Biggest danger in DJ winning the Masters

[PracticeSwinger]

For all golf instructors out there - isn’t it dangerous when you see a guy with a swing like DJ winning majors... with every future and/or actual students questioning: “Well, DJ’s lead wrist is definitely more bowed at P4 than this”... “Don’t want me to fire those hips that much? Have you seen how open is DJ at impact?!”... “Watch his trail elbow in transition / under the lead from the top!”...

 

Obviously a tremendous athlete that has extreme traits - I guess my thought is, what should we learn from him ‘swing-wise’ that, without going to extremes, could and should be ingrained and relatively easy to repeat?...

[mgoblue83]

Seems very obvious at this point that there are many successful ways to swing a golf club and the key is matching up movement patterns with the individual players bio-mechanics. Frankly, any modern instructor who thinks everyone should swing the club the same way isn't worth listening to.

 

The fact is most amateurs are physically unable to achieve the positions people see in a "perfect swing" like Adam Scott due to poor physical fitness, strength, and flexibility. Instructors that insist on trying to get them to reach those positions are robbing them of any natural athletic ability and speed that they might have AND setting them up for future injuries and inconsistent play.

 

The best instructors I've seen identify student strengths and focus on solid fundamentals (stance, ball position, alignment, grip, etc) combined with feels that enhance those strengths to help students hit their good shots more often.

 

Even brand new players generally have more athletic and natural moves than guys who are rebuilding their swing and trying to hit the correct "P4 position". Don't be that guy...

[phizzy30]

Impact is the most important factor for a golf swing.  DJ's impact position is a marvel to look at.  He has plenty going on in his swing that isn't considered the prototype swing.  He cocks his wrist too soon on the back swing.  His wrist is too bowed at the top.  He goes past parallel, blah blah blah.  Who cares?  The good things I take away from his swing is how loose and free flowing his downswing is.  There is no tension.  His hips fire and he lets his arms drop into the slot and the rest is history. 

[RichieHunt]

Most of the teachers I talk to marvel at DJ's swing and like his 'bowed' left wrist at p4.  

 

The likely issue to come from it is that people will want to copy DJ and either don't have the ability to do it or they are missing key matchups that make DJ's swing work or they can do a version of it okay enough, but would have been better with a different motion that they could do more effectively (imagine somebody like Matthew Wolff trying to do DJ's swing).

 

But there really isn't anything 'wrong' with DJ's swing. It's unique, but much of his swing can be used for others to learn from.

 

 

 

 

 

RH

[Zitlow]

He sets the shaft and club face pretty much on his left arm plane right off the ball which means fewer compensations in the swing. The more compensations the more inconsistency. 

 

Edited November 17, 2020 by Zitlow

[golfarb1]

DJs joint mobility is among the very highest of tour players , who are among the highest of the population . 

No other Masters winner compares , not even Sam Snead  in regard to over all

mobility.

[Zitlow]

His right humerus bone has maxed out it's range of motion aducting his right scapula, pulling the bow string back facilitating a huge shoulder turn.

 

Edited November 17, 2020 by Zitlow

[Nard_S]

The guy has a great swing.

I always liked how he positioned his tailbone, how much & how early it indexed towards the target. There is a lot of big muscle action in his swing. 

Edited November 17, 2020 by Nard_S

[Krt22]

3 hours ago, phizzy30 said:

Impact is the most important factor for a golf swing.  DJ's impact position is a marvel to look at.  He has plenty going on in his swing that isn't considered the prototype swing.  He cocks his wrist too soon on the back swing.  His wrist is too bowed at the top.  He goes past parallel, blah blah blah.  Who cares?  The good things I take away from his swing is how loose and free flowing his downswing is.  There is no tension.  His hips fire and he lets his arms drop into the slot and the rest is history. 

There is a lot of tension in his swing, the only way to get into such positions requires a lot of flexibility. 

[jacobanderson123]

His swing is way too athletic for the average joe or even many pros to replicate, best part of golf is that there are many ways to "skin the cat" or swing the golf club. His isn't realistic for the majority of people, works great for him. Very athletic swing.

[Sean2]

I don't think it would be an issue, just like I don't see many folks trying to imitate Matt Wolff's golf swing. 

