubface square to the arc through the impact zone.
On the website, you’ll develop this incredible swing step by step with over 60 HD video lessons, each with an accompanying article. Additionally, you’ll get my speed training program that will help turbocharge your clubhead speed.
More on Mike Austin. Mike fancied himself an entertainer and did appear in a movie called the Star Chamber with Michael Douglas. He had only one word of dialogue, but the way he delivered it would make Charlton Heston proud. His wife Tanya appeared on screen as well.
Over the years Mike produced many videos on how to swing a golf club, and even had his own TV show on KHJ channel 9 in Los Angeles around 1960. He introduced Kinesiology to the world of golf, despite having no higher education in the science (although he claimed to have multiple degrees).
His life story reads more like folklore, and it has been fascinating picking out the kernels of truth from the great many stories he would tell his students and friends.
Mike was a real crowd pleaser, as he could clear the driving range fence one minute, then sing opera in Latin the next, and finally tell a good dirty joke the next.
If you took lessons with Mike or knew him back in the day, I would love to hear about your experiences. It’s nice to keep his memory alive.