Golf swings are like fingerprints — no two are the same. There can be — and often times are — similarities between swings, but even with those similarities there are a number of idiosyncrasies that define each player’s action.
Most people can point out swings that look different, but few can actually say what makes them different. Luckily, there are people out there that put swings under a microscope for a living and dissect the things that make each swing unique, among them TV analysts like Nick Faldo and Ian Baker-Finch.
In a recent tweet from the PGA Tour, they compiled four of the great swings in the game today and accompanying commentary from Faldo and Baker-Finch. Here’s what they had to say about those four swings.
Dustin Johnson
“This is an athletic golf swing. Huge arms, large guy. Look as he reaches for the sky, and then now watch the belt line, this is the key bit. If you’ve had a large lunch and two beers you can’t do this this afternoon, you have to be a finely-tuned athlete. Pull, pull, pull the belt buckle around, gives you the space, and then look at the extension through. This man is a serious athlete.” —Nick Faldo
Justin Thomas
“He has a really slow, deliberate takeaway and very high hands at the top. What we would say in the old days — that’s a classic swing. Starts down and really rips the right knee into the left knee. That too a classic move, I’m sure his dad Mike taught him that. And really watches the ball closely as it follows its path down the fairway.” —Ian Baker-Finch
Viktor Hovland
“He likes to fade the ball, but he’s very shut, the clubface. We’ve got a great line here to show the arc going back. He now gets it on top of the arc, so almost like a professional over the top. Once you get above it you watch the club come above and he hangs on like crazy to that clubface and he doesn’t rotate it, he just kind of holds the angle. So that’s how he hits his fade.” —Nick Faldo
Collin Morikawa
“Watch the clubhead, just a little outside the hands. Arched left wrist at the top of the swing so when you’re shut you’ve got clear and very athletic. So watch the belt line. Watch the right knee headed hard and fast towards the left knee. Wow does he stay down.” —Nick Faldo
