Matt Wolff Swing - It Works!

It's one of the strangest swings on tour -- a bit like Jim Furyk but with power -- and it seems like something impossible to replicate (and who would want to, right?).

But then I went to the range, spent some time fooling around doing my best Matt Wolff impression and before long I was demolishing the ball, mostly dead straight, with +5-10 MPH in swing speed and +10-15 in ball speed.

One of my problems has always been sliding toward the target in the downswing with soft knees and no forward shaft lean at impact. The Wolf swing allowed me to get fully loaded on my right side, with my left heel off the ground, while still staying relatively centered with my overall weight because of the high hand position.

The looping of the club into the slot on the downswing created the feeling of a slingshot effect, and the downward stomp of my left heel served as my cue to rotate hard through the hitting area ... BUT against a braced left leg! That allowed me to swoosh the club through the impact with some resistance from my left side -- something I have always lacked.

Anyway, it was just a bit of fun at the range. But the increases in speed were significant, and I was surprised at how straight I was hitting the ball. I'm going to keep playing around with it.

Let us know if it still works 2 weeks from now.

Future horror story.

I'll take an old school Tiger swing all day over his swing. Sure he bombs it, but golf isn't a long drive competition. I want as simple and uncomplicated of a swing as possible and that just has way too many moving parts for me. At the end of the day what matters most is where you are at impact... Why over complicate it?

the left foot stomp down used to be a massive downswing key back in the day

You can do it, but the thing you have to have (or it will become a disaster) is hand depth at the top.

Many people that try that swing love that looping feel. They will pure the ball at first. It can get arms up too much over time with no depth, and then it will be an over the top MESS. You must maintain depth with a big pivot to make room in transition.

Matt turns a TON in the backswing and has sufficient depth to make his move work.

Starting from the ground up...

I agree. Matthew has been swinging that way forever, and George knew not to mess with it at the top. He added a lot of downswing rotation to the swing, though. There are easier ways to swing for sure, but some of the concepts in Matt’s swing are great for anybody.

Those concepts would be decreasing internal shoulder rotation going back (keeps connection), getting a wide turn by lifting the heel, and torquing the ground as Matt does it.

Not sure I agree with saying his swing concepts are good for everybody. Not everybody has a really weak left hand grip like him... Not everyone needs to get that open at impact, and not everybody needs to/should have that much internal shoulder rotation. Look at Adam Scott/Tiger... Pretty neutral shoulder joint position at the top... How are they doing when it comes to winning?

I worked with one of GG's teachers for about 6 months and it's just not an easy swing to transition into. You tend to get pretty vertical at the top and you really need to shallow aggressively and if you're a handle yanker like me... good luck.

Anyway, I'm not a coach or teacher, so I really can't say much else.

He was told not to mess with it by Wolffs dad, that was a prerequisite to work with George on his swing.

I would have to be the worst player in the world at golf before I ever try to replicate Wolff’s swing.. horror story waiting to happen indeed. Leave it to the one guy who has been doing it his whole life. I would rather learn generally accepted good practices rather than spend time learning “unique” practices.

what unique practices is there in Matt’s swing that aren’t what you consider generally accepted?

I'll bite. The extreme angle of the shaft at the top before he shallows it on the downswing.

You should see his brother’s swing. Apparently at one time, big bro (and he’s not big at all) was a better player than Matt! Looks very normal.

Well we know he gets in great positions in the downswing, all the pros do, but I would say his outside takeaway, steep shaft angle at the top, front foot movement, his strange triggers to start the swing, the huge shallow move (terrific and necessary), all make him a unique player. Has he found a way to make it work, absolutely!

Would I recommend that some golfer try to emulate his swing, no. He is an exceptional athlete who has been doing it his whole life and practices endlessly to make it work. He also has a coach to work with him. The common golfer doesn't have the time, resources, or ability. Much better off trying to to get the get the club back on plane, setting in a decent position at the top, and then going into the downswing.

Wolff has to make a lot of compensations to make it work. I wouldn't recommend the common golfer to try create a swing that need compensation moves. Same reason nobody recommends people to swing like Daly, Furyk, etc.

At the end of the day, I agree with this. I'm not going to try to duplicate something that is so idiosyncratic. But this experiment highlighted for me a couple of things that are problematic in my own swing and give me a few ideas about how to correct them. Sometimes we have to feel something radically different to get a clearer picture in our minds of what our natural swings are really like.

