What you can learn from a swing still regarded by most as the finest on
the planet.
On Friday morning at the Presidents Cup, before Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen opened the foursomes session, the Fanatics serenaded Australia’s favourite son to the tune of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”.
“We’ve got the best-looking golfer on our team, we’ve got the best-looking golfer on our team…”
Standing next to Scott for a pre-round photograph near the tee, Oosthuizen was cracking up – “They were singing about me,” he’d later joke – but Scott, in what should have been an embarrassing situation, just stood there with a small smile on his face.
Truth is, they could have been referring to Scott’s swing: smooth, equally as striking and no obvious flaws for even the harshest of judges to spot. Still, we gave Australia’s new supercoach Brad Hughes an opportunity to do just that. Instead, what he found was a sequence of moves that hasn’t aged one bit.
“A one-piece takeaway where the arms, hands, chest and club move away all at once is the perfect way to start the backswing.”
ATHLETIC POISe
Adam Scott portrays the modern athlete in his setup. Knees flexed and a relatively straight back allow his arms to freely hang down right under the neck. If you aren’t as strong in the legs as Adam, you could flex the knees straighter and bend over from the upper body a little more to get down to the ball.
PERFECT START
A one-piece takeaway where the arms, hands, chest and club move away all at once is the perfect way to start the backswing. Adam’s triangle of arms is unbroken so the clubhead still matches the
left wrist.
TOP TURN
Adam never tries to set the club on the backswing. As the extension of the one-piece takeaway moves the clubhead from the ball, eventually the right arm will begin to fold and the left arm will stay straight. Now the shoulders begin to turn and move the arms and the club to the top of the swing. Don’t turn the shoulders too soon as this will produce an arm lift to try to complete the backswing.
ideal impact
Impact is the key to playing great golf and Adam is spot on in this area of the swing. The left hip is now opening as his weight shift is getting him lateral towards the target. The right arm is staying under the left, meaning his path has stayed from the inside and his shoulders are relatively square to where they began at address.
total release
Now the fun begins of rotating the body open and away from the ball. This is easier done because of his great footwork and from not opening the body up too soon on the downswing. We can see the clubface square as it exits the left shoulder because the body has now joined into the release of the club, allowing his hands to not cross over and shut the clubface.
balanced FINISH
Adam’s excellent body motion beyond impact now begins to pull the upper body straight. The arms are away from the body due to acceleration of the swing, keeping speed past the impact area and showing no intent to hit at the ball. From here his arms can now relax and fold into the beautiful balanced finish that we all love about Adam’s swing.
Pro File
Adam Scott
39 / 183cm / 82 kilograms
Gold Coast and the Bahamas
Driver
Titleist TS3 (11.5 degrees)
Average Drive
278.7 metres (304.8 yards)
Greens in regulation
71.53 percent
