Menu
This swing is producing the best ball striking numbers on the Tour today. Matsuyama is incredibly strong, and many of the things you see in his swing are different from most Tour players, and certainly different from what I would prefer to see in a golf swing. In the backswing Hideki keeps his right arm tucked into his side in the takeaway and has it almost dead straight. We have seen what a disaster that is for “normal” players (the 0 to 8 handicappers that send their swings in for analysis) as the right arm almost always looks for height and depth moving to the top of the swing, causing the shaft to steepen and the right arm to fall behind the body. That is definitely not the case here, as he cranks his upper body up with a huge turn while keeping the right arm in front of him the entire time and keeping the right leg in place as well. He does have nice compression and a bit of a right load going back, but his swing really gets interesting when he almost comes to a dead stop at the top of his swing. Most announcers comment on how great Matsuyama’s tempo is, but the truth is that he is just about the only player you will find with his left arm and shaft as quiet at the top. It looks like a complete pause, but close scrutiny reveals his lower body initiating the downswing as you would expect, as this will always be the correct sequence starting forward (from the ground up). Another thing that is impressive about his swing is the way he controls the clubface by not changing the angle of his left wrist in transition. Also notice that the hands move directly at the ball as they start forward, another element of most great swings. I really should put a sign up on this swing saying “Professional Golfer at Work: Don’t Try This at Home”.
Join the forum discussion on this post