As you probably well know, Lucas Glover edged out my former junior golf colleague Ricky Barnes during this year’s U.S. Open 2009, beating numerous great golfers like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and David Duval.
Needless to say, let’s go over Lucas Glover’s swing to see what makes him a “major” champion.
At address, Lucas Glover really gets his head behind the ball, his upper spine and head both tilted slightly towards the target. This slight move helps you to hit the driver on the upswing and also makes sure your head stays behind the ball during the swing.
Lucas has a very strong grip which also goes well with this type of setup. His feet are about 10 degrees open each.
*Notice that his head is almost over his right foot, not something you’d teach someone but it works for Lucas Glover.
On the takeaway, Lucas Glover takes away very very wide, sorta like Tiger, I bet he tried to copy Tiger’s move here.
About half-way, Lucas is still very “wide”. The way Lucas Glover swing the golf club reminds me almost of a slingshot. Don’t get me wrong though, I’ve seen a handful of great players who have a “slingshot” golf swing. This isn’t a bad thing so if you do this, keep doing it.
At the top of Lucas Glover’s swing (or transition since his hips are already moving down now), Lucas doesn’t overswing, he actually has a pretty compact backswing although it’s hard to notice when you see it in full speed. Watch carefully as this is when Lucas does the “slingshot” move, he will practically drop his shoulders, arms, and hands straight down.
I don’t know if you notice here but, Lucas Glover is coming on a very steep angle in contrast to his takeaway and backswing. This isn’t my favorite way to swing the golf club as your shoulders and hands must compensate for the difference.
At impact, Lucas Glover drops his body a bit (like everyone) but his feet are still on the ground and his left shoulder to the clubhead forms a perfectly straight line, probably his key to consistency.
After impact, watch how straight both Lucas Glover’s arms are, that is really good stuff. And also note his feet are still on the ground!!! (and yes that is awesome.)
Lucas Glover’s finish is what I like most about his swing. See how straight his body is? This isn’t just good for consistent golf, it’s also great for your back.
Overall, I’d give Lucas Glover’s swing 8 out of 10. Lucas didn’t win the U.S. Open with his swing, he also had some good luck with the weather and pairings. Of course, Lucas has a really good short game and mentally “tougher” than the others.
Here’s Lucas Glover’s Golf Swing in Slow-motion video:
Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode
The stuff you need to learn from Lucas Glover’s Swing:
1. Wide takeaway - Wide takeaway isn’t just for hitting the ball, it also let you swing more free as you can “feel” the centripetal force as you swing back.
If you want to learn to do a wide takeaway, simply put only your right hand on the club and try to swing back like you are holding a slingshot. If you can feel that, apply it on your real swing.
2. Stable Impact - You want to learn to hit the golf ball without losing your balance. Next time you are on the range, try to develop a stable impact position by “staying up” through impact. You will almost feel like you are standing up at impact if you do this right. In fact, you want to feel like you are standing up during your whole swing.
3. Great Finish – Great finish usually result in great balance and that you end up standing tall like Lucas Glover. Next time you are at the range, finish your golf swing and stand “tall” afterwards and hold your finish for 3 seconds. If you can do that, that means you have kept your balance through the swing.
More cool balancing exercises – Take a golf pencil, bite it with your mouth and try to hit full shots without losing your golf pencil. If you can master this, your body will automatically learn to balance and swing better.
Well, that’s about it for today folks, I will try to have more golf swing analysis later this week so I hope you get better at golf!
Go practice now, don’t just sit there and read golf blogs.
