I watched a top 10 on The Golf Channel yesterday. Top 10 unfundamentals.
Second place was the head lift & turn as performed by Annika Sorenstam and David Duval before they hit the ball. The “don’t keep your head down” unfundamental.
First place was Jim Furyk’s swing.
Annika must be one of the most consistent ball strikers on the LPGA tour of our time. So is Furyk on the PGA tour. And I guess Duval isn’t bad either, although I think his extreme lag through the ball has given him a little bit too much shaft lean at impact, a low ball and a hard time at Augusta’s 13 on a couple of carreer defining moments. Nevertheless three very good ball strikers with one thing in commen: A very good turn and unhibited turn through the ball.
When the shoulders turn on a too steep angle, the hips turn will contribute less to the shoulder turn, and the overtaking is bound to happen earlier. And back problems too. These players keep their shoulder turn flat enough to turn through and past impact without any friction from a posted left hip or lefft foot. And I believe this is on of the keys to their great ball striking.
For my own part, I get a much better pivot drive if I keep my chin high at address (nose pointing far outside the plane line) and try to keep it high throughout the stroke. It frees up the shoulder turn both wahs. If I start with the nose pointing at the plane line the shoulder turn goes into upper body mode too early and doesn’t flow as well through impact. And I get a stall / flip / throwaway tendency.
The program hosts weren’t so clear about what was unfundamental about Furyk’s swing. Of course the good old description of an octopus falling down from a three was there. I really like to watch how much Furyk turn his hips through impact. 99% of the golfers adddress the ball at impact and their swing radius is just about to getting much shorter. Furyk addresses the target and never runs out of turn or right arm or whatever. It looks like there’s no way he can get over the top or quit with his stroke. Furyk may have one of the steepest back swings in the game, but he keeps his hands closer to his spine at impact than any one else. Which also must mean that he is extremely flat through the ball. I don’t think I’m even close to what he does, but it feels that way when I have one of my better ball striking days. The more I think about how Furyk does it, the more I like it.
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