Gary Player Golf Swing

[Richie3Jack]

With the death of Nelson Mandela, I started to think about Gary Player and his golf swing.  I've actually never deeply followed Player's swing.  I knew he had a bit of a quirky neck tilt at about p6, but that's about it.  From what I was told, Player generally favored a draw and was terrific on and around the greens.  While that is true, I tend to believe that a player with his credentials and accolades had to be a pretty darn good ballstriker, particularly when Player was in his prime with good putters not getting quite the advantage they get on courses today.

The main theme I see with Player's swing is that it does appear very set up for big draw.  However, we also see him do things that would help 'cancel out' some of that curve.  My guess is that when he struggled he started to hit big hooks.


P1 - For a short golfer, he played with a lot of knee flex at p1.  From what we see with the force plate data, that may have helped him a bit with shifting the center of pressure towards the right foot.  He clearly straightens his right knee in the backswing and instead of having little to know knee flex at p1, he has plenty.  The rear knee straightens and he shifts the pressure to his back foot.


P2 - Rolls the hands and club inward.  Not really a common move in today's golf with the '1-piece takeaway'.  Very similar to Nancy Lopez.  This will set up more of the backswing.  Hands are already inward at p2, so they'll get more inward at p3


P3 - Here's what is interesting.  Player has a lot of wrist cock in this photo at p3.  But, take a look at this photo:



More wristcock will steepen the shaft plane.  Less wristcock flattens the shaft plane.  He has always played with an 'across the line' move at p4.  Perhaps in the less wrist-cock photo above he was trying to figure a way out of being so across the line.

We also see that Player's pivot in the above photo (minimal wrist-cock) his pivot is much more over the ball and 'centered' than the top photo where he makes a giant move off the ball.

I know when I start to hyper-extend the left arm in the backswing I start producing more wrist-cock at p3.  I think it's the brain trying to figure out how to provide the golfer with enough leverage so they feel comfortable at p4.

So in the full color sequence, we have Player with the right side higher than the left side. The left shoulder has turned downward and the rear knee has straightened. Thus, the right knee, hip and shoulder is higher than the left knee, hip and shoulder.

The only thing is that his pivot has moved quite aways from the ball.


P5 - I think we learn more from Player's downswing from the DTL view.  He gets the club very much inside. His hands are still a tad further in than his right shoulder.  As Mike Maves would say, he has some 'fake lag' because while it looks like a ton of lag from the caddy view, some of that is distorted by the club being so far below plane. 

His shoulders are very closed here while his hips are square, maybe a tad open. 


P6 - We start to see the weird neck tilt.  I think it was very natural for Player to tilt his neck so it was facing the ball.  I believe he was likely very right-eye dominant.  And it was a fight between his natural neck tilt versus his upright shoulder plane.  I think if his shoulder plane was flatter, he probably would have had a head swivel akin to David Duval or Annika Sorenstam.

And we see a 'fight' between his hips and shoulders as well.  His hips are much more open than this shoulders.  It just tells me that he curved the ball one way and figured a way to reduce the curve over time.


P7 - Starting to force more of a CP move with his hands and hips but has more of a CF move with his shoulders and torso.  My guess is that when he was young he struggled with a hook and then over time he figured out that if he tried to incorporate some fade ball mechanics he could get the ball to hook less.


P9 - Lots of extension here. Short guy probably didn't generate a ton of club head speed. Hitting a persimmon driver with a balata ball and trying to get the ball in the air.










3JACK

[teeace]

Dec 9, 2013 11:26:58 GMT -5 Richie3Jack said:

P5 - I think we learn more from Player's downswing from the DTL view.  He gets the club very much inside. His hands are still a tad further in than his right shoulder.  As Mike Maves would say, he has some 'fake lag' because while it looks like a ton of lag from the caddy view, some of that is distorted by the club being so far below plane. 



3JACK

It's half fake, half true but there is one hidden thing in those great players at that era and some in our days.

I like to post these two images of Hogan if someone finds the thing we use to see as wrist angle..

[ericpaul2]

Not sure I see anything other than the concept Richie mentioned...that if we take a right angle in a vertical plane and rotate it away from the viewer, the angle appears sharper than 90 deg.

[teeace]

Dec 9, 2013 13:24:08 GMT -5 ericpaul2 said:

Not sure I see anything other than the concept Richie mentioned...that if we take a right angle in a vertical plane and rotate it away from the viewer, the angle appears sharper than 90 deg.

Look at the hand and the grip. Sometimes small things are big ones.

[dodger]

When I was starting to play golf, Player won the Masters in 1978 with a 64 in the last round. He was the same heighth as i was at age 16, so i copied his swing. I had a pronounced forward press of my right knee, which he did at least two to three times. I also had a tremendous amount of tension in my arms, as that is how he looked. I also rolled the club back flat, and dropped it on an even flatter plane on the downswing. I fixed the roll but still drop it too inside. I failed to really pick up what was important with Player's swing. It was his remarkably effective weight shift and pivot thru the ball that enabled him to hit a persimmon wood long enough to compete. Interestingly, Player was obsessed about the swing and distance. He was a swing junkie, much more than Nicklaus or Palmer, likely due to his size. He worked out and got stronger when no one on tour did that, and he also would consult with anyone on the swing. Henry Cotton worked with him, as did John Jacobs, Jimmy Ballard and Bob Toski. He was a Hogan devotee, who thought Player was a pain in the you know what by asking Hogan about the swing. His personality simply overshadowed his swing. He is not listed as a great ballstriker, which is ridiculous considering his record, I think because as pro Dave Hill once said" Gary wants everyone to know he has the best bowel movements on tour". He was a health freak and workout freak and if he saw you with a donut you got a lecture. Mandela dying brings to mind that Gary Player has done an incredible amount of good for the country of South Africa and is a remarkable person. It is a shame his swing does not get the respect it deserves, thanks for this analysis, it was great.

[Richie3Jack]

Glad you enjoyed it. I think Player was probably pretty darn good at striking the ball or just good at what he needed to be. I don't imagine he was long off the tee, but he probably found a ton of fairways and avoided those fairway bunkers. He was probably very good from the long irons. As I've mentioned in Pro Golf Synopsis, most golfers focus on wedge shots because that is what they show on TV. But the less flashy long iron approaches is where the pros really make that difference between themselves and the field. So Gary hitting those 180 yard shots to 20 feet was doing him a world of good and probably weren't showing up on TV.

Overall I think he was likely an effective driver of the ball. He didn't have a ton of distance, but I believe he was probably in the top-25th to top-1/3rd percentile in driving. If you look at the stats and driving back then, it just played too much of an importance. Guys can't drive it poorly and succeed back then like they do today.






3JACK