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One of the side benefits of working with a Tour player is the ability to get good video of other players on the range with a tripod and correct angles. Streels loves Graham’s swing, so when we were practicing next to him he asked if I could take some shots. Graham was hitting his driver (and hitting it quite well, which is par for the course for him as he is one of the best ball strikers on Tour), producing almost dead straight shots of medium height. The thing that sticks out about Graham’s swing when you watch it at regular speed is its look of simplicity. It is probably the most rotary swing out there, and is as natural to Graham as one can get as he never looks at it on video. Graham was a hockey player, which might explain his lack of lowering during the swing, but his backswing is right on plane and wound up nicely. It gets interesting as he reaches the top when instead of deepening into his right hip he moves a bit forward toward the front of his left foot. As this happens his left arm lifts and lays the club off while his right arm moves up and behind him. His hips continue to move “out of the box” as they rotate into the forward swing, and his right arm stays more up and back which pins it to his side and makes it crucial for him to rotate like crazy all the way to the finish. At impact he is about as open as anyone you will see, and his shaft exits as far left with the driver as I’ve ever seen. The overall appearance of the swing is that it is simply back and forth with massive rotation and the chest “covering” the ball, even with the driver. There would be a number of things I would work on with him were he to come to me for help, but as long as he is hitting it as good as he does it would be silly for him to worry about anything.
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