Last week during the WM Phoenix Open I wrote about the golf swing of Matthew Wolff. The “Keyboard Warriors” took to social media to denounce the 19 year old’s swing. Just a quick question… what PGA Tour event were you playing in at the tender age of 19? Personally speaking, golf wasn’t even on my radar yet.

This week the stop is in the ever-so beautiful Monterrey Peninsula at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Ah yes… Pebble Beach where Bing Crosby himself hosted his Clambake. The tournament is special because you have celebrities (some of which are hardly celebrities Fortune 500 CEO’s etc) playing with the pro’s. Some of the legit celebrities include Aaron Rodgers, Bill Murray, Huey Lewis, and Wayne Gretzky to name a few. But the PGA Tour also welcomed a newcomer to the event. On a sponsor’s exemption from South Korea is Ho-sung Choi.

Choi as you may know is the owner of what some call the craziest golf swing in golf. As “crazy” as his golf swing might be it’s a swing that has won professional golf events. Most recently as 2018 on the Japan Golf Tour at the Casio World Open. But is it really that crazy? Are there others that know much more than me about the golf swing? Yes. But having taught golf I know a thing or two about the swing as well and know what to look for. So, please allow me to entertain you as I break this down this “Gyrating Wonder”.

1. On the takeaway Choi takes the club back a little to the outside much like guys that I touched on last week. (Wolff, Moore and Furyk)
2. Choi releases his left heel (lead heel). Great for turn, tempo, transition and saving his lower back.
3. He’s relatively steep about halfway back but he starts to flatten everything out as he approaches the top.
4. At the top, note how the back of his top hand matches the clubface.
5. Choi stops just short of parallel before starting his transition.
6. To kickstart the down swing his lead heel plants and he has definitely started his downswing from the ground up. You can see “the squat” as well (How much do you wanna bet he wasn’t a bad Little League baseball player? If he played)
7. He has created pretty good lag prior to impact.
8. At impact he’s clearly “down and through” the shot and fully extends down his line.
9. The ball is traveling down the fairway… he then “walks through” the shot in a way that Gary Player did and does.

It’s after this where thing’s get a little crazy I suppose. I feel that the rest of it is theatrics and just a little bit extra. Which is fine. If everyone was the same than life would be boring right? Golf Oatmeal Sucks! You know that he’s been doing it a long time and that’s his niche. It’s how he identifies with fans and how he markets himself (Note the bag logo).

In conclusion, there’s nothing crazy about this golf swing. It’s fundamentally and mechanically sound. Is there a bit that’s “extra”? In my opinion.. yes! But it’s who he is and real golf fans will accept it. Bear in mind that there’s a difference between accept and watch. What he does well after the ball is gone is much more extra than Mr. Palmer’s “Helicopter Finish” or Jim Thorpe’s for that matter.  I’ll admit though… it got old on me in a hurry and I couldn’t watch him for 18 holes. At the time of writing Choi was at  -1 (T-88).

Until The Next Tee!!

#SeeUOnTheNextTee #FightAndGrind