Justin Thomas’ swing

I don’t know why but I love his swing. Something about it resonates with me. I’m not sure if you’d describe his right elbow as high or what but this is a move that I do (or at least try to do) and seem to get some good results. Anyone else have a swing like this?

Shipwreck, do you think it gives you a feeling of more time during your transition?

He is rather vertical and upright in swing plane.Watson & Nicklaus come to mind when i watch him. His dynamic balance and spine angle back and through are real interesting and are key to how he it hits so efficiently. I'm upright in plane, so I'm a fan of his swing.

Shipwreck, do you think it gives you a feeling of more time during your transition?

I’ve never really thought about it but it just might. My swing isn’t aggressive and fast and my tempo is definitely something more in line with Steve Stricker and not Rors. But with so much instruction now a days telling you to keep that right arm closer to your body, I’ve just never had good results with it. I think maybe I can attribute most of it to a the Tiger Woods book “Golf My Way” because he talks about a wide swing and I always have tried to emulate that. JTs swing is just poetry in motion, although his aggressive right foot on the downswing is something I don’t think I can ever copy.

He's actually the pro that I'm comparing video footage to. I have a similar build as JT and I'm pretty athletic. But I lose spine angle on the downswing. JT doesn't lose ANY spine angle. So that's my goal.

Shipwreck, do you think it gives you a feeling of more time during your transition?

 

Ive never really thought about it but it just might. My swing isnt aggressive and fast and my tempo is definitely something more in line with Steve Stricker and not Rors. But with so much instruction now a days telling you to keep that right arm closer to your body, Ive just never had good results with it. I think maybe I can attribute most of it to a the Tiger Woods book Golf My Way because he talks about a wide swing and I always have tried to emulate that. JTs swing is just poetry in motion, although his aggressive right foot on the downswing is something I dont think I can ever copy.

I was able to watch JT up close and personal (thats the two of us in my profile pic) a couple months ago at a clinic and poetry in motion is just how I describe it to anyone who would ask.

Personally, I try to emulate the position in pic below that I took at the event. Specifically how long JT keeps his head down at and after impact:

Yes, that is very impressive!

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

Given your handicap, you surely are a much better player than me. If I may point out, though, your left shoulder is closed and high and neither your hips nor shoulders are nearly as open as JT's. Perhaps if you work on getting more open and keeping the left shoulder low(er) longer, your spine angle will adjust in order for you to hit the ball.

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

JT’s flexibility must be off the charts!

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

 

Given your handicap, you surely are a much better player than me. If I may point out, though, your left shoulder is closed and high and neither your hips nor shoulders are nearly as open as JT's. Perhaps if you work on getting more open and keeping the left shoulder low(er) longer, your spine angle will adjust in order for you to hit the ball.

Thanks. I also took a look at how DJ looks at impact compared to me. I am nowhere close to having my hips and shoulders as open as JT or DJ are!

Can you elaborate on what you mean by my left shoulder being closed and high? I'm kind of new to analyzing my videos. I feel this may be the best way for me to improve. I've had an average score of 80 for the last 15 years and I'm tired of it. Lessons haven't helped because I don't understand some of the things the pro is telling me to do. I think my next lesson is going to be with a pro that can record my swing and SHOW me what I need to look like. That way, I can easily set up my GoPro on a given day and chart my progress myself. I need to understand the big picture.

Some of the things the pro has told me to work on is to not let the club head be so quick to rotate around my body after impact. Instead, he wants the club head traveling down the target line a bit longer. He's also told me to work on keeping my hands lower at impact, which I constantly try to do.

His wrist position at the top and/or transition makes me feel like he's casting a little (or something). I obviously have zero room to talk but that's what I'm thinking when I watch in slow motion.

With that said.. I'd love to have his swing lol

Can you elaborate on what you mean by my left shoulder being closed and high? I'm kind of new to analyzing my videos. I feel this may be the best way for me to improve. I've had an average score of 80 for the last 15 years and I'm tired of it. Lessons haven't helped because I don't understand some of the things the pro is telling me to do. I think my next lesson is going to be with a pro that can record my swing and SHOW me what I need to look like. That way, I can easily set up my GoPro on a given day and chart my progress myself. I need to understand the big picture.

 

Some of the things the pro has told me to work on is to not let the club head be so quick to rotate around my body after impact. Instead, he wants the club head traveling down the target line a bit longer. He's also told me to work on keeping my hands lower at impact, which I constantly try to do.

I'll try to explain what I meant. I'll refer to the picture you posted, as well as one of DJ with a driver, since you mentioned him as well.

