Bend and rip: Joaquin Niemann’s unicorn swing makes him an elite ball-striker
No move activates the multitude of armchair golf instructors on Instagram like Joaquin Niemann’s swing. It’s always the same thing that gets called out: in the milliseconds around impact, the 26-year-old Chilean drops his right shoulder and torso dramatically as he turns through [above, seventh photo]. It gives his swing an extraordinary amount of side bend, which many pundits speculate is not a move that will hold up in the long term.
“I don’t really care what they say about it, to be honest,” says Niemann, who at 294.9 metres, ranked behind only Bryson DeChambeau in average driving distance on the LIV Golf tour in 2024. “It always has felt natural to me. That’s just how my body works.”
You might think that the way Niemann’s spine is torqued in these photos, future injuries are inevitable. Not necessarily so, says Golf Digest 50 Best Teacher Jon Sinclair. His through-swing move might be a red flag for some, but others who have a similar movement pattern could be just fine.
“Some golfers are acutely strong, flexible or resilient in one or more areas of their body,” says Sinclair, an expert in 3-D motion capture and biomechanics. “What’s true for some is not true for all.”
Niemann, who ranked second on the LIV tour last year in greens in regulation (72.8 percent) and first in birdies, has become one of the best ball-strikers in pro golf. The downswing move certainly helps, but other parts of his swing should get some credit, too. Because he weighs only a shade less than 70 kilograms, he knew that the best way to maximise power was to make a big turn into his right side on the backswing [fourth photo]. Niemann’s flexibility is on full display there, although he has to be careful not to overdo his turn.
“When I get lazy and stay on my right side, it takes me a long time to get back to the ball,” Niemann says. “I can hit the ball chunky or left.”
The long-time coach of Niemann, fellow Chilean Eduardo Miquel, says average golfers can copy this part of Joaquin’s swing, making a wide turn off the ball and shifting into their trail side [second photo]. That will boost your power. But rather than trying Niemann’s downswing, all you probably need to do to improve your ball-striking is to focus on weight shift. Your weight needs to start moving towards the target as the club is finishing the backswing.
“This [shift] will help you rotate through correctly,” Miquel says.
Niemann adds that it’s also important to keep your chest down when you swing through. If your chest lifts up too soon, your body stops turning and your hands take over, making it a lot harder to control the clubface without perfect timing.
“Ever since I was young, I was trying to turn my body,” Niemann says. “Staying down is the way you can naturally turn the most.”
Photograph: Dom Furore
