This is posted here because I am not able to clarify some of the issues that have come up on the discussion board on the official Mike Austin website, where my motives and actions have been misreported.  Shortly after registering there as a "member" freely exchanging ideas with others, I was "banned" and blocked from being able to contribute or ask questions of other Austin fans and pupils.  It might come across to some reading it as "petulant," but in fact my intentions and honor have been seriously impugned by what has been said there, and I have a duty to myself to set the record straight.  I cannot do it there: I can do it HERE.  I apologize for this, but without the information below, the "unsaid" would in effect be an admission that what Thomas Dang DOES say is the truth (and where he protects himself from denial by selective deleting what he does not want read by anyone else) .  His version there is NOT the truth.  And now--as of Feb 15,2005 -- there have been two occasions when he has deleted posts in which some of this information was posted.

Prior to my scheduled trip to meet Mike Austin in person, Thomas Dang--one of the pupils I mention that I met there--contacted me by phone and told me of HIS shared concern that what was put forth as Mike Austin swing methodology be true to Mike.  We hit it off with a common jealousy that the legacy of the great Mike Austin, for whom he had developed a warm and familial relationship as his pupil for the previous couple of years, should be preserved without contamination.

Previous to my visit there I had already written a draft of the introduction and a bit of the first chapters of the book I intended to write and I emailed it to Thomas for his review.

This was his response to me on June 9th, 2005, two weeks before my trip to California: "In all I know you are on your way to a best seller already. I think you can say that this is the authorized version of the book since Mike approved and want you to go out and tell the world. Any how, what do I know about writing any way. I know you will do the best job in representing Mike. I will go over and over and over with you with the technical details and make sure we are capturing the exact image of the Mike Austin's golf swing. ..."

When I did arrive at Mike's house later that month, he greeted me warmly and during our exchange and discussion of what the title of the book would be, he expressed pleasure at my choice of words, and he autographed a copy of his own book of poetry for me.  For the three days of my visit there I spent a good deal of time with Thomas hashing over the matter of the book and the swing.  While there I asked Thomas for copies of the original Mike Austin instruction tapes, "Golf is Mental Imagery" and "Austinology," which he promised to send to me right away. It became clear that Thomas was currently the best contact for obtaining correct information on what Mike taught (it was at a time when there was controversy over another book and DVD purported to be authentic and that was what I then believed to be o.k., but which seriously differed from Thomas's knowledge of what was true to Michael Hoke Austin).

After that visit and more exchanges with Thomas, I received another email in which he said:  "I know that your book will be great since you translated Mike's teaching into the everyday language that people can see easier, but Mike still believe that in order to learn the swing most will have to put in the time to understand the physiology of their anatomy as well as the physics so that they can become efficient with the swing and be able to do it with out having to go back to the mumble shed all the time. Any how, please keep in touch and I am looking forward to hear from you. Best,
Thomas"

In order to gain certainty of what I would write and portray in video, I arranged to take instruction from Thomas for the purpose of "getting it right," so I went to Corvallis, Oregon in September and undertook the program and received my Graduation Diploma certificate of completion of the Mike Austin Academy Professional Program.

It wasn't until two days into that 9 day period of instruction that I ever got to see the original Austin instruction.  It turned out to be radically different from what I had been taught, thank goodness!  When THAT-my pre-Austin, "Shauger version" of the Austin swing--was recorded at that time, it was ludicrous and ineffectual.  I was, in fact, pretty funny to watch!  In my defense, however, in the months after the academy experience, I was able, thanks to the Austin tapes, to do what Mike taught, and it is the basis of what is in my new book and DVD.   You will see my "fixed" Mike Austin swing when you view the DVD I have produced.

On the last day of my nine-day class with Thomas, he asked me to execute an agreement for royalties on the book and DVD which I was glad to do, and I prepared the draft for that arrangement.

On the "official" Mike Austin website discussion board on Feb 15, 2006, Thomas reported that he deliberately withheld the Austin tapes from me.  I quote him: "The reason that I did not give Mr. Hibbard the Mike Austin' materials before he came out to see me because I already knew of what Mr. Hibbard's intention. His only intention was to write a book and make money at all cost. It is pretty obvious when finally showed his motive before he left and when I told him that Mike Austin and I do not wish for him to write any book pertaining any teaching regarding Mike Austin in any way. Mr. Hibbard challenged my wish at which time I had to show him the Contract Agreement that Mike Austin and I had before his death that at no time anyone elses materials other than mine and this website are authentics. Mike was concerned about his teaching will be misintepreted as well as people overzealousness to make money out of his name and in this case the fact speaks for it self."

This of course flies in the face of everything that preceded his post--those things highlighted in blue above--in the face of Mike's express delight when I told him of my intentions (Phiip Reed's biography of Mike's incredible life had just been released), of Thomas's own complicity from the start of our relationship.

In that same post on the discussion board, Thomas went on to say: "I find that it is impressive that Mr. Hibbard already knew about the swing in such fine details to write a book to teach such a swing when he was not able to understand what was taught to him while he was here in Oregon. He spent most of his time here arguing with me and that he already knew about the principle of this swing without the need of my help."   

In fact, while I was expecting to get INSTRUCTION from Thomas, instead I got resistance to my asking for information and clarification--which he perceives as "arguing." And while there, he spoke of other pupils with similar "attitude" problems.   In fact, I experienced an extremely small amount of instruction itself from my academy experience in a very expensive week in Oregon, and almost all of what I know I attribute to the Austin tapes and other materials and exchanges with other Austin pupils.  I paid for 9 days of instruction: I got the equivalent of one half day, in fact!

So this is the background of my book and DVD: namely that it started with Mike's blessing and approval, it was furthered from the outset with Thomas's approval (who witnessed the exchanges with Mike in person that I report above), and that has been the basis for what I teach with an extreme sensitivity that I be true to the great, and I think somewhat misunderstood, Michael Hoke Austin. 

May God bless his soul, and may he rest in peace.