If you compare yourself to them, you can see more of their rears than yours, they have the inside of their left feet lifting while yours seems to be more planted, your belt looks more horizontal than theirs , etc. It suggests their lower bodies have turned more than yours, and that you're standing up sooner than they are. If you look at their upper bodies, your chest seems to be more square to the target line at impact. You can't see too much of your back, but you can see quite a bit of theirs, so their upper bodies are more open.

About the left shoulder, it looks to me that you are to an extent stalling body rotation at impact and predominantly tilting your shoulders. Your left shoulder appears to be moving straight up while your right side is crunching down. Look at how the other guys' left shoulders seem to be more horizontal and to the left of their necks in the picture, while yours looks like it's straight up and maybe even a bit to the right of your neck. Eventually their left shoulders will get up, but not without having unwound first. Lastly, their left forearms do not protrude above their right shoulder, while most of your left arm is above your right shoulder.

As for what to what to do or not do, I'm sure people here with good qualifications can and will give you good advice. What your pro said makes sense to me, and you can look at that the other way round as well: if your body turns more, your arms don't have to do as much to get to the ball (because they will be carried around by your pivot) and the club will not be so quick around your body because you will not give it all you have until later into the downswing. In what feels like a good swing to me, I don't feel like my right arm does anything until about P6 and my only thought is getting to P6 with the hips open, shoulders square to open and the left shoulder low and relaxed. In most videos I've seen about the more rotational swing from people I like (e.g., George Gankas, Dana Dahlquist, etc.), at some point or another they talk about feeling like the right shoulder beats the clubhead to the ball, hitting shots keeping your right arm "short," etc. To get used to striking the ball when hips are open and shoulders opening, my instructor told me to open my feet/stance about 45 degrees, open my shoulder a bit too, and try to hit straight shots that way. Weird at first and I felt like Jim Furyk, but when I saw myself on video it didn't look as radical.

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

Your impact position indicates you have early extended. The butt against the bag drill doesn't work because you can still early extend while keeping your butt against the bag by moving your head away from the ball towards the bag.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by my left shoulder being closed and high? I'm kind of new to analyzing my videos. I feel this may be the best way for me to improve. I've had an average score of 80 for the last 15 years and I'm tired of it. Lessons haven't helped because I don't understand some of the things the pro is telling me to do. I think my next lesson is going to be with a pro that can record my swing and SHOW me what I need to look like. That way, I can easily set up my GoPro on a given day and chart my progress myself. I need to understand the big picture.

 

Some of the things the pro has told me to work on is to not let the club head be so quick to rotate around my body after impact. Instead, he wants the club head traveling down the target line a bit longer. He's also told me to work on keeping my hands lower at impact, which I constantly try to do.

 

I'll try to explain what I meant. I'll refer to the picture you posted, as well as one of DJ with a driver, since you mentioned him as well.

 

If you compare yourself to them, you can see more of their rears than yours, they have the inside of their left feet lifting while yours seems to be more planted, your belt looks more horizontal than theirs , etc. It suggests their lower bodies have turned more than yours, and that you're standing up sooner than they are. If you look at their upper bodies, your chest seems to be more square to the target line at impact. You can't see too much of your back, but you can see quite a bit of theirs, so their upper bodies are more open.

 

About the left shoulder, it looks to me that you are to an extent stalling body rotation at impact and predominantly tilting your shoulders. Your left shoulder appears to be moving straight up while your right side is crunching down. Look at how the other guys' left shoulders seem to be more horizontal and to the left of their necks in the picture, while yours looks like it's straight up and maybe even a bit to the right of your neck. Eventually their left shoulders will get up, but not without having unwound first. Lastly, their left forearms do not protrude above their right shoulder, while most of your left arm is above your right shoulder.

 

As for what to what to do or not do, I'm sure people here with good qualifications can and will give you good advice. What your pro said makes sense to me, and you can look at that the other way round as well: if your body turns more, your arms don't have to do as much to get to the ball (because they will be carried around by your pivot) and the club will not be so quick around your body because you will not give it all you have until later into the downswing. In what feels like a good swing to me, I don't feel like my right arm does anything until about P6 and my only thought is getting to P6 with the hips open, shoulders square to open and the left shoulder low and relaxed. In most videos I've seen about the more rotational swing from people I like (e.g., George Gankas, Dana Dahlquist, etc.), at some point or another they talk about feeling like the right shoulder beats the clubhead to the ball, hitting shots keeping your right arm "short," etc. To get used to striking the ball when hips are open and shoulders opening, my instructor told me to open my feet/stance about 45 degrees, open my shoulder a bit too, and try to hit straight shots that way. Weird at first and I felt like Jim Furyk, but when I saw myself on video it didn't look as radical.

