Si Woo Kim: Swing Analysis-Classic Form

SW Kim’s swing is fun for me to look at as it demonstrates many of the items I teach regularly to any level of student.  It starts with the set-up, nice and clean and angular without being tense.  I often see players overdoing their attempt to have “good posture” by pulling the shoulder blades back and tensing up the lower back muscles, a sure recipe for a fatigued back and possible injury.  The most important part of the set up is bending from the hips so that the pelvis is tilted and supported by the abdominal and oblique muscles.  Kim’s takeaway is classic as well with a synchronized total body movement that he loads more to the right with the driver.  His weak grip leads to a flexed (bowed) left wrist at the top of the swing, and he adds more flexion into that wrist into impact.  Kim has plenty of lateral movement as seen in the face on angle, and you can bet that if he is moving that much left with the driver you know he is doing it as much or more with the irons.  From DTL we see Kim’s left knee disappear at P5, an indication that he is combining his right to left push with rotation while keeping his hips deep, a recipe for success in any swing.   That aggressive transition produces that all important “second stretch” where the loaded-up muscles of the entire back are stretched even more by the reversal of the pelvic movement, enabling Kim to lag the heck out of the club and produce plenty of stored up energy heading into impact.