Jim Furyk has always been one of my golfing heroes due to the fact that he’s swing is probably the weirdest on the PGA Tour yet he is so successful.

Although Jim Furyk might breaks all rules of physics and textbook teaching, I will prove today that he does have one of the best after impact positions in golf.

At setup, Jim’s hands are pretty much “glued” to his thighs and he stands very very close to the ball.

On takeaway, Jim’s clubface is shut and a little inside the plane.

At half-way, Jim is actually on-plane with the hands but his club is very upright.

At the top of the swing, Jim is pretty much trying to get his hands as vertical as he can.  This is not a bad thing as even Jack Nicklaus tells you to do this at one point in his career.

Vertical swings have been great for hitting the ball very high.

Now the greatest part about Jim is that he re-routes his club back into perfect hitting position as seen here.

He’s actually slightly inside the plane, allowing a perfect setup for inside-out swing.

At impact, Jim must turn his hips, shoulders, head, and everything except the club in order to square the clubface.   Not the easiest way to swing but watch for the next action.

Check out how perfectly Jim’s club is on-plane.  This is something that almost every top golfer does regardless of how they swing the club back.

This is why Jim is on the PGA Tour.

Great finish, and another legendary swing that no one will ever be able to copy.

Here’s Jim Furyk’s driver in action:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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I did go out to the range the other day and took a small video.  Although I was hitting the ball fairly good, my impact position was too sqaure.

Here’s my impact position compared to Ben Crane and Adam Baddeley:

If you look carefully, both of these guys have their shoulder slightly open.

Now, what I’ve found out is that, I tend to get my lower body too close to the ball near the impact, causing me to hold on to my release, thereby causing an open shoulders and also annoying hooks once in a while since I have to “flip” my wrists slightly after impact.

But the most interesting thing I found was in my practice swing.  As you can see, this is a snapshot of my practice swing impact position.  The shoulders are slightly open and the hands are exactly where I want them.

Next time, I will try to stand a little taller during the swing and that should help me fix the kink.

Darn, if I could only swing like my practice swings…

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I have been studying Ben Hogan’s swing for about 20 years now and I’d have to say he’s the best ball stiker in the world.

Here’s some analysis into his iron knockdown swing, which he was very good at and Tiger Woods has copied his moves.

Ben’s takeaway is simply rotation of his triangle formed by his shoulders, arms, and hands to the right. (sorta like shaking hands with person on the right)

There’s no “visible” weight transfer whatsoever here. His belly or the stomach, also turns along with his triangle.

This is probably the most important takeaway you can learn from Ben.

To put it simply:

Rotate your triangle and belly together to the right from a fixed single axis.

At top of Ben Hogan’s swing, you can tell that he’s almost doing a “reverse-pivot” by traditional teachers’ standards. In my opinion, he’s proving to you that there’s no need for a visual weight transfer to the right side. Hey, this picture proves that point.

This might be why there’s so much buzz with the tilt and stack swing when in reality, they are all derivatives of Ben Hogan’s swing.

On the downswing, you can notice Ben’s head has “dipped” 2-3 inches compared to position at address and top of his swing. This proves that the “dip” is actually a necessary natural action to a golfer’s swing provided the golfer doesn’t dip too much. Look at every top player in the world, they “dip” their head a little because it’s human nature.

Do note the fact that Ben’s lower body has aggressivly cleared to his left side while his spine tilt is actually a little straighter, meaning his upper body “moves” toward the target.

This move is inevitable to Ben’s swing in order to hit the ball square, you need to feel like you are on “top” of the ball on the way down in order to extend your arms correctly through impact.

After impact, notice how straight both of Ben’s arms are and the club dissecting between the two arms. This is something Ben is really good at.

At finish, notice how straight Ben’s lower body is and his upper body is pretty straight too. What impresses is how much his whole body is stretched on his finish while he remains in perfect balance with no sign of extra force exertion.

Bloody Ben Hogan, he’s the greatest golfer with the greatest swing ever. Even Tiger has great swing but won’t come close anywhere near Ben Hogan in my opinion.

Now, this is way back in the 50-60s when they had no cameras or any type of visual feedback for the pro golfers. How amazing is his swing when you think of that?

Very amazing indeed that Tiger’s still trying to copy Ben’s moves.

Even after 50 years, every tour pro including Tiger is trying to copy Ben Hogan’s moves, not Jack Nicklauses, not Arnold Palmer, but Ben and only Ben Hogan.  That my friend, IS amazing.

Here’s Ben Hogan’s Iron Knockdown Swing in action:

(Mind you, Ben Hogan was the first master of these knockdown shots, not Tiger. Tiger only copied his moves.)

