RBC Heritage 3rd round Leader: Golf Swing Analysis: Carl Pettersson

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

It might be surprising to some to see me compare the seemingly ungainly swing of 4 time PGA Tour winner Carl Pettersson with Ben Hogan’s, but after you watch this video it should be clear that Pettersson’s swing, while definitely not among the most classic looking moves, has almost all the elements that Hogan incorporates in his action and most of the technique that I have come to prefer for golfers of any level.
 
The one thing that makes Pettersson’s swing appear to be a big mistake is the outward movement of his hands as he transitions from backswing to downswing. This is, however, only an exaggeration of a move that I have come to realize is one of the key elements to Hogan’s swing and something that I teach (in a more moderate form) every day. Pettersson has dramatically changed his swing over the last year and a half by moving his arms much deeper across his chest in the backswing, allowing him to continue to move the hands outward but by coming from a deeper backswing position he can approach from a less steep angle and possibly move the ball both ways (draw and fade) much easier.
 
The rest of his swing is money. He loads tremendously into the ground in the backswing by flexing into the right leg and lowering, and lowers again in the forward swing as he moves his upper right arm in front of his chest. Through impact he swings to the left as much as anyone, a move that I dearly love (and wish I could do better myself). His eyes follow the ball off the club and he incorporates sensational footwork as well. If he keeps rolling the long putter as he has recently and continues to improve his swing he could be one of the great players on the Tour.
 

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(2) comments

Tom March 29, 2013

I was following Carl at the Houston Open today and witnessed him making a hole-in-one on the 7th hole at Redstone Golf Club. He has a great game.

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John October 22, 2017

A lot of great players from 1920-1960 appeared to be OTT (including Jones, Snead and many others), mainly because they took the club back so deep and inside. So what looked like OTT in transition was actually a pretty normal downswing path. As someone who had struggled with a steep top of the swing position and a high right arm, it has helped me a lot to feel like the hands go ‘out’ in transition and I try to feel like my transition is like Snead’s. Almost feel like I am hitting a pull. When I don’t work on this, I go back to hitting a lot of thin, inside-out pushed, caused by getting me right arm stuck.
I personally think is is daft to try to take the club up and down on the same plane. Only a distinctive change in direction can be felt.
It was good to be able to revise this issue using this video. Thanks again.

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