By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis
It’s not often we get a perfect view of a bunker shot on a TV telecast, but here we see Justin Thomas short sided in the sand from a spot on down the line view. Things to focus on are the almost dead square stance, flexed knees, low hands made lower by gripping well down […]
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Here we have a nice, stable down the line view of JB Holmes hitting what appears (by the ball speed) to be a 7 iron, although the announcers don’t say definitively what club it is. Holmes starts with a standard athletic set up, then starts the swing by whipping the club under his hands in […]
Continue readingBy J | Videos: Swing Analysis
I was first introduced to Jimmy Bruen’s swing by a WayneD.com member, and the action was so memorable that when I saw Wolff’s swing last year on the telecast of the NCAA Championship, I immediately harkened back to the footage of the young Irishman who won the British Amateur in 1946. Bruen came to prominence […]
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis
When you look at the first side by side of Willy and Andrew you will probably be struck by the fact that it appears they are playing a different game. I worked with them back to back last week and it certainly occurred to me that you could hardly get two people to set up more differently. The differences in the two address positions leads to some significant differences during the swings, but it becomes obvious that it is the eventual similarities that demonstrate why both are extremely high-level ball strikers.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis
You might be wondering about the title of this video (fadeaway swing? What the heck is that?), but after watching it will become obvious what I am talking about. Both players address the ball in what I would call an athletic, “ready” posture with their balance out over the ball toward the balls of the feet. My preference would always be to stay out over the ball and either maintain or increase hip depth and pelvic tilt, but both Uihlein and Mickelson back away from their starting position in a significant fashion. Uihlein increases his hip depth with no hint of early extension, while Mickelson famously kicks his left leg hard out from under him and uses a hard roll of the forearms to square the face. Both are excellent players and I always find it interesting to view techniques that work that I would never teach outright and would discourage when I see it. In my own swing I can never seem to get deep enough into my left heel at impact and watching Uihlein (I always considered Mickelson an anomaly) it makes me wonder how it would work to start even more forward toward the toes at address then consistently move back toward the heels during the swing.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis
You may not have heard of Denny McCarthy but after his dominating victory in the Web.Com Tour Championship there are real signs that he is ready to make his mark on the PGA Tour. Denny is local to the DC area (3-time Maryland State Open Champion as an amateur, played in college at Virginia) and qualified for the Web.Com Tour at the end of 2015. He spent two full years on the Web.com, finally achieving his PGA Tour card for 2018, where he made 13 of 22 cuts and just under $500.000. His victory gained him the #1 ranking for money earned in the Web.Com finals, which gives him fully exempt status on the PGA Tour for 2019. He is small at 5’9” and 165 lbs. but in great shape and very strong, which is readily observable when you watch his pivot movement. He planes the club nicely and gets away with a substantial upper body back up in his backswing by keeping his pelvis deep and firing his glutes late in the forward swing, giving him the appearance of jumping up into impact without early extending. He keeps his arms and shaft well out in front of him which keeps the club from getting stuck and makes a left to right shot pattern more likely. His stats show issues with driving accuracy, but he showed huge improvement in that regard in 2018.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis
I have an attraction to odd looking swings that work, and Ryan Moore fits right in to that category. In this video I compare his swing from 8 years ago to now, and we see some significant changes in just about all parts of his motion other than his set up. In 2010 Moore had the shaft beyond vertical at P3, then used a huge flattening of the shaft to recover from his across the line position at the top. That shaft shallowing kept going much longer in the downswing before the club steepened back onto the plane, thus taking his release more out down the line and out to the right. In 2018 we see more forearm rotation in the backswing moving the shaft more on plane and less vertical at P3, not crossing the line at the top, less need for shallowing from P4 to P5, and with the flattening happening much more quickly (ending by P5) the earlier steepening of the shaft from P5 to P7 causing the approach to come from more in front of him and his release to exit more around to the left. I also look at an odd angle swing that gives us a nice view of exactly how Moore goes about flattening the shaft, something that he has done to some degree throughout his career.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis
If there is a poster child for the Pivot Compression Swing and the various preferences, I have in general it would be Cameron Champ. He employs an on-plane takeaway with right loading to P2, then continues to load the upper body to the right with a massive turn while working the right side of the pelvis consistently deeper into transition, where he demonstrates the “hands out” hand path move with the shaft shallowing significantly as the right arm adducts, externally rotates and supinates. He drives that arm more forward than just about anyone I’ve looked at and even hits his driver with his hands way in front and the shaft leaning forward, producing an 8-degree launch angle and a descending blow. You might think that he was not optimizing his launch conditions but his 193-mph ball speed and 130 mph clubhead speed still have him hitting the ball further than anyone on any tour. He makes up for the forward leaning shaft with plenty of rightward spine tilt as his head moves hard right in the impact area with the driver and takes advantage of that approach by not doing that with his irons. The combination of today’s equipment with strength and technique has brought us to the point where players such as Koepka, DJ, Speith, Rahm and others are using a drive/hold release technique with their drivers and not only not losing distance but seemingly adding to their ability to create speed. Champ’s use of the sidearm throwing motion to create huge amounts of lag make his swing appear fluid and graceful, certainly not as violent as you might expect at such crazy speeds. It is also interesting that Champ feels like he is “jumping” up into impact, while his head stays perfectly level, another sign of his strength and athleticism. This would be a wonderful swing even if he hit the ball normal distances, but to have something so conventionally sound produce such power gives him a chance to be one of the greats.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis
Cameron Champ has been aweing the golf world with his prodigious power, but in this short video I show how he recovered from two poor shots on one hole to pitch in for an unlikely par. I love his swing mechanics and the fact that he can produce the kind of speed he does and still keep the ball in play, but his ability to score when he doesn’t hit good shots is what will determine how far he rises in the world rankings, and that is what he demonstrates here by keeping his cool, grinding on each shot, and producing a momentum saving par with a great shot that follows two not so great ones. This is a wonderful lesson for all golfers, especially for those prone to getting upset after messing up. Champ just keeps moving on to the next shot, eyeing it without regard for what he has just done. It took me a long time to mature to where I didn’t let a previous shot affect the next one, and my message to anyone wishing for optimal results is to eliminate anything from your game that doesn’t help you succeed. It’s a brutal game and it is vital that you not let mistakes cause further mistakes.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis
You may not have heard of Denny McCarthy but after his dominating victory in the Web.Com Tour Championship there are real signs that he is ready to make his mark on the PGA Tour. Denny is local to the DC area (3-time Maryland State Open Champion as an amateur, played in college at Virginia) and qualified for the Web.Com Tour at the end of 2015. He spent two full years on the Web.com, finally achieving his PGA Tour card for 2018, where he made 13 of 22 cuts and just under $500.000. His victory gained him the #1 ranking for money earned in the Web.Com finals, which gives him fully exempt status on the PGA Tour for 2019. He is small at 5’9” and 165 lbs. but in great shape and very strong, which is readily observable when you watch his pivot movement. He planes the club nicely and gets away with a substantial upper body back up in his backswing by keeping his pelvis deep and firing his glutes late in the forward swing, giving him the appearance of jumping up into impact without early extending. He keeps his arms and shaft well out in front of him which keeps the club from getting stuck and makes a left to right shot pattern more likely. His stats show issues with driving accuracy, but he showed huge improvement in that regard in 2018.
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