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A few years back Steve Stricker was at an apparent dead-end in his golfing career. Through hard work and persistence he has come back to become even better than he was before his fall, now seemingly in the hunt almost every week. A few things are striking about Stricker’s action: one is the out and around swing shape, with the hands and arms moving away from the body in the takeaway. Another is exceptionally quiet nature of his wrists in transition. The third is his ability to control the ball even as the club approaches impact from under his right arm, what many players refer to pejoratively a being “stuck”.
The reason he can do so is the perfect synchronization of his arms and his body. Steve’s hands travel around with his chest as he approaches impact, a result of having his arms “hooked” into his body by halfway into the downswing. This, in turn, was set up by having his left arm swing across and against his chest into a relatively flat position at the top. He also does what he needs to do to avoid having the arms swing too far behind him by employing those firm wrists and having his hands push away from his head at the top, setting up a “wide” position that stays in front of him enough to be brought around by his body. Add to the mix an imposing physical stature and wonderful rhythm and tempo (how many Tour players don’t have this?) and you’ve got consistently effective ball-striking to go with excellent putting. Ka-ching! (That’s the sound of a cash register.)