With British Open coming up, players like Padraig Harrington will be at advantage as they get to play the course more often than American players.

Let’s look at Padraig’s swing and see his strengths and weaknesses.

I like how Padraig takes his club away from the ball.  He turns everything together nicely.

At the top, Padraig looks real good, starting his lower body as his backswing is finished.

At half-way down, Padraig looks pretty good, maybe a little too much lag than necessary.  (That might be why he hit this ball slightly to the right)

Too much lag can cause the golfer to release too late (or release not at all), causing the ball to fly well right of intended target).

At impact, Padraig hangs back a little too much but looks pretty good other than that.

After impact, Padraig loses control of his left foot, this could really be improved to help his stability and balance.

Overall, Padraig has a really good swing except some minor stuff he might want to concentrate on.

Here’s Padraig Harrington’s Driver swing in Slow-motion:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

backswing, british open, fly, left foot, padraig harrington, s driver, Slow Motion, strengths and weaknesses, swing analysis, target backswing, british open, fly, left foot, padraig harrington, s driver, Slow Motion, strengths and weaknesses, swing analysis, target If you like this post, please subscribe to the ProGolferDigest via RSS or via E-Mail to receive updates.

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Chad Campbell is one of those PGA tour players who don’t have a perfect swing.  As you can see here, Chad sets up to the ball with a very narrow stance for a driver.  A big no-no, but he can still play.

Here’s his backswing.  He gets behind the ball real good even with his small stance.  I wouldn’t say it’s pretty but it gets the job done.

After impact, Chad does a good job of extending his arms but his left foot comes off the ground, a sign of real instability.  Of course, Tiger has/had this problem too but Chad really needs to work on his swing if he’s serious about winning more tournaments.

Either that or he can go work on his short game/putting more.

I don’t bet on Chad winning this week unless he holes every putt he sees.

Here’s Chad Campbell’s Driver swing in action:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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For many years, Fred Funk has always been one of the straightest drivers on the PGA Tour and his swing has never changed. (probably because of that)

Let’s look at what makes his swing “tick”.

At setup, Fred looks pretty good.  Notice that his sets with his ball outside the ball.  Kinda unusual but some pros do this to hit inside-out.

At takeaway, Fred is doing pretty good, maybe slightly inside the plane. (Plane is a little off here because the camera angle is slightly closed)

At half-way, Fred looks pretty good.

At top of Fred’s swing, his in perfect plane except that his clubface is really shut.  This isn’t great for hooking the ball but let’s find out how he manages to hit the ball straight with this backswing.

At half-way down, Fred is lookin’ good.

At impact, notice how much his hips have turned (maybe 45 degrees) and his shoulders.

Fred must really drive his hips in order to hit the ball straight but he hits straight alrighty.

After impact, Fred is in good shpae.

Fred’s swing requires a lot of hand-eye coordination and lots of lower body movement to hit it well.  Fred might need a hip surgery when he gets older due to the fact he must really drive his hips.

Don’t swing like Fred if you want to play golf for a long time but Fred is still one of the straightest drivers on the tour.

Here’s Fred Funk’s funky swing in action:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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Let’s look at Rod Pampling’s driver swing here.  He has a swing that “over-rotates” during the backswing and the follow-through.

At address, Rod is a little bit too much over the ball but sitting very tall.

At takeaway, Rod’s club is nicely on-plane except notice that even his clubface is on-plane. (Normally, you want the clubface edge pointing up at the sky at this point)

At half-way point, Rod is in perfectly on-plane, nice….

Again, at the top, Rod is doing really well.

At half-way down, Rod is doing great again, pretty much on-plane.

At impact, notice how much Rod’s hips and shoulders have turned.  This is because he “over-rotates” his body on the backswing.  It’s not an easy swing to repeat.

After impact, Rod is slightly inside the plane, meaning he used his wrists a little to square the club.

Again, this is probably due to his over-rotations.

At finish, Rod looks pretty good.

Rod Pampling could really benefit from swinging with less rotation.  Then again, if he has been swinging like this for last 20 years, I wouldn’t change it, just go working on my putting more.

Here’s Rod Pampling’s swing in action:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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Remember I revealed the secret of Tiger Woods swing plane secret little bit ago?

Well, here’s another photoshopped image of Tiger Woods’ backswing plane.

If you can imagine the plane formed by the red-circles I drew, you will quickly notice that Tiger is actually on an “inside-out” plane.

What can you learn from this?

Try swinging the club more inside to out. Backswing is always better suited for slightly inside-out planes than the other way around.

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