One of the more popular questions I get asked is what professional golfers swing vertically on the PGA TOUR, LPGA TOUR, and Champions Tour. So, today I'm going to point out some of the best vertical swingers to ever play the game.
Some new comers like Inbee Park are having a great deal of success using a vertical swing. However, even grizzled vets like Kenny Perry are still winning golf tournaments with vertical swings.
A few of the other players I'll discuss today are Jeff Sluman, Padraig Harrington, Stuart Appleby, and perhaps the greatest golfer to ever play the game...Jack Nicklaus.
Just remember, if you ever have doubts about swinging vertically, there's plenty of champions (past and present) that prove it works!
The Surge
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Comments
thoughts on Inbee
Of course, I agree with Surge about Inbee Park. However, it does also look to me that she doesn't "hold her knees" as the PPGS promotes. Rather she straightens the back leg a bit, which might well explain where she ends up on the upswing.
BTW, I am developing over time my own interpretation of what Hogan meant when he said the secret was in the dirt. Many are looking for some hidden trick, or something, but that seems sort of dumb to me (I know Hogan created this mystique, etc...). I think what he was getting at was more that once you have an idea how to move your arms, and where the ground is, so to speak, the big issue is how you interact with the ground: weight position and lower body movement. The PPGS deals with this in such a simple way that I suspect many miss its real significance. With the outer knee pressure (and the weight over the balls of the feet) we almost lock down the lower body, so we can swing the arms (with the 70 degree turn of course).
There are other ways to deal with "the dirt", but I don't think you can really mix and match. Either you stabilize the lower body, or you stabilize the arms and move the lower body in a variety of ways. For instance, Stack and Tilt (which I used for some time and liked--but eventually had back problems) creates power not with the arms so much as with the lower body raising up (almost jumping). This works too, but our way is much simpler.
My main point here is that I'm becoming convinced that it really is "either/or": stabilize the lower body and swing the arms, or basically attach the arms and move the lower body...and, I think (for all the reasons Surge has taught us) the former is preferable, by far.
Meaning
"The secret is in the dirt" simply means that you have to practice and work hard for it, and that saying has been around forever.
Hogan brought the saying to golf because he saw so many people in golf that didn't have his work ethic.
hogan
Good point...of course, he did have an extra spike in one of his shoes too...
Vertical Golf Swingers
Hello Surge,
Do you think that Henrik Stensson´s swing is vertical?
Thanks for a great golf site!
Kjell
Vertical players
Here are the links to Jack Nicklaus that Surge mentioned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVMeoRR4T2A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ics5aZ8wqo4
Both of these videos are fascinating. Additional vertical swingers include Craig Stadler and yes Henrick Stenson is relatively vertical, especially with the irons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB0OzXkeiE0
vertical
What about Masters champion Bubba Watson? He has way too big a turn (he likes to kiss his shoulder, rather than just chin to biceps like us), goes way beyond parallel, and he has a lot of lower body motion. But he can do the butt-on-the-wall drill with the best of them! CBS did a Swingvision analysis of a tee shot at the 2011 Zurich Open; they actually drew a line (the wall) behind him and commented on how his clubface never crossed the line.