Two great golf swings: Paul Goydos and Anthony Kim

If you are a golf fan and have never attended a PGA Tour event, you need to do so at your earliest convenient opportunity. I have had the pleasure of attending the Travelers Championship in my home state of Connecticut on a number of occasions. I always leave jealous of the grandeur and repetition displayed by every player--even the relative unknowns struggling to make the cut week-to-week. The worst player in the field of any PGA Tour event is so much better--so much more polished, so much more precise--than the average scratch golfer (not to mention the gap against the average bogey golfer) that it's almost unfathomable that one could be that good at the game.

Nevertheless, there is much to learn from the paragons of the game if we dismiss our envy and look closely. The most important takeaway from watching the professionals is that ALL of them hit the vast majority of full shots (i.e. from at least 80 or so yards from the hole) with what looks like AT MOST 80% of full power. They swing so easily, so smoothly, yet the ball travels further than most golfers will ever be able to manage. This is because they make at least near-perfect contact basically every time. They know--they have internalized this notion--that swinging easier leads to better, more consistent contact.

Let's look at the golf swings of two current professionals whose styles of golf are extremely different but have golf swings well worth emulating.

Anthony Kim is one of the most dynamic young professionals in the game. He has struggled over the last couple seasons, but nevertheless his golf swing is worth looking at closely. Peter Kostis emphasizes the keys to Kim's swing in the above video: at address, Kim's body is aligned to his target and throughout the swing, he uses his "big muscles" for much of the work of actually swinging the club. You will note in the second half of the video that Kim creates a very wide arc throughout his swing. The straightness of his left arm as he takes the club back and the extent to which he extends both arms in his follow-through allow Kim to maximize distance, especially for someone of fairly average height (Kim is listed at 5'10" on his PGA Tour profile).

Let's now take a look at the swing of PGA Tour veteran Paul Goydos. This video is from the 2008 Players Championship, in which Goydos was outdueled by Sergio Garcia.

Goydos is an inch shorter than Kim, making him undersized among his peers. His swing, though effective, makes him one of the shorter hitters on Tour, but traditionally one of the more accurate as well. This video shows why: as Johnny Miller shows in his analysis, Goydos' ball-striking accuracy is anchored to the impressive stillness of his head throughout his swing. No less a figure than Tiger Woods struggles to keep his head from dipping some six to eight inches in his downswing, but Goydos' head is relatively motionless.

If you can ingrain that feeling into your own swing to the point where it feels natural to swing without your head moving, you will hit the ball straighter and be more consistent tee-to-green. And if you manage to eventually add in the notion of hitting most shots a less-than-full power and Anthony Kim's wide arc, you are on your way to hitting professional-quality golf shots.