Thank you! That all makes sense. Without stretching first, I have tried to mimic that "open shoulder" at impact and I'm not sure if I can quite do it. It definitely feels weird, but that's to be expected. I will try to focus on getting my right shoulder to beat the clubhead to the target. I like that illustration. As you can probably already tell, I have a problem with compressing the golf ball with forward shaft lean and hands forward. My miss is usually a straight pull or a weak shot that misses short right. My average driver SS is 100mph, with an average driver carry distance of 235 yards. My launch angle is around 11-12 degrees and spin is around 2700rpm. But my smash factor is only 1.45 or so. I feel like I can improve on that if I can find the middle of the club face each time. With my driver, my tendency is to miss on the toe for some reason. But with my shorter irons, my miss in on the heel resulting in the occasional.... ummmm... ummmm.... ....

Anywho.... I can understand why my miss with the shorter irons are on the heel due to my hips wanting to move toward the ball on the downswing. By keeping my butt on the wall (so to speak) and trying to maintain spine angle, I find the center of the club face more often. I just don't understand why I have a wear pattern on my driver and 3 wood high up on the toe.

I am also reminded of what Martin Chuck emphasizes; not to run out of right arm, which keeps the right arm short like you said. I always thought I did that, but apparently not.

I'm thinking of posting a slow motion video to see what you guys think. Or I just go visit one of the guys in Raleigh, NC that does videos (Mike Sullivan or Herman Williams).

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

Your impact position indicates you have early extended. The butt against the bag drill doesn't work because you can still early extend while keeping your butt against the bag by moving your head away from the ball towards the bag.

Yes, I agree.

Here is the video that shows what I'm currently working on:

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

Your impact position indicates you have early extended. The butt against the bag drill doesn't work because you can still early extend while keeping your butt against the bag by moving your head away from the ball towards the bag.

 

Yes, I agree.

 

Here is the video that shows what I'm currently working on:

 

Yea some good tips in that video.

I don't like having a bag or chair against the butt because I want to get the tush behind the tushline as I make my backswing. Ben Hogan did this quite noticeably. This is an indication the right hip is going into more flexion and this can guard against early extension. Another tip is feeling the chest/thorax getting closer to the ball and "covering" it on the downswing. It's only a feel and the chest won't actually get closer.This prevents lifting your chest away from the ball.

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

Your impact position indicates you have early extended. The butt against the bag drill doesn't work because you can still early extend while keeping your butt against the bag by moving your head away from the ball towards the bag.

 

Yes, I agree.

 

Here is the video that shows what I'm currently working on:

Yea some good tips in that video.

 

I don't like having a bag or chair against the butt because I want to get the tush behind the tushline as I make my backswing. Ben Hogan did this quite noticeably. This is an indication the right hip is going into more flexion and this can guard against early extension. Another tip is feeling the chest/thorax getting closer to the ball and "covering" it on the downswing. It's only a feel and the chest won't actually get closer.This prevents lifting your chest away from the ball.

 

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about the chair. The same guy in the video I posted even said that the head may drop at the top of the swing. (It may have been in a different video) This is going to increase the spine angle, which will make the butt go past the wall (or chair). And I like the video you posted. It's exactly what I'm shooting for!

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

Saw a drill on the Golf Channel that might work for you. Take any kind of square golf club box. Iron or wood box. It doesn’t matter. Drop a couple of balls in the bottom so it will stand on end. Put it so it’s just touching your lead butt cheek while at address. The idea is to swing and maintain contact with the box through impact. When done properly, as you turn through, your lead butt/hip should push the box backward and make it tip over as you reach impact. I plan on trying it next time I’m at the range.

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

just think of getting your right hip lower than your left. left hip moves back an up.

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

Saw a drill on the Golf Channel that might work for you. Take any kind of square golf club box. Iron or wood box. It doesn’t matter. Drop a couple of balls in the bottom so it will stand on end. Put it so it’s just touching your lead butt cheek while at address. The idea is to swing and maintain contact with the box through impact. When done properly, as you turn through, your lead butt/hip should push the box backward and make it tip over as you reach impact. I plan on trying it next time I’m at the range.

Thanks. I have plenty of those boxes.

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

 

just think of getting your right hip lower than your left. left hip moves back an up.

Thanks. I'm thinking of hitting the range today now that the dreary rain has passed through. I haven't hit a ball since Monday!

I'll probably record a few swings to see if I am able to make any improvement with getting the hips and shoulder more open at impact.

I can care less where the ball goes right now.

Thomas looks to me like he is trying to unload his shoulder girdle/arm unit as fast as he can and his lower body is mostly along for the ride.

Here's an example of how bad my early extension was. The pic in the middle is me not really working on anything other than strengthening my grip a little than before. The pic on the right is me trying to maintain spine angle and keeping my butt on my golf bag just 7 days ago. Before that, I've always looked like the pic in the middle I think.

