Menu
It’s always inspirational to see a guy who pretty much disappears for 9 years come back to regain his top form and win. Lawrie had 3 fine years after his British Open win, then didn’t win again until last year, when he won twice, and then did it again this year, making the Ryder Cup to boot. He seems like a super nice guy, and you can only imagine the persistence and perseverance it took to hang in there and keep working at his game.
We see here a solid, fairly conventional (in a good sense) action, with a few variations from what I would consider the “norm” for good players, most noticeably his tendency to set up with quite a bit of knee flex and his weight somewhat toward his heels. I usually have my students avoid this type of weight distribution, as it usually encourages movement toward the front of the feet during the swing, while I am a proponent of starting in the balls of the feet and working towards the heels while keeping the head out over the ball. In Lawrie’s case he avoids the pitfall of running his legs out from under him and does a stellar job keeping his hip depth while exhibiting great wrist and shaft control along with a beautiful clearing of the lower body and driving action of the upper right side through impact. There is a bit of lifting in the second half of the backswing and the hands do come in a bit above the original shaft plane but the rest of the swing is certainly worthy of emulation. Combine that with excellent rhythm and you have a swing that will likely keep him in the hunt for a good while.
Join the forum discussion on this post