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James Bruen - a Proto-Mindian? February 20 2006 at 7:31 PM		Tom (Login Roveri)

Did anyone here ever come across photos of Irish great Jimmy Bruen in action? As I recall Henry Cotton writes about Bruen's unorthodox swing in "This Game of Golf" and he shows several photos. But I loaned out the book long ago and it hasn't come back yet. It seems to me that Bruin may have used a Mindy Blake type action. At the time it was called the "Bruen Loop". Jimmy was especially renowned for his prodigious length. Prior to his severe injury to his right wrist in an accident Bruen was a championship calibre player. Tom

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cd
(Login birdbump)

Hmmm	February 20 2006, 8:09 PM

www.teetimeireland.com/teetimeireland/history.php?historyid=502

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(Login aussie77)

fascinating golfer

February 20 2006, 11:29 PM

Thanks Tom for the insight and CD for the photo.

The clubface is very closed at the top of the backswing which I feel Mindy may have had also but I don't see much similarity after this.
Mindy had the clubshaft in the same plane as the left arm while Jimmy has the shaft in the same plane as the right arm.
M had a bowed left wrist while J has a cupped left wrist.
M had a tucked in right elbow and J has a flying elbow.
To simulate Jimmy's swing, I have to use the right wrist to turn the clubhead to this very closed position, yet I still cannot achieve the pointing of the shaft of the club much beyond vertical. He has gone way beyond vertical.

I have noticed over my 40+ years of golf that the prodigious hitters of a golf ball seem to have a common thread and that is a very upright backswing just like Jimmy, Jack Nicklaus, a guy called Hank or Haney from my memory who played in the sixties, Mike Austin, Tiger Woods, etc. Has anyone else noticed this? My shoulder joints and my lack of flexibility cannot handle an upright swing. Shame!!

regards
mike t

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Tom
(Login Roveri)

Re: fascinating golfer

February 21 2006, 12:16 AM

Thanks cd for the picture of Bruen at the top of his swing. I've only seen a few still photos that Henry Cotton provided in his book, but as I recall (and I could be mistaken) Bruen started the downswing by dropping his right elbow into a Mindy right elbow configuration while the clubhead stayed well out in front of him (suspended nearly over the target line). As I recall Cotton's picture of Bruen well past impact, he was still on the target line with his clubhead, which did not go left in the followthru but instead went out toward the target and up remaining closer to the target line than any good golfer I had seen. Cotton may have compared Bruen's action to what Cotton called a "peek-a-boo" finish which is an action used by some women in Cotton's era whereby the golfer's head was allowed to occuy the space between the golfer's two arms in the followthru. Bruen's action was not at all "peek-a-boo".

Tom

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