I have an observation that one of WAX Nation passed on to me with regards to Ian Poulter’s swing on weekend (thanks A.M.!).
I would hazard a guess that some of it has to do with renewed focus and commitment, but this is a guy who nearly lost his Tour card before suddenly going on a tear this year, making the semi-finals in the WGC Matchplay and then winning the Houston Open yesterday!
This is more to encourage others who saw what he was doing, but If I were to have a conversation with Padraig Harrington, who is a vigorous 2 years younger than yours truly, I would tell him that not only can he “keep up with those young guys,” as he stated in a post-round interview during the Irish Open last weekend (right at the end of the clip), but he can motor right past them.
First of all, he’s an accomplished major winner (3 times), which means it’s not like just hitting the ball a long way is going to suddenly turn a journeyman into a major champion, though it may.
I was struck by Jon Rahm’s swing and power yesterday when I took in a bit of the Dean & Deluca at Colonial.
He first came to the attention of many with his power shank off the tee with an iron last summer at the Quicken Loans, but what I saw yesterday was a much better move than what I saw back then.
You all know that one of my pet peeves on golf swing analysis is the ridiculous “using the ground” excuse the analysts use when they simply have no clue what’s going on and still want to sound knowledgeable about what you’re seeing on your screen.
Simply, launching one or both feet into the air while swinging a golf club does nothing to add speed or power, rather it is an anti-injury move because the swinger is either not using a proper weight shift to the leading foot and/or doesn’t want to damage the leading leg or hip.
OK, you can probably tell I’m having some fun working out the last little details on my long drive swing action, but today was extra fun when I got home to look at the video.
I hit some awesome balls today after struggling through the first half of the bucket, all because I got sloppy with my posture – but when I realized what I was doing and straightened back up to a taller address, it was game, set and match.
I dug my golf clubs out of the closet on a Saturday back in 2005, after watching some of the 3rd round of the U.S. Open (won that year by Michael Campbell of New Zealand), and when I got home from the range, I remarked to my wife that I was going to “figure this out, once and for all…“
Those of you who have been reading my blogging on the golf swing (I first began posting back in the late summer of 2007, about two years after that) will know that I had dumped those clubs into the closet, where they’d gathered dust for years, out of frustration with the golf swing.
I found the below article posted on Golf.com.
The piece deals with golfers tending to reverse-pivot on the back swing as they get older, due to loss of flexibility, especially in the lower body, and how not to fall victim to it.
The article’s offered solution likely won’t do anyone any good however, but I would humbly offer my own solution, a very simple and obvious one – let the left heel come up if it has to…
Let me run something past everyone, because I can’t wrap my brain around the logic of what Modern Golf Swing proponents are always saying.
I’m talking about the restricting of the hip turn in the back swing by keep that leading heel firmly planted on the back swing, all to promote more stability and therefore consistency in the golf swing.
I don’t know if you remember, but I posted on Sergio Garcia’s swing model a couple of months back, when he won the Dubai Desert Classic in February.
Therein, I compared Sergio at 37 to Tiger Woods at 38 (the age TW was when he broke his back working with Sean Foley), surprise, surprise!! Sergio just won his maiden major tournament, at the old age of 37…
It boggles my mind that Zuback, in the early 2000’s, was around 200 mph in ball speed (Ryan Winther now holds the official record in ball speed at around 227 mph and an unofficial mark of 237 mph).
That’s because I have actually gotten into the mid-190’s without having to live in the gym because of technique over muscle power, but one thing I can tell you – the clip below puts the Modern Golf Swing industry to shame.
