Hank Kuehne's flowing, powerful golf swing set a record that Bryson struggled to break. Years later, his golf swing still looks great.
PGA Tour
Up until Bryson came along last year, the player who finished atop the Driving Distance ranking with the longest average wasn’t John Daly, or Tiger Woods, or Bubba Watson or Dustin Johnson. It was Hank Kuehne, who averaged a whopping 321 yards in 2003, which he followed with a 314-yard average in 2004.
Keuhne never won on the PGA Tour, but he captured the U.S. Amateur while at SMU, and had earlier played for Oklahoma State during his amateur career. He finished second twice on tour before a combination of injuries slowly began hampering his PGA Tour career. But on Monday, one of the longest-hitters in PGA Tour history reemerged during a Monday Qualifier ahead of the AT&T Byron Nelson.
Spotted at the @ATTByronNelson Monday Qualifier. 👀
45-year-old Hank Kuehne seeking his first TOUR start since 2013.
In 2003, he became the first player to average over 320 yards in Driving Distance. pic.twitter.com/xRuhtmgIuq
His swing still looks pretty darn good — and powerful — which sent me down a quick little rabbit hole to see what we can learn from this long-lasting swing. I came across this clip from his Playing Lessons from the Pros from his days on tour, where he highlighted his four swing keys:
Relaxed arms and wrists, free of tension, at setup.
A low, wide takeaway.
Set the club so the club forms a 90 degree angle with the left arm halfway through the backswing.
Turn as much as you can with your shoulders
Some pretty straightforward thoughts, that serve as a good reminder for the rest of us.
Luke Kerr-Dineen is the Game Improvement Editor at GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. In his role he oversees the brand’s game improvement content spanning instruction, equipment, health and fitness, across all of GOLF’s multimedia platforms.
An alumni of the International Junior Golf Academy and the University of South Carolina–Beaufort golf team, where he helped them to No. 1 in the national NAIA rankings, Luke moved to New York in 2012 to pursue his Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University. His work has also appeared in USA Today, Golf Digest, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.
