If you are new to golf, you’ve probably never heard of David Duval.  But for me, he’s the #1 or #2 golfer of all-time in the 90s.

For whatever reason that David Duval has not been winning again, let’s take a look at his swing from Doral in 1997 to see what made him “tick”.

One thing I really like about David Duval is the way he finishes his swing with his back straight.  This is really good for painless-back golf.

On the takeaway, David Duval looks pretty good.

At top of his swing, David is in perfect plane.

Between his backswing and downswing, you can clearly tell that David is really transferring his weight back to the left.

Also notice that his head is actually turning towards the target at impact.  David Duval is the only other professional golfer I know who lets his head move freely during impact other than Annika Sorenstam.

I believe this head move can actually help the golfer hit the ball better if done right.  But if you simply move your head at impact, it will probably make you chop the ball more times than not.  To do it right, try following the golf ball as it takes off.

Watch David Duval’s wonderful wind-up finish.  He’s almost wind-up too much but you get the idea here.

Hopefully David Duval does recover from his long-term winning draught.  I have seen signs of him playing better lately at the British Open where he finishes Top 10 for the first 2 days.  Time will tell whether David Duval is able to come back to competitive golf or not but he’s still a British Open champ.

David Duval Links

David Duval Offical Profile at Pgatour.com

David Duval on Wikipedia

Here’s David Duval’s Swing from Doral Open in 97:

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Let’s take a look at Parker McLachlin’s iron swing, the winning swing of Reno Tahoe Open.  (Too bad Michelle Wie didn’t make the cut AGAIN!)

At takeaway, notice that Parker’s clubface is actually pointing down at the ground, a little too closed.   This causes lots of pulls and balls that will start left and go left.  It’s best to have rotated a little more here for crisp contact.

At half-way, Parker looks pretty good.

At top of his swing, Parker is in perfect plane.

At half-way down, Parker looks great.

After impact, Parker is slightly outside the plane, meaning he swung slightly inside-out.  Very good stuff.

Parker may have a pretty good swing and he has won a PGA Tour event to prove it with a round of 10 under on Friday of 62.

Here’s Parker McLachlin’s iron swing in slow motion:

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Here’s a driver swing analysis of today’s Canadian Open winner, Chez Reavie.

At address, Chez really stands tall, almost falling backwards but this is preferable way to swing than “crouching” over the ball.

At takeaway, Chez gets a little too inside but not too bad.

Chez gets really flat at this point due to his upright address but this is fine.

At the top, Chez gets back on-plane as seen here.

Half-way down, you can tell, Chez is in great position to hit the ball with the club inside the plane.

Impact looks perfect.

After impact, Chez gets back on perfect plane, sign of great drives.

The finish.

Here’s Chez Reavie’s swing in slow motion:

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Congrats to today’s Candian Open win and your first Chez!

For most of 90s, my two favorite golfers were Nick Faldo and Greg Norman.  They always seemed to win tournaments more than others during that time and also shared number one and two of the world back and forth.

Although Nick Faldo may be a sportscaster right now, he may be the best pro golfer to be a sportscaster.

You look at some of the other guys but no one else has an extensive resume like the Masters winner Nick Faldo.

I’ve even bought every book he wrote and although they were all too technical and confusing for most hackers, Nick is really good at details of the golf swing.

Let’s take a look at his downhill iron swing here.

For the downhill iron shot, Nick Faldo sets up with his weight favoring his right and his ball about center of his stance to make up for the hill.

At takeaway, Nick sets his wrists slightly early but looks very good.

At top of Nick’s swing, he has a perfect 90 degree angle between the arm and the club while not swinging more than 3/4 of his full backswing.

On half-way down, notice the 90 degree of lag Nick has.  A lot of tour pros go beyond the 90 degrees which is not necessary and Nick proves the point here.  Too much lag can actually produce a smaller swing arc.

At impact, Nick looks really good.

After impact, Nick chases down the slope with his arms, fully releasing his club.

At finish, Nick looks very good, standing super tall.

Nick Faldo has one of the best swings in golf with one of the best rhythms to go with it.

If he kept playing competitively, he would have won couple more majors but I am surprised he decided to retire from competitive golf.

Here’s Nick Faldo’s downhill iron swing in slow-motion explained by the man himself:

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Having Nick on golf channels is a really good thing.  I rather hear him saying stuff than an Peter Kostis.

Bubba Watson is probably one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour today.  Let’s look at his unstable swing that makes the ball go far.

At takeaway, Bubba transfers his weight far into his left leg.  This might cause him to miss a lot of shots.

At the top, Bubba’s almost falling over his left side.  Not good, but maybe the only thing it’s good for is distance.

On half-way down, Bubba’s head is still over his left foot or even slightly outside.  This is asking for disaster in pro golf.

At impact, Bubba looks like his swinging a sledge hammer, not a golf club.

After impact, Bubba is completely out of balance with his right foot sliding forward and hit left foot coming out.

This is probably not the swing that’s going to win whole lotta PGA tournaments unless Bubba learns to control his swing.  It’s not about the distance, it’s about scoring low every week.

If he did however change his swing to be in more control, he should be able to win a lot of tournaments.

Here’s Bubba Watson’s Ugly Driver Swing Sequence in Slow-mo:

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