[jmkenn0]

Pretty easy to stop it - if a person wants to swing like DJ, make them dunk a basketball first on a 10 foot goal.  

[KMeloney]

I think this horse left the barn when Jim Furyk first won. 

 

I think it probably works out both ways. If you know a lot about the golf swing, you realize what makes it work for an individual. If you don't know much about it, you probably don't recognize the nuances that you'd want to try to copy.

 

[double_d]

33 minutes ago, jmkenn0 said:

Pretty easy to stop it - if a person wants to swing like DJ, make them dunk a basketball first on a 10 foot goal.  

 

So Charles Barkley, albeit when he was younger, would be a candidate to swing like DJ?

 

When I was younger, I could dunk pretty easily, I am 6' 5", so an inch or so taller than DJ, I could not swing like DJ.

 

I see no correlation.

[evanleeball]

I’d argue that a lot of amateurs would benefit from *attempting* to bow their wrist at the top. 

[nsxguy]

12 hours ago, MtlJayMan said:

For all golf instructors out there - isn’t it dangerous when you see a guy with a swing like DJ winning majors... with every future and/or actual students questioning: “Well, DJ’s lead wrist is definitely more bowed at P4 than this”... “Don’t want me to fire those hips that much? Have you seen how open is DJ at impact?!”... “Watch his trail elbow in transition / under the lead from the top!”...

 

Obviously a tremendous athlete that has extreme traits - I guess my thought is, what should we learn from him ‘swing-wise’ that, without going to extremes, could and should be ingrained and relatively easy to repeat?...

 

Don't see anything dangerous about it.

 

When I was a youngster I could imitate every NY Yankee batting stance/prep. Tried 'em all but ended up developing one that worked for me.

 

Nothing different about golf. Players will see something that works well and make an attempt (or 10) to try to replicate it to see if it works for them. I do it all the time with putting grips/strokes. Most I abandon fairly quickly. Others I'll try from time to time

 

But in general, if it works, great. If not, back to the drawing board. 

 

[glk]

To me the best thing the average golfer can take away from dj isn’t swing related but attitude.   Goodness the number of things that have happened to him yet he just puts them behind him and moves on.  Even Rory is impressed

 

Rory McIlroy got a front-row seat for the DJ show over two rounds. He bested Johnson in the second round, but still was singing praises for his playing partner after the round. And he made Johnson’s game seem quite simple.

“(He’s been playing) great, same as he’s been playing the last few months,” McIlroy said. “See ball, hit ball, see putt, hole putt, go to the next … (He) makes it look so simple at times.”

There are few higher compliments in golf than being told your game is simple. There are plenty of ways to mess things up, so the simpler, the better. The mental edge Johnson carries was another point of emphasis for McIlroy.

“I think he’s got one of the best attitudes towards the game of golf in the history of the game,” McIlroy said. “I don’t know if I can compare him to anyone else, but the way he approaches the game is awesome.”

Edited November 17, 2020 by glk

[PracticeSwinger]

2 hours ago, KMeloney said:

I think this horse left the barn when Jim Furyk first won. 

 

I think it probably works out both ways. If you know a lot about the golf swing, you realize what makes it work for an individual. If you don't know much about it, you probably don't recognize the nuances that you'd want to try to copy.

 

I think that sums it up... pretty sure a lot of the Wrx members that post here can see what works for him, and more importantly why it does... my original post had more to do with golf instructors that would probably get a lot of comments from students that want to copy DJ's swing/positions (and can't figure out why their coach don't want them to go that way) without recognizing those nuances...

[PracticeSwinger]

1 hour ago, evanleeball said:

I’d argue that a lot of amateurs would benefit from *attempting* to bow their wrist at the top. 

Agreed (but maybe not to that extreme) - as it also relates to the trail wrist extension and 'easier' clubface closure with lead hip pushback (rotation left)... but, serious question, why do you think isn't that easy to just set it early as he does without causing other harms in the takeaway/backswing?... (that would settle that aspect once and for all)

[PracticeSwinger]

1 hour ago, glk said:

To me the best thing the average golfer can take away from dj isn’t swing related but attitude.   Goodness the number of things that have happened to him yet he just puts them behind him and moves on.  Even Rory is impressed

Totally agree (and that's definitely the most impressive part)... that's why I asked for 'swing'-wise, for the average golfer / athletic guy - what would you say are the best take away from his swing that can be 'easily' copied and consistenly repeated?