We'll see where this goes but it's really more of a strategy to gain insight than a total swing-conversion plan. It did make me appreciate how Wolff's swing works, however, and dispelled my initial assumption that trying to swing like that would lead to nothing but duffs and shanks.

A boatload of confidence doesn't hurt either.

copying another player's swing is recipe for disaster......There is a reason why no two swings on tour are the same...they have similar characteristics within a certain range....but that's about it. You would be better served trying to do similar things as every other good player rather than what someone with a very unique swing does. Not saying there aren't good things to take from his swing as there certainly are. But would you copy Jim Furyks swing? No? Well he has the low scoring record on tour and a great career.

I’m still learning to forgive GG for changing Adam Scott’s swing during that experiment.

Players on tour copy each other all the time. Those guys experiment just as much or more than amateurs. You think it’s some coincidence that so many players have short game motions like Steve Stricker and Jason Day now?

That being said, I think imitating Wolfe is a poor idea. That’s a VERY unique move. It’s kind of like imitating Peja Stojakovic’s shooting form.

It works......For him. Its a ridiculous swing to try to copy.

Lets see some video of this swing!

He hasn't been swinging this way 'for ever', he broke his collarbone when 15 yo and his dip and turn started out as a drill to get his body back. He's just turned 21 yo.

Unique would be a way to describe the older generation of pros, everyone had their “own/unique” takeaway and back swing. Some went inside, some went out like Trevino. While he doesn’t have the “moves” that are associated with the modern golf swing I don’t consider what he does anymore unique than Furyk, daly, Sergio, bubba, and the old greats. It’s different for sure.

GG did a good interview with Travis Fulton several years back talking about wolf’s swing. There’s things he does that unless you apply the same pressures you wouldn’t be able to transition and swing like he does. Johnny Ruiz copies his swing. Theres members on here that are having success with GGs site and similar style swing.

Bradley Hughes talks about not teaching a backswing and that thru learning how to hit from 4:30 position one will find a backswing that allows them to get into that position.

For me this sort of thing has happened many times in the past. It is a cycle of sorts where I try something could be anything and I hit a ball in the middle of the face and get excited and 'let's try that again' and it works again. I am in a mode of just trying this and discovery and everything is great until I miss the center of the face and the doubt creeps in and then whatever the key was stops working. Probably first happened when I was a kid and my dad told me to keep my left arm straight. Now days I don't pay much attention to stuff like that because I have tried so many different dead end swing tips, methods and etc. over the years. For instance simply swinging the clubhead per Earnest Jones worked really great for a while at different times maybe even a week or two and then doing that quits working completely and I can't hit the ball at all because of some mechanical flaw or whatever. Same with all of the lessons I have had or books and videos. In the end I believe that developing skill is more important then any swing method or tip or so on.

It does appear that some golfers find something and it works for the rest of their lives. Possibly this has something to do with personality or maybe just superior natural ability. Don't know!

I'm all about Matthew Wolff and the good work GG does, but just to levelset everything, Wolff is negative SG Tee to Green this year, just about +0.5 last year.

They are also practicing 50 hours per week and are insanely talented....copying Strickers short game method is a little different than trying to mimick someone else's swing. His short game method is pretty much the universal standard for the easiest/most simple method around the greens. Koepka's, McIlroy's, Thomas', Fowler's etc swings are not necessarily the easiest way to swing but it works for them and they contain some similar characteristics. If you see someone on tour rehearsing a swing like Koepka, feel free to let me know.

I just came to add that Wolff’s swing (although it clearly works for him) is disgusting and irks me to watch, but if it works for you more power to you lol. My own swing also irks me to watch, so there’s that, I just spare my playing partners from the hideous trigger and looping of my club.

lots of ways to do it, I play with a guy who is a scratch player and takes the club inside, overswings way past parallel and comes over the top with a super weak grip (the only lesson he had was from his grandpa and it was hogans grip from 5 lessons), he's also standing straight up and square at impact. He shot a 70 the other day. He's got pretty good hand eye coordination and thats what it comes down to.

Like I said, no doubt it works for Wolff and if it works for someone else, good for them. I just can’t stand watching Wolff’s swing specifically. If I really think about it, it’s just that “dancy” jab-step of a trigger that irks me, not so much the unorthodox swing itself.