Legacy Coaching Series: Alex Morrison

Legacy Coaching Series: Alex Morrison

by Bradley Turner, Keiser University College of Golf Director of Online Golf Instruction – MBA, PGA

Whenever I see a new student’s golf swing, I can often tell that there was some education behind their swing. I am always curious who the golf coach was that helped produce their “educated golf swing.” The pedigree of a student’s golf instruction can help golf coaches understand who has influenced the student and how they play the game. One of Alex Morrison’s top students was Henry Picard, who won the US Open and the Masters in the late 1930s. Picard won 26 times on the PGA Tour, and he was also an informal coach to the great Ben Hogan. Hogan once said, “Picard is the greatest teacher I know,” and Hogan even dedicated his book Power Golf to Henry Picard.

Although I never met Jack Nicklaus, I learned from his books and articles he wrote for Golf Digest. Jack was taught by the hall of fame golf instructor Jack Grout. Grout was an accomplished player and played a short time on the PGA Tour. But Grout turned to teach the game and famously coached the greatest player of all time from Jack’s junior golf days until he retired from the game of golf. Where did Jack Grout learn to teach golfers? Alex Morrison was Grout’s golf coach. We can trace the pedigree of Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus back to the teaching of Alex Morrison. Morrison must have known something about golf instruction! As for me, since Jack Nicklaus was my only teacher growing up, I like to think my golf pedigree is linked to Alex Morrison, too.

Morrison wrote a book in 1940 titled Better Golf Without Practice. This does not appear to be a good title from my perspective, but Morrison wanted readers to understand the correct concepts of the golf swing before they practiced poor fundamentals. Many golfers today simply are unaware of the essential concepts of swinging a golf club, and we see them practice poor fundamentals at the practice range far too often. Morrison is correct; it is much better for golfers not to practice than to practice poor fundamentals that lead them down the path of no improvement. He was an advocate of visualization, a term that was probably not used frequently back in his era. He wrote:

Five minutes in an easy chair, mentally rehearsing the Morrison Keys, which afford you a successful swing, will improve your game more than weeks of hip-swerving on the practice ground with a blank mind.

The Morrison Keys are his version of swing fundamentals, and most of these ideas are still valid today. When a golfer is clear on the correct concepts of the swing, the probability of improvement is much higher. For many golfers, sitting in an easy chair on the practice range might be a better form of practice!

It is interesting how his book is laid out, starting with the proper foot action, leg positions, body action, and finally completing the Morrison Keys with the proper hand action. Today, we call this the kinematic sequence, which is the order or timing of the body and golf club. A proper sequence will create the clubhead speed necessary to hit powerful and repeatable golf shots that he refers to as a whirling motion.

This sequence order begins with the backswing that Morrison describes as the “windup.” It appears there were only a few important keys in the windup, and they included turning both the hips and shoulders away from the target while stretching the lead arm back further to “extend the golf muscles.” There was no focus on positioning the club on a good swing plane but instead creating a body pivot that provided a student the potential of creating maximum clubhead speed. Keeping the head very steady throughout the swing was another fundamental in the windup, according to Morrison.

Morrison spends much of his teachings in his book on the forward swing. He compares the Pattern of the Perfect Swing as he defined it and used Henry Picard, Jack Grout, Gene Sarazen, and his own golf swing as models for readers to study. Interestingly, the pattern of the perfect swing starts at the top of the windup and transitions forward to the completion of the swing. He illustrates the six key swing fundamentals by starting with the position at the top of the windup. Next is position #2, when the arms have started transitioning down towards the golf ball. This is a vital position to get correct for any accomplished player. Morrison explains this position:

This stage of the downswing begins while the wrists are bending backward. The unwinding starts with dropping the heel of the left foot onto the ground. The hips shift and turn to the left.  

Modern instruction defines the bending of the wrists backward clubhead lag. Any quality instructor today will encounter a majority of higher handicap golfers who lack the ability of “bending of wrists backward.”  Currently, some of the great technology we use in golf instruction includes the Swing Catalyst. This high-tech tool helps instructors measure the pressure shift during the golf swing using pressure plates. The Swing Catalyst has measured the pressure shifts of thousands of good players. It is evident that Morrison’s description of the hips shifting forward and opening up to the target is spot on with the finding of the Swing Catalyst research. There is a slight error in Morrison’s perfect swing pattern explanation of position #2. We now understand that the transition down to the ball actually begins just prior to the completion of the backswing. This means good players start their forward swing before completing the backswing. The swing is a fluid motion from start to finish; there is no “stopping at the top” and then starting the downswing. Of course, high shutter speed video cameras and pressure plate technology have helped the teachers today understand and measure the golf swing. Morrison was off by about .03 seconds in his timing of position #1 to position #2. In my opinion, it was still very good stuff for 1930s coaching and teaching.

Position #3 is the pre-impact position, #4 is the impact, #5 is the post-impact position, and #6 is the completion of the swing. As for my own teaching fundamentals, I work with students all the time on Morrison’s positions #2 through #5. These four positions, as described by Morrison, will forever be important to understand and inculcate into a golf swing. Maybe an easy chair on the practice range with pictures of these four positions can help my future students and shorten the learning curve! With almost 40 years of coaching experience, it is interesting how the key fundamentals of a golf swing have not changed too much from the early days of instruction. Little did I know that some of my core teaching principles were penned in 1940 by Alex Morrison. Fortunately, thanks to Jack Nicklaus, I learned some of Morrison’s teachings as a junior golfer. I like to think that my pedigree of golf instruction includes Nicklaus, Hogan, Picard, and the patriarch… Alex Morrison.

If you’d like to study with Bradley Turner and other PGA Master Professionals, contact the College of Golf today.