[me05501]

Forget his swing, I'm much more worried about duffers deciding they need to read every putt from four directions when it's their turn to play. 

[jmkenn0]

3 hours ago, double_d said:

 

So Charles Barkley, albeit when he was younger, would be a candidate to swing like DJ?

 

When I was younger, I could dunk pretty easily, I am 6' 5", so an inch or so taller than DJ, I could not swing like DJ.

 

I see no correlation.

 

If you can't dunk a basketball you can't swing like DJ != if you can dunk a basketball you can swing like DJ.  But yes, you have to have a very similar build to DJ to swing like he does, tall, lanky, long arms, and be athletic.  So if you aren't that, then don't even try?

[double_d]

41 minutes ago, jmkenn0 said:

 

If you can't dunk a basketball you can't swing like DJ != if you can dunk a basketball you can swing like DJ.  But yes, you have to have a very similar build to DJ to swing like he does, tall, lanky, long arms, and be athletic.  So if you aren't that, then don't even try?

 

I think the similar build has more to do with being able to swing like DJ than the dunking of a basketball. Although vertical leap is a pretty good barometer for athleticism.

 

The fact that people always say "DJ can dunk! wow! He's amazing"  is interesting to me. He is an amazing golfer. The obsession with dunking is funny to me.

 

He's 6'4" with a wingspan of probably 6'6" or 6'7" (typical average is a person's wingspan = their height) his has to be more than his height.

 

I find a guy who is 6'4", lean with a 6'6" wingspan dunking, somewhat unremarkable, I'd be surprised if he couldn't.

 

but like i said i am 6'5" with a 6'6" wingspan so DJ dunking doesn't really impress me.

 

Edited November 17, 2020 by double_d

[CasualLie]

DJ might be the one major winner that instructor's do not have to worry about as almost every weekend golfer cannot possibly get into any of his positions.  They may try it once, shank or miss, then just give up, and go back to trying to copy Rory or Tiger!

 

Note:  I said "might"

[Zitlow]

Matt Wolff is only 21, he may have a Green Jacket in his future. What do y'all think about his across the line shaft at the top? 

 

[phizzy30]

15 hours ago, Krt22 said:

There is a lot of tension in his swing, the only way to get into such positions requires a lot of flexibility. 

I think there is a misunderstanding here.  When I say tension, I mean when amateurs tense up their shoulders as they initiate the back swing.  They have a death grip on the club and their forearms get really stiff.  Tension kills power in the the golf swing.  Forces the golfer to initiate the downswing with the upper body and arms instead of lower body.  DJ's swing is free flowing and loose. 

[Krt22]

Just now, phizzy30 said:

I think there is a misunderstanding here.  When I say tension, I mean when amateurs tense up their shoulders as they initiate the back swing.  They have a death grip on the club and their forearms get really stiff.  Tension kills power in the the golf swing.  Forces the golfer to initiate the downswing with the upper body and arms instead of lower body.  DJ's swing is free flowing and loose. 

No it really isn't, it just looks that way because he has everything perfectly synced, but the amount of stretch and tension at the top of his swing has to be immense just to get into that position. In order to generate all of that power, the muscles need to properly stretch and fire in the correct sequence. The issues you describe by amateurs have to do with moving incorrectly and thus adding in compensations which disrupt the swing, but if those disruptions didnt occur many would completely miss the ball

[GSDriver]

To me, biggest danger is now they'll want to "DJ Proof" Augusta and further diminish the original character of the course.

[PracticeSwinger]

34 minutes ago, GSDriver said:

To me, biggest danger is now they'll want to "DJ Proof" Augusta and further diminish the original character of the course.

Only firmer greens would have diminished this masterpiece - guy was a machine all tourney long - and if the ones wanting to DJ proof it don’t understand that... then it’s a lost cause
 

https://www.golfwrx.com/640819/ways-to-win-determined-dustin/

[Krt22]

2 hours ago, GSDriver said:

To me, biggest danger is now they'll want to "DJ Proof" Augusta and further diminish the original character of the course.

What are they going to do, put stairs all over the place?