The South Korean swinger... We may be having flutterings of snow here in Blighty, but the PGA Tour heats up as the 'West Coast Swing’ reaches famous courses with coastal forests at Torrey Pines this week, then stunning desert at TPC Scottsdale and rugged coastline at Pebble Beach the week after. Hosung Choi is teeing it up at Pebble Beach after a sponsors invite but all the talk is whether he will be at Scottsdale for the 'Greenest Show on Grass' after a worldwide petition to gain him an invite. If you’re not sure who I’m talking about, below is a video of him hitting the ball as he shot to fame by winning a Japanese PGA Tour event late last year. The 45 year old will be one of the oldest players to make a Professional debut on the PGA Tour but I’m sure they’ll be training all the slow motion cameras on him all week - what great news for his sponsors! Click here for the Hosung Choi video. But why does he make this exaggerated action and would he benefit from keeping his balance? Well, in my view lots of golfers focus too much on the appearance of a golf swing without really understanding what’s going on. It’s easy for golfers to think I’ll be better if ‘I keep my balance’, or ‘swing more smoothly’, or 'aim straighter’ but Hosung is a good example in contrast to that thought.
He’s what we call a hybrid swing - a mix of 2 different key styles, one going up and one coming down. He aims way off to the right of target and swings the club up on an upright plane like a Ferris Wheel, pointing it to the right of target at the top - what we’d call a two plane action. Then the entire downswing becomes flatter like a Merry-go-Round, and he throws and whips the clubhead around his body to the left - what we’d call a one plane action. The throwing and whipping action creates so much speed and requires such a lack of tension in the arms and body that he simply doesn’t put the brakes on until well after his body has twisted himself off the ground. So, if he were to use more tension to keep his balance - he’d be worse at hitting the ball. Ultimately, if he loses his balance after the ball has left the club face, what does it matter anyway! When it comes to shaft fitting, there isn’t as much science to it as you may think. It’s largely a case of matching the weight and bend profile of shaft to a golfers swing characteristics and that’s why good club fitters have a knowledge of swing styles and coaching as well as knowledge of the shafts properties. In Hosung’s case the ability to whip the clubhead would be a key and a lighter shaft or shorter driver shaft would help this. Flat downswings tend to hit the ball lower than upright downswings so he may need a shaft with more kick to generate height as well. The two different types of swing could be summarised as follows:
Housing Choi: - Flatter cub angle at impact
- Merry-Go-Round action
- Lower ball flight
- Likely to be a fader
- Looser action, tension free
Jason Day: - More upright angle at impact
- Ferris Wheel action
- Higher ball flight
- Likely to be a drawer
- Stiffer action, yet rhythmic
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