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Some time ago I did a video that focused on a Peter Kostis analysis done during a Tour event comparing the swings of Tom Brady, New England Patriots quarterback, and Tony Romo, the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys. Romo had the far superior swing, but the video concentrated more on Kostis’ use of what I considered bad camera angles to comment on certain parts of their swings. So, when the rest of my foursome quit after 9 in the practice round for the Isleworth Pro-Invitational I went out onto the back 9 as a single, which lasted a hole until the group behind me invited me to join them on 11. It happened to be Romo’s group, and when I first shook his hand he immediately mentioned that he had seen the video I did of him and that he enjoyed watching some of the other videos I had done on YouTube.
Given this opening I took advantage and offered him a swing analysis all about him, and he jumped on the chance. As I watched him play I saw awesome power (a couple of the hardest hit drives I had ever seen not by long drive guys), great control with the wedges, nice touch around the greens, and a superb putting stroke. I also saw some inconsistency and one wildly hooked drive, but considering how little he has played you would have to say that there is a huge amount of potential there, especially with his athletic ability.
Tony’s swing is a story of two views: from face on you won’t see a better sequenced power move. His pivot movement and lateral drive are excellent, and I will be showing that angle to many of my students as a model to study. It will be nice to add that he hit that particular drive 350 yards with a swing that doesn’t get close to parallel at the top. From the rear view we find a number of things that I would work on with him, starting with his tight arms at address and working into his away from the body takeaway. Eventually his backswing pattern leads him to move his right forearm from more vertical to more horizontal, which gets it a hair stuck behind his right side and forces him to approach with his hands fairly high, giving him a somewhat complex hand release that might be hard to manage at times.
All in all, Tony shows great promise and could be one of the few professional athletes to compete at golf’s highest level.