I think there's still hope for me. I'll see if I can make some improvements this afternoon after the tips I've received here. I'll probably keep my butt off the bag by a couple inches and try to touch it at impact while keeping my head on the other wall like you see JT doing so beautifully in the pic on the left.

Also, I drew 3 horizontal lines for JT. The top line is address, middle line is at the top of his swing, and bottom line is impact. For me, my head is the same at the top as it is at address. Then I do all of my head dropping on the downswing.

Here's an example of how bad my early extension was. The pic in the middle is me not really working on anything other than strengthening my grip a little than before. The pic on the right is me trying to maintain spine angle and keeping my butt on my golf bag just 7 days ago. Before that, I've always looked like the pic in the middle I think.

 

I think there's still hope for me. I'll see if I can make some improvements this afternoon after the tips I've received here. I'll probably keep my butt off the bag by a couple inches and try to touch it at impact while keeping my head on the other wall like you see JT doing so beautifully in the pic on the left.

 

Also, I drew 3 horizontal lines for JT. The top line is address, middle line is at the top of his swing, and bottom line is impact. For me, my head is the same at the top as it is at address. Then I do all of my head dropping on the downswing.

If the butt drill doesn't do the trick for you, maybe think: (1) on the backswing, move the left shoulder to where sternum was at address, and (2) on the downswing, move the right shoulderto that same location. You play to a 4.8, not only is there hope for you, you have already been smiled upon. :)

JT holds his angles better, you drop your head but your back is straightening up. Try dropping your butt, not your head. The spine angle that I find most interesting in his swing is the secondary tilt from face on view. Guy really swings into the wall that is his left leg.

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

That is very similar! Awesome job!

Here's an example of how bad my early extension was. The pic in the middle is me not really working on anything other than strengthening my grip a little than before. The pic on the right is me trying to maintain spine angle and keeping my butt on my golf bag just 7 days ago. Before that, I've always looked like the pic in the middle I think.

 

I think there's still hope for me. I'll see if I can make some improvements this afternoon after the tips I've received here. I'll probably keep my butt off the bag by a couple inches and try to touch it at impact while keeping my head on the other wall like you see JT doing so beautifully in the pic on the left.

 

Also, I drew 3 horizontal lines for JT. The top line is address, middle line is at the top of his swing, and bottom line is impact. For me, my head is the same at the top as it is at address. Then I do all of my head dropping on the downswing.

 

If the butt drill doesn't do the trick for you, maybe think: (1) on the backswing, move the left shoulder to where sternum was at address, and (2) on the downswing, move the right shoulderto that same location. You play to a 4.8, not only is there hope for you, you have already been smiled upon. :)

Haha thanks. I have been between a 4.8 and a 7 handicap for the last 15 years. My ball striking has never been good. I miss a lot of fairways and GIRs. But I have always had a lot of 1 putt pars to find a way to shoot 78-82. I am lucky if I have 1 birdie in a given round of golf. With some decent ball striking, I'm sure I can get my handicap down to a 1 or 2.

JT holds his angles better, you drop your head but your back is straightening up. Try dropping your butt, not your head. The spine angle that I find most interesting in his swing is the secondary tilt from face on view. Guy really swings into the wall that is his left leg.

Thanks

I still have work to do with my spine angle. In this pic, I'm trying to keep my butt against my bag.

That is very similar! Awesome job!

I appreciate it. And I've never tried to lift my right heel like he does. It's just something I've always done. It may have something to do with us having a similar build. I'm 5'10" 140lbs. He's 5'10" and use to be 140lbs. He's probably 160lbs now but every bit as flexible as he's always been.

Here's an example of how bad my early extension was. The pic in the middle is me not really working on anything other than strengthening my grip a little than before. The pic on the right is me trying to maintain spine angle and keeping my butt on my golf bag just 7 days ago. Before that, I've always looked like the pic in the middle I think.

 

I think there's still hope for me. I'll see if I can make some improvements this afternoon after the tips I've received here. I'll probably keep my butt off the bag by a couple inches and try to touch it at impact while keeping my head on the other wall like you see JT doing so beautifully in the pic on the left.

 

Also, I drew 3 horizontal lines for JT. The top line is address, middle line is at the top of his swing, and bottom line is impact. For me, my head is the same at the top as it is at address. Then I do all of my head dropping on the downswing.

Justin Thompson is getting into extension thru impact and you are not. You can see it in his lower back compared to yours and how his left leg is straighter than yours. If you just focus on keeping your head down the problem is just going to get worse.

It’s a chain reaction that starts from pushing off the ground with the left leg which straightens the back and then the arms extend in proper sequence. You aren’t pushing off with the left leg correctly which leads to a back that’s still in flexion so the arms have to straighten too much to get to the ball. Justin looks like he’s keeping his head down because he’s extending and turning properly.