Archive for June, 2008
Hunter Mahan Driver Swing Analysis
0 Comments Published June 23rd, 2008 in Swing Tips, hunter mahan, swing analysis.
Hunter Mahan is another upcoming PGA Tour pro. Let’s look at his action:

At takeaway, we can see clearly that Hunter like to follow the “yellow” plane.

At halfway up, you can see that Hunter manipulates his arms to get the club on-plane. (with the red plane)

At the top of his swing, we can see clearly that Hunter is pretty much on-plane with the red-plane.

Halfway down, Hunter is slightly inside the plane, perfectly good for a nice little draw.

At impact, Hunter looks pretty good, maybe his right arm could be little bit more straighter.
Hunter could benefit from a 1-plane swing. Simply by changing his takeaway to be more on-plane with the red plane, he could do more with less work.
Here’s Hunter Mahan’s swing in action:
Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode
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Tommy Armour III Iron Swing Analysis
0 Comments Published June 23rd, 2008 in Swing Tips, Tommy Armour III, swing analysis.
Tommy Armour III is actually the grandson of the great Tommy Armour who has won 3 major championships.
Although Tommy Armour III has not been as successful as his grandfather, I highly suggest you to read his grandfather’s book, A Round of Golf with Tommy Armour. The book teaches you countless great course strategy and let’s you score the game instead of focusing on swing mechanics. (It’s one of the best golf course strategy books out there that no one knows about, if not the best)
Now let’s look at Tommy Armous III’s simple and compact swing. Tommy does swing pretty quickly but don’t let that fool you, he’s actually “accelerating” through the ball better than most other tour pros.

At takeaway, Tommy likes to go with the traditional red plane. We will see that he returns to the red plane near the backswing though.

At top of his swing, Tommy is pretty much on-plane with the red plane. Also notice that his clubface is “parallel” to the red plane. (You have to imagine the red plane extends forever to the front and back of a golfer pleeez)
What I like about Tommy’s action is that he keeps his backswing pretty short but accelerates through the ball very nicely.

On the way down, Tommy get slightly inside to hit the ball inside-out.

Oh boy, with Tommy’s super fast downswing, he’s still in perfect position at impact. Look at how straight his arms, hands, and club are, almost matching the red plane.
Tommy may not have won as many tournaments as his grandfather, but expect him to win a major real soon.
Here’s Tommy Armour III’s iron shot in action:
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Zach Johnson Iron Swing Analysis
1 Comment Published June 21st, 2008 in Swing Tips, The Finish, swing analysis, zach johnson.
Zach Johnson’s swing reminds me of Ben Hogan’s swing. Here’s why:

At takeaway, note how still Zach’s head is.

At top of the swing, Zach’s head is still in the same position. A lot of golf teachers teach you to transfer weight to the right but Ben Hogan didn’t do that. (Well he did without moving his head to the right)

At halfway down, Zach actually moves forward with his head and his body, something that Ben Hogan did to prevent him from hitting his bad hook.
At impact, Zach looks pretty good with his left arm and club forming a straight line.

After impact, take a look at how well Zach extends both his arms, and also note that his wrists are straight as hell, no angles anywhere. This is the most awesome extension I’ve seen, probably slightly better than Tiger’s.

Note how Zach’s arms are extended even at finish, this is something sorta like what Ben Hogan did, although Zach does a little more extension with his left arm than needed.
Zach Johnson shows you how to extend your arms after impact.
Why is this important?
Well, the more you extend and if you extend correctly through impact, you are thereby creating a bigger arc and more room for your clubhead to stay square to the target. Now if you have bigger arc than anyone else you play with, you are more likely to hit your shots very very straight.
Increase chances of hitting the ball straight, hit more greens, and you score less.
Here’s Zach Johnson’s swing in slow-motion:
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Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode
Here’s a good video of Nick Faldo explaining how to transfer your weight during a golf swing.
Although this is true, there’s a lot of new “swings” out on there that might confuse you.
What to take from it?
Well, I do like the part that you should wait until after hitting the ball to completely transfer your weight to the left.
I will have to try this in detail more next time I am on the range.
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Nick Price Driver Swing Analysis
0 Comments Published June 21st, 2008 in Nick Price, Swing Tips, swing analysis.I remember seeing Nick Price for the first time on TV, his hair used to stick up all the time a lot more than most other tour pros. Anyways, I have always been a big fan of Nick Price since the 90s, let’s look at how his swing is.
Btw, he’s a student of David Leadbetter, so he swings on the yellow plane. (We will have to term the yellow plane swingers as 90s swingers. I also have been guilty of practicing the yellow plane for about 10 years of my life but that’s the 90s, let’s focus on the true swing plane here)

At halfway back, Nick does the perfect match with the yellow plane. I’d rather see him more outside near the red plane.

At the top, Nick does get back on to the plane.

Surprisingly, Nick does come back to the yellow plane before impact. This is actually harder to do and its only because Nick’s really good at it. Most tour pros would come down the red plane line.

At impact, Nick is somewhat neat the red plane.
Now, a lot of pro golfers and teachers still rely on the 2-plane swing, which is combination of the yellow and the red plane. This is too confusing and there’s too many moving parts.
If you want to swing on 1-plane swing like Tiger or Moe Norman, you will need to concentrate on getting your clubhead on one plane only.
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