Three things regular golfers should learn from one of golf’s smoothest swings, according to a top teacher.
You’ve heard it before: watch LPGA Tour players if you want to learn something applicable to your golf swing, because their swing speeds are more similar to average players’. And it’s true.
The speeds LPGA players swing at are more attainable than the incredibly fast swings of the PGA Tour. Because of this, there are moves in LPGA players’ swings that you’re more likely able to copy. Take Australia’s Minjee Lee, for example. There are a few things in her driver swing that top teacher Jason Guss says amateurs would be smart to emulate.
1. Stay level
“Minjee is so much more level than average golfers,” Guss says. “On her backswing, her eyes stay so level. Amateurs have a tendency to tilt too much one way or another.”
At address, your eyes are parallel to the ground. If you watch Lee’s throughout the swing, they stay parallel through impact. If your eyes tilt so that your lead eye is below your trail eye – a common mistake among average players – you’re a reverse tilter, Guss says.
“When the lead eye gets low early, you’re more likely to swing outside-in,” Guss says. This swing shape will lead to a slice. “Keeping your eyes level will make it easier to stay on-plane back and through.”
2. The right amount of weight shift
“There’s still the ongoing debate of: should players stack and tilt, or should they shift their weight back and through,” Guss says. “Lee is a fantastic example of a tiny shift back with turn, and tiny shift forward with turn.”
Lee’s swing has neither a huge turn nor a massive stacking of the weight to one side. She has a little bit of each, which gives the swing a nice flow and creates a simplified, repeatable motion.
3. Maintain width
“Throughout her entire golf swing, she maintains great width,” Guss says.
Amateurs often lack width because they don’t turn to start the backswing. “They pick the club up and that kills width,” Guss says. “When someone doesn’t know how to hinge, they seek a lever somewhere else and usually that’s the lead arm. If you can turn and hinge like Minjee does here, you can keep width in your swing.”
Each of these things Lee does leads to more consistency, Guss says. And that’s something we all could use more of.
Getty images: Meg Oliphant, Harry How, Andy Lyons
