J.J Spaun’s swing, is a study in consistency.
1: Balanced setup with the upper arms connected to the chest to support his compact, rotary motion.
2: The chest and arms stay connected as the club swings away in the takeaway. This helps maintain the triangle formed between his shoulders, arms and hands.
3: Clubhead stays outside his hands, illustrating the proper sequence of movement with his chest, arms, hands and club in his takeaway.
4: The club swings up between his arms as the right arm starts to fold. Lower body is stable, with upper body maintaining the spine angle established in his setup.
5: In the mid-backswing, Spaun’s hands are in front of his chest, with the shaft bisecting his right shoulder with minimal lower body rotation.
6: The left arm swings across his chest as the hands set over the right shoulder, with a slight hip turn and pressure on the right heel.
7: At the top of the backswing, the shaft is on plane (parallel to the target line). His arms are still connected to his chest, with the right elbow below the right shoulder and a small window between the hands and the right shoulder.
8: The lower body starts the downswing, with pressure moving from the right heel to the left toes. Arms lower down the plane, with the shaft bisecting the right shoulder.
9: The right arm is connected to the body, with the clubhead slightly outside the hands to promote a slight left-to-right ball flight (fade).
10: The lower body opens, and the right forearm stays behind the shaft to stabilise the clubface through impact. The right arm stays close to the body, with the forearm and shaft on the same plane, creating a powerful, consistent impact position.
11: The hands arc left and stay inside the clubhead to minimise clubface rotation. The chest stays down as the lower and upper body continue to rotate.
12: The club exits below the shoulder plane, with the hands continuing to work low and left.
13: Low left elbow with the right arm across his chest on the through-swing, illustrating a rotary golf swing.
14: The left elbow is below the left shoulder, mirroring the right-arm-to-shoulder position at the top of the backswing.
15: A balanced finish with level shoulders and the shaft horizontal to the ground.
Todd Anderson is the director of instruction at the PGA Tour Performance Center at TPC Sawgrass, home of the Players Championship. The 2010 PGA of America Teacher of the Year has seen his students amass more than 50 victories across the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour, including two FedEx Cup titles. He is currently rated by Golf Digest as one of the top 20 golf instructors in the United States.
Photographs by Mateo Villalba/getty images
