Instruction
Swing Sequence: Steve Stricker by Golf Digest
By Ron Kaspriske
Golf Digest
Edited By Peter Morrice
Photos by J.D. Cuban
Quietly getting it done
Most golfers would kill to have Ernie Els’ easy rhythm or Phil Mickelson’s hand-eye coordination, but you rarely hear anyone say they want to swing like Steve Stricker.
“Ha! I guess not. But they should,” says Dennis Tiziani, Stricker’s father-in-law and swing coach. “I can’t think of a swing of a world-class player that’s easier to copy.”
The key to Stricker’s swing is, it has fewer moving parts: It’s a stiff-wristed action controlled by a big body turn. Most better players maximize wrist hinge on the backswing to gain leverage at impact — like cracking a whip — but Stricker’s wrists are fairly quiet. That’s why his swing is shorter, and why he’s among the top 30 on tour in hitting fairways.
“When you hinge, you need good timing to hit the ball where you want,” Stricker says. “By trying to eliminate wrist cock, my swing’s more under control.”
If you think J.B. Holmes’ and Bubba Watson’s swings look violent and powerful, you’d probably say Stricker’s is slow and graceful. But he generates power by turning his body and rotating his forearms back and through, compared to the last-second snap of the wrists you see in many top players. Tiziani says Stricker’s armsy action is more reliable under pressure.
“I try to make it simple. I take the left arm, rotate it to the top and don’t worry about the wrist set,” Stricker says. “I try to be as firm with my wrists as I can, and just turn through. I feel like that’s a more consistent way.”
–Ron Kaspriske
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AGE: 43 | HEIGHT: 6-feet | DRIVER: Titleist 909 D3, 8.5 deg. | BALL: Titleist Pro V1 (2007) | DRIVING DISTANCE (RANK): 278.8 yards (124th) | DRIVING ACCURACY (RANK): 67.7 percent of fairways (26th)
Here’s a tour swing you can copy
The world’s No. 4 player has a simple, repeatable move
Most golfers would kill to have Ernie Els’ easy rhythm or Phil Mickelson’s hand-eye coordination, but you rarely hear anyone say they want to swing like Steve Stricker.
“Ha! I guess not. But they should,” says Dennis Tiziani, Stricker’s father-in-law and swing coach. “I can’t think of a swing of a world-class player that’s easier to copy.”
The key to Stricker’s swing is, it has fewer moving parts: It’s a stiff-wristed action controlled by a big body turn. Most better players maximize wrist hinge on the backswing to gain leverage at impact — like cracking a whip — but Stricker’s wrists are fairly quiet. That’s why his swing is shorter, and why he’s among the top 30 on tour in hitting fairways.
“When you hinge, you need good timing to hit the ball where you want,” Stricker says. “By trying to eliminate wrist cock, my swing’s more under control.”
If you think J.B. Holmes’ and Bubba Watson’s swings look violent and powerful, you’d probably say Stricker’s is slow and graceful. But he generates power by turning his body and rotating his forearms back and through, compared to the last-second snap of the wrists you see in many top players. Tiziani says Stricker’s armsy action is more reliable under pressure.
“I try to make it simple. I take the left arm, rotate it to the top and don’t worry about the wrist set,” Stricker says. “I try to be as firm with my wrists as I can, and just turn through. I feel like that’s a more consistent way.”
–Ron Kaspriske
His lack of wrist set keeps the face from rotating open.
When his right elbow gets behind him, like here, he can overcook his draw.
Steve keeps his right heel down to use the ground for leverage.
This is great sequencing of the body at the ball: hips open, shoulders dead square.
You can tell Steve hits a draw because his left forearm is higher than his right.
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Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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Instruction
How a towel can fix your golf swing
This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.
For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.
Setup
You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.
While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.
Get a Better Shoulder Turn
Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.
In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.
Stay Better Connected in the Backswing
When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.
Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.
Conclusion
I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.
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Instruction
Clement: Why your practice swing never sucks
You hear that one all the time; I wish I could put my practice swing on the ball! We explain the huge importance of what to focus on to allow the ball to be perfectly in the way of your practice swing. Enjoy!
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Mark Winkler
Feb 17, 2012 at 7:40 am
Try to copy this swing and game improvement is immediate, from chipping to driver your game will improve, trust me!
Jason
Jul 2, 2014 at 6:46 am
Can you go into any kind of detail on setup and maybe a feel for the backswing?
Are his wrist really uncocked at address? So high hands?
His chipping stuff (like Dan Carraher’s) has helped me tremendously.