A frame-by-frame breakdown of John Daly and his son’s golf swing

It’s the annual PNC Father Son Challenge this week, and just as last year, one of the things grabbing golf fans’ attention is the joint-appearance of John Daly Jr. and Sr. The Dalys finished 5th, propelled in part by the talent of John Daly’s son, who has spent the year since his last appearance here clocking-in some brilliant performances on various junior golf tours.

So, we thought it’d be fun to do a quick side-by-side comparison of the two Dalys, using an old video of Daly Sr. in his youth. To keep things simple, we’ll stick to the Face On angle.

Two good setups here, but not all that similar. Daly Sr.’s grip looks a touch stronger and his stance isn’t quite as wide as his son’s. That also has the effect of shifting more weight to Daly Jr.’s back leg and giving himself slightly more upper body tilt, whereas Daly Sr. remains more centered.

As you can say, Daly’s backswing is significantly longer than his son’s. His left heel comes up off the ground and he’s turning as much as he possible can, with both his upper and lower body. He also brings the club slightly more inside than his son on the backswing, which you won’t be able to see from this angle.

Daly’s son’s wider stance and left foot remaining planted means he has a more modern look with a — still big — but slightly less turn with his arms.

A very similar look here, and a superb one. The only real difference comes in the knees: Daly Jr.’s are more separated, but again, that’s a remanent of wider stance at setup. Outside of that, both have shifted their weight towards the target and beginning to turn. The similarity in the angle between the shaft and the forearm is quite remarkable, too.

Daly Sr. shifts and turns more, using more lateral and rotational force, as it’s known in the biz. Daly Jr. uses more vertical force (you can see he’s already starting to move up onto his toes here), and he begins tilting backwards to create more space for himself as he moves through the ball. This may change slightly as he grows older and physically stronger, and can use his upper body strength to pull the club through more aggressively.