Stricker is without a doubt a "body" swinger. Thank you!One problem I had and finally identified, and that might be of value to others, is what I call the "flying front elbow". He hits 67.75 percent of his Greens in Regulation, which ranks 24th on tour. U.S. Presidents Cup captain Steve Stricker breaks down his swing mechanics, and explains how he simplifies his game for competition. As I see Stricker's swing, he is caught between vertical and a little rotational. Relative to the PPGS swing he has a lot of good similarities and I believe that is why he is still hitting it so well. But, in the past year or so, I have seen his backswing get flatter and deeper and he is hitting more pushes and blocks to the right. But overall, his swing is solid as a rock at the top and transition at ¾, and with no wrist cock. Let's now take a detailed look.Stricker starts his backswing with a good one piece takeaway. I see left or forward knee movement inward more than I care to see. But it is smooth and controlled and the foot appears to remain fairly well grounded, and for most of the backswing, his knees stay quite level. Unfortunately, his inward moving left knee allows too much shoulder and hip turn and he gets inside of his toe line and deep into the SBG, the Sacred Burial Ground.This hip and shoulder turn is well past the PPGS 70-degree limited turn parameter of his left or forward arm not swinging past his toe line. With too much turn, his right or back elbow gets past his right pocket and well behind his body. Lastly, the top of backswing checkpoint of drawing a line straight down from the butt of the club to the ground should pass through his ankle but instead touches the ground 2 to 4 inches back of his heels, another proof he is deep in the SBG.Finally, too much torso turn pulls his right or back leg inward and it straightens up. This causes what I call "EBRT", End of Backswing Reverse Tilt. Watch closely and you will see that as his right legs are pulled backwards and straightens, his head slightly moves forward, down and inward a little. That is the EBRT. Why is it important and is it good or bad? The answer is it is BAD for a number of reasons.EBRT is bad in that at the top of his backswing because his upper torso is moving forward ahead of and closer to the ball. In his transition, he keeps his head relatively level as compared to most golfers who would slightly stand up to get their height back as well as drift backwards to get back behind the ball. Since his head stays level, his correction in the transition is that his head drifts straight backwards and is just about perfectly in the same place as it was before the drift at impact. He makes a perfect compensation move in this swing to regain his distance and width for his arms to straighten out at impact and, as we see, he hit it dead straight down the middle.The problem is if Steve's compensation is too much or too little in the forward and back, or if his EBRT gets some down and up in it, his margin of error at the top of his backswing and transition increases. Increased error = decreased success as now more compensations are needed. The main flight problem is hitting pushes and blocks. your own Pins on Pinterest I try to get my students to imagine a very "quiet" beginning to their swings.The characteristics of Steve's takeaway remain throughout his backswing. That is exactly what it is here for!What happened to DJ after the tour resumed? I corrected it by taking the club back in two pieces: (1) to the toe line with a turn and (2) up the tree.I know the catcher's mitt is more in front (just inside the aim line) to allow for momentum but with the complete stop, I felt I could go all the way to the toe line. In some pros it is more pronounced than others.
That really set my arms in position to lift straight up the tree.This 2-piece technique allowed me to get the shoulder, elbow, wrist and club on the same vertical plane and really feel the vertical lift up the tree. 2020 Golf Channel, All Rights Reserved. We use cookies to enhance your golf instruction experience and to measure Really Suck!Oh would you please tell us what we are doing wrong. So Steve deserves attention for his
I was instantly able to draw the ball (previously I was having a slicing issue).You strongly imply this with your "everything on the toe line" instructions and that is where I ultimately got the information I needed to correct.Maybe a video that specifically addresses this would be good.Thanks for looking into our archive for answers! He is currently No. What a career it’s been for Steve Stricker. Copy Steve Stricker Steve's back swing motion is tied to his body movement. Even more amazingly, the proud Wisconsin native has done most of his damage since turning 40 in 2007. His hips, shoulders, arms and club move away from the ball in unison, with his wrists being visibly passive. He again uses his big muscles as his mechanism to hit the ball, essentially using the rotation of his body to create his power and to square the clubface. So Steve deserves attention for his accomplishments. His high finish is the main reason for his good ball striking and directional control. The issue at the finish is that his torso turns a little too far past square to the target and his hands and club are way to wide left of his head. This wide left finish is also a big cause of stress in the neck, shoulders and down to the lower back and hips.Overall, Steve Stricker's swing is flowing, firm, solid, well timed and balanced and that is why his ball striking is superior. Add to that he has one of the best short games and is one of the best putters walking the planet, that's why he is now #2 in the world.My concern is if he stays too flat and deep in his backswing, his ball striking and ball control will keep deteriorating, and he may start having stress and strain issues in his lower back, if not neck and shoulders. My recommendation to Steve, if he were to read this, is simply keep his ¾ no wrist cock backswing, but reduce the turn to the PPGS 70 degree turn of the left arm over the toe line and get the club up more vertical to 12:00 o'clock and light. Both of those should be easy to do and have it grooved in 30 minutes or less with the Butt-on-the-Wall drill. For his finish, he just needs to swing his arms and hands up more vertical and finish with his right hands close to his left ear.That is all. All Steve Stricker needs to do is just tighten up his Technical Excellence in his swing positions.Soooo simple.