It didn’t take long for Colin Montgomerie, once he became eligible for the PGA Tour Champions, to establish himself as one of the best players on the senior circuit. The eight-time European Order of Merit winner won seven times (including three majors) between 2014 and 2019, and he’s not ready to stop there.
With the impromptu offseason halting the schedule, Monty is one of those dedicated players using the break as an opportunity to improve himself. The most impressive change was some hard work in the gym: 57 year-old Monty shed about 40 pounds and looks a shadow of his former self. On the right is a picture of him from July 2019; on the left from this past weekend.
Monty said his weight loss has helped him gain some distance, which is also in part due to some swing changes he’s been making with his coach Kevin Craggs. As you can see in the below before-and-after sequence, Monty’s arms are moving more around his body nowadays; turning his arms rather than lifting them up too high and causing him to get steep.
Now, his arms are actually in a position that more closely mirrors where he was at the peak of his powers.
All in all, great stuff from Monty, and hopefully we’ll see it lead to some winning results when he’s back competing.
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.