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I once played 36 holes in the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier with Kevin and his ball striking was impressive. He is a big guy with a thick chest and waist, but his athleticism is obvious when you watch him move. He is a bit fidgety in his set-up routine, and triggers his swing with a slight forward bend on the knee toward the ball. I wouldn’t recommend this to most players, as any tendency to lift or straighten up during the swing tends to cause problems as the swing progresses, but it doesn’t seem to bother Kevin. He is tremendously wide in the backswing with his hands moving slightly away from his body looking down the line, and creating a bunch of space away from his right leg at shaft parallel in the takeaway from face on. His weight seems to stay a bit forward as most of his leg movement is out into the left knee, and his right forearm is almost horizontal to the ground at the top, reminding me of Angel Cabrera. In transition we see a great example of the “hands out” move that initiates the sidearm throwing motion (actually the legs always initiate the forward movement in the throwing motion but the hand movement is what is most noticeable) with the shaft shallowing and the clubhead kicking hard sideways. As we have seen with many other great players this flattening move takes the club well above the plane, but only for an instant as the rotation of the body and the squeezing of the left arm into the chest help to start steepening the shaft all the way to impact. Stadler’s right upper arm does not get in front of his chest as much as most players who exhibit this movement, but that seems to be entirely because of the size of his upper body. There just isn’t any room for it without the arms being way out away from the body, and you can see in the comparison with his father that Kevin’s hand pass by impact much closer to his body and closer to his original shaft plane than did his dad’s. All in all, probably a good swing to study for the more portly golfers.
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