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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Jesper Parnevik has always been my Swedish golf hero(outside Annika Sorenstam that is). I remember seeing him for the first time on TV about 15 or so years ago and I still remember how he had his cap backwards and advertisers actually started putting their logo inside-out just for Jesper.

Let’s look at his swing:

At takeaway, Jesper is slightly inside the plane but no big deal here, looks great.

At half-way, Jesper is still on-plane, maybe slightly flat but it works.

At the top of his swing, Jesper is pretty much on plane, maybe slightly upright. His clubface is slightly shut, meaning it’s a little closed, meaning it’s pointing a little too much at the sky. This isn’t problem for Jesper as most pro tours do have it slightly shut for a nice draw.

At half-way down, you can see how well Jesper fits his hands and club onto the red plane. Most pro tours are great at this.

At impact, Jesper is great. Maybe his right arm could be extended a little but that’s because his head dipped about 3-4 inches from address. (If you take a look at the location of the bunker at address and here, you will see.)

The dip usually isn’t a big problem for most pro tours as it’s a natural thing. You might want to watch out though if you are dipping more than 4 inches. (My recommendation is to try around 1-2 inches of dip at most. To lessen dipping on your swing, swing effortlessly and also feel like you are standing up tall during your whole swing)

Jesper looks great after impact. Take a look at the triangle formed by his arms, shoulders, and hands. This is a characteristic a lot of the good ball strikers on tour all have. (Sorta like the mirror image position of the backswing.)

At finish, Jesper is in perfect balance, enjoying his perfect tee shot. Take a look at his right foot and how the tip of the foot is straight down. You want this at the finish for a perfect balance in your swing.

What to take from Jesper’s swing?

Well, golf is partly or mostly about balance. If you can be in balance at address, backswing, and the finish, you are 10 times more likely to hit the ball straighter and farther than if you are not in balance.

Next time you go out on the range, see if you can stay in balance during your swing and also hold your finish for 3 seconds. If you can do this on every shot, you must be hitting the ball pretty good, at least solid even if you spray it.

Here’s Jesper Parnevik’s Driving Swing in action:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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Let’s take a look at Stewart Cink’s swing and see why he is so consistent.

At address, you can see I have two plane lines.  The tour pros usually follow the red one or the yellow one depending on what school of “plane” they believe.

Stewart, in this case, resorts to the yellow plane line, which is perfectly okay, but the red plane line is the “new” and deadly “secret” that the tour pros won’t tell you about.

At takeaway, you can see Stewart right-on-plane with the yellow plane.  It’s actually inside the red plane, meaning Stewart will have to re-route slightly to hit the ball.

At 1/2 way on the backswing, you can see Stewart follow the yellow plane perfectly.  This is the old-method taught by teachers like David Leadbetter and some others.  (It’s not a TRUE plane as I will explain further in the latter pics.)

At the top of Stewart’s swing, you can see he’s veered off the yellow plane completely and he’s now on the red plane.  Why the yellow plane worked is because he actually “manipulated” his arms to go upright.  This isn’t natural but then over 50% of pro tours swing like this.  (except Tiger and couple other players)

At 1/2 way down, you can see the Stewart is actually on-plane with the true red plane.  The yellow plane, as shown here, does not constitute as the real-plane as it has no meaning.

Why is it like this?

Because the yellow plane only shows the plane of the club shaft at “address”, not “impact”.

At impact, your wrists and arms straighten out due to the centrifugal force applied by the body, that’s called the red plane, true plane to follow for hitting the ball flawlessly.  A lot of teachers do not even know about this simple because they are too stubborn and stuck in the 90s.

At moment of truth, check out how Stewart’s shoulders, arms, and hands are on plane with the red line than the yellow line.  (This is why yellow plane has no meaning except that teachers try to teach you an invisible concept)

Even after impact, look at how well Stewart stays on-plane.

Now, you have learned the two ways of planes in golf.

The first plane is the plane formed by the clubshaft at address.  (the yellow line)

The second plane is the plane formed by the line between your clubhead and the middle of your right shoulder sockets.  (the red line)

Tiger Woods and couple other top players in the world are using the red plane.  Everyone else is using the yellow plane.

Which one is correct?

The red line plane is more correct because it’s based on your impact position, not address.

The reason why the yellow plane works is because Stewart manipulated his arms after takeaway to fit the red plane.  (So in fact, all his previous work to get the club on-line with the yellow plane becomes worthless)

Take a look at my swing analysis of Tiger’s swing and you will know what I mean here.

Here’s Stewart Cink’s driver swing in slow motion:

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

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