Owning Your Swing
Ode to “Owning Your Swing”. This week’s Masters Tournament concluded, with PGA Tour Player Scottie Scheffler becoming a two-time Master’s Champion. The key to Scottie’s success, beyond the arduous practice and skills training from his team, is his swing. It is unorthodox. The footwork you see with Scottie is his and his alone. When Scottie retires from professional golf, he should write a book titled “Owning Your Swing-the Scottie Scheffler Story.” So many players attempt to mimic a tour professional’s swing, but they are unable to-whether it be physical limitations, lack of neurological coordination from the cerebellum, or just lack of practice.
Now, if you cut across your body and slice 45 yards, this is not permission to own it and take pride in it. On the contrary, to dissect the body’s movement in Scottie’s swing, the real analysis must be the “how” and the meaning behind it. What is the purpose of the trail foot “shuffling” with Scottie? Here’s the answer, straight from Mr. Scheffler himself.
“It’s one of those things, that’s kind of always been a move for me. If you look at my swings from when I was a really little kid, it’s kind of something I really always did. I was explaining to someone the other night-what made me think about it was-what I’m trying to do to get power in my golf swing is load into my right side and then come off of my right side and get onto my left and so in order to get my weight all the way from here to there, when I slide my foot and make sure I get all my weight kind of through the ball and I think Randy (Smith, Scottie’s swing coach) would be a little bit more upset with the footwork if my foot was moving in a weird direction…it’s kind of going with the shot…I am almost kind of moving with the ball…kind of sticking with what I’ve always done for a long time and just improving on that…I think it helps me kind of stay athletic.” -Scottie Scheffler via Taylormade Golf
You can watch the full clip here. Scottie Scheffler Explains Why He “Shuffles” His Feet | TaylorMade Golf (youtube.com)
So, the purpose is to have weight transfer to the lead side on the golf swing. As a younger golfer, kids will learn to generate as much power and speed from their bodies as possible and once tempo is learned and controlled, it truly doesn’t matter what it looks like. That’s what “owning your swing” is all about. Once a swing is grooved and it is efficient and not taxing on the body, then it should be used. After all, what matters, will always be, the results. That swing has two Green Jackets, so “what right looks like” is open for interpretation. You just have to find your way, through owning your swing.
-David