Strickers swing, It works for me!

Hi All,
I've been working a lot lately on introducing Strickers swing into my iron shots. At my age I have a terrible time making a full swing , making a full turn and hitting an accurate shot. So, I've spent about three weeks working on that abbreviated swing. The result is; from 150 I'll be on the green 8 out 0f 10 shots (working toward perfect). On my pitches 70 to 110 I'm almost perfect with my SW. Working on my 200 yd. 4 iron for accuracy and making huge improvements. Of course I've had to sacrifice a little distance but not all that much, maybe a half a club or so. All in all it's made a huge difference in my game and I just shot my best round in years, 76 at San Juan Hills, for me, a pretty tough course.
Anyway, I just thought you guys might be interested in something different. I'd like to hear from the folks who have tried this. As well as anyone else.

Duff

Thats great news man! I honestly think more people should emulate Strickers swing. It looks much simpler than - full turn, wrist hinge, drop into slot, release club, etc etc...

Stricker takes it back and through, one plane, just simple...

I think youve motivated me to give it a shot now!

Jim

Any good instruction articles or videos discussing Striker like swing?

Wow. It sounds like you're on the track to success! Keep it up. That 12.6 will be trimmed down in no time. Remember your putting too!

I too have been recently fascinated with Stricker's swing. Honestly, I'm kinda a feel player myself. I don't like a lot of swing thoughts (although it might help my handicap). As a result, I've always been on the lookout for a pro that swings like me. Well hopefully much better than me! Then I hoped I could incorporate some of their moves, swing dynamics, setup, etc...to improve my "natural" swing.

I'm not very good at evaluating a pro's swing. It all just happens too damn fast for me to analyze. But with the help of television announcers, I've been able to see two things that Stricker has in his swing that matches my own. (1) a controled back swing, especially with the irons and (2) little to no wrist hinge.

If anybody else has input or good articles on Stricker's swing, I'd love to see it. I think he is the best scorer who hasn't been necesarilly blessed with an ungodly amount of natural talent. He seems to have a real working man's swing/game. He might be my new second favorite player behind Couples. But I can NEVER be as smooth as Freddie.

I just started doing the same thing in my last round. I have a real hard time making a huge backswing and shoulder turn, so I figured I would do something closer to that with about a 3/4 takeaway. My result through one round is much better ball striking, and actually hit a few close with it!

If his type of swing fits your's, I say go for it. More often than not most players have a swing that is very unique to them and therefore only do damage trying to copy someone else. There are lots of swings out there I would love to have and Freddy Couples always comes to mind, but his swing is nothing like mine which is not a bad thing. Just find one that works and build it from there.

I don't know that Steve has done any instructional stuff on DVD or in book form but he is on the cover of Golf Digest last month but haven't had the chance to read it yet. What I've done is record his swing from three tournaments and have studied it's uniqueness. Not much to it, back and through. What I've been able to see is a huge shoulder turn which I believe to be the secret to his tour distance. One thing to remember is that his metals are more like a traditional swing. Not quite as big as most of the players but much bigger than his iron shots.

Is he a one planer, or a two planer, do you know?

Jim

I remembered reading this thread, so I hit some balls at the range yesterday trying to do a Stricker-like swing. I basically tried to swing with no wrist action, and was crushing my driver. Without much wrist action on the backswing, I think it was easier for me to maintain a flatter left wrist and lag on the downswing.

Of course it probably just feels like I'm not hinging the wrists at all, when they always hinge a bit naturally.

Just got back from hitting balls at the dome. Channeling Stricker is helping me stay compact and maintain lag. My driver swing, especially, is feeling like a very simple, effective motion.

I'm thinking, "Up and back, down and out." Feels very controlled yet powerful.

Hi Duffer,

It's amazing isn't it? I mean the pure feel at impact is so sweet and the swing is so simple that I don't know why this hasn't been thought of before Stricker.

I don't know that there's anything radical about his current swing, but he certainly makes it look like a simpler motion. One of the longest hitters in my golf league has a similar compact swing with very little wrist action. And don't forget JB Holmes who has little wrist action on the backswing, but actually increases it on the downswing.

My theory on why it works (for me at least) is that it helps me reduce throwaway (loss of lag) on the downswing. If my wrists are really active during the backswing, my tendency is to start unhinging too early on the downswing. I think it also promotes a better turn, as you can't manipulate the club with the wrists and cheat the shoulder turn.

Nice. I tried it out once. I worked on it for about a week. This was after I heard Johnny Miller rave and rave about (good Lord that got annoying). I wasn't finding good success. I kept the face too shut, and was pull-hooking everything.

I really like where my swing is right now. It's all thanks to Mike Breed's tip on the swing plane w/ the stand bag. If you're struggling with planes, give that drip a try.

Hi Bogey,

I think I missed that tip. Can you elaborate?

Stricker swing analysis in the December issue of Golf Magazine. Looks like he is a single plane swinger. I'm trying to adapt some of his mechanics to my swing.

Did this today too, on course, first time ever trying it. Your wrists do hinge naturally but I tried my hardest to not put any of my own hinge in.

I was absolutely crushing the driver today and puring most of my iron shots. Its been a while since I struck the ball this well and am really glad this thread was started! Keep it simple! Worked like a charm for me, Im excited about scoring low again! Jim

I'm very happy to hear that for some, other than myself, this experiment has worked out so well. I'm looking forward to playing on Saturday as for some odd reason my wife will not allow golf on Christmas day. Very strange indeed.
Merry Christmas everybody. See you out there.