Bubba Watson's mystical swing

[SwinginCaveman]

I was reading a breakdown of Bubba's swing in the Master's Preview issue of Golf Digest. After looking at it for a while I have some thoughts.

1. There's a good deal of athleticism involved in his swing.
2. There are a lot of moving parts but he keeps them all moving in good harmony.

I might be underestimating the difficulty of his swing, but it seems if there's enough athletic talent and enough practice, one can IMITATE his swing. I wouldn't expect to be able to reproduce it, but maybe emulate it. Rhythm would definitely be the big factor.

I'm 20 years old and I've been a 3 sport athlete since I was in 5th grade. I might mess around with this concept for a little bit at the range. I think I have the athletic ability to do it but the rhythm would be difficult. Not optimistic about being able to do it, but I'm a 15 handicap in the midst of a major swing change so it couldn't hurt.

Anyone else experiment with this?

[TMO]

I know that Bubba's power is enticing but I would argue that there are a lot of players that are producing much, much more power than he is for their size. He has a lot of moving parts but the primary reason that he is powerful is because of his power pulley he is able to produce during his down swing. Copy that ... but with less motion.

If you were planning on making a swing change and emulating a player Tigers current swing is a great one to emulate. If you are looking for a super power producing swing I would look at Sergio Garcia and Charles Howell III. When they came on tour they weighed 150 tops and could just bomb the ball out there. Just a quick note, Howell III from 2004-2005 and not now.

[SwinginCaveman]

I know that Bubba's power is enticing but I would argue that there are a lot of players that are producing much, much more power than he is for their size. He has a lot of moving parts but the primary reason that he is powerful is because of his power pulley he is able to produce during his down swing. Copy that ... but with less motion.

The way I play, if it were to emulate anyone's swing, it would probably be smart to watch a guy like Freddie Couples. So simple and pure. Sweetest swing in golf IMO.

I tend to think about too much and focus on too many things during my swing. Simple is good in my game, irons in particular. Steve Stricker is another player that comes to mind when talking about a simple swing. I wouldn't try to emulate Bubba's swing for my entire bag. I don't think I would want all that stress on my body anyways. Driver and maybe 3 wood would be the only clubs I could see that being consistent with.

[David in FL]

Why try to emulate a swing that's difficult when you could just as easily develop a more simple, repeatable swing? You'll be able to maintain it better without having to dedicate the enormous amount of practice time that a tour pro does.

My .02

[TMO]

Why try to emulate a swing that's difficult when you could just as easily develop a more simple, repeatable swing? You'll be able to maintain it better without having to dedicate the enormous amount of practice time that a tour pro does.

Agreed. Watson hits the ball pretty hard but as a pro, how many wins does he have? John Daly won some big tournaments but now there are so many guys that can hit it hard with better swings. You can have power and accuracy, you just have to know how they work together.

[LongballGer]

Bubba's swing is too complicated to learn and to repeat under pressure. He was swinging like that since he was 2 years old that's why it's natural to him.

I saw him play at the buick and he was all over the place.

One doesn't need to hit it far.

If you hit it 240 off the tee in the fairway you can shoot under par on pretty much any course in the world.

[denver_nuggs_15]

Plus, Bubba has very, very long arms which help with leverage. If you don't have crazy long arms like he does, your efforts may go to waste because of a lack of leverage.

There's definitely other swings to try to copy. I like Sergio's swing, but pretty much anyone on tour with a smooth swing would be great to emulate (Vijay, Els, Couples).

[uttexas]

Centered turn, steep shoulders, hands in. Lots of extensor action. Amazing shoulder and hip/pelvis range of motion. [IMG]http://thesandtrap.com/image/id/245507/width/405/height/532[/IMG] [IMG]http://thesandtrap.com/image/id/245508/width/405/height/532[/IMG]

[The Tin Man]

No swing should be copied but instead used as a foundation.

Some people have swings that are so unique they should not even be a foundation.

[Zeph]

I honestly don't see why anyone would want to copy Bubba's swing. Unless their existing swing is very similar. The big moves require more timing and will most likely lead to a variety of results. He hits it 10 yards farther than people with a more traditional swing. Why would you want to gain a little distance (probably) at the cost of poor accuracy and varied results? Keep it simple stupid. If you want to emulate pros, use the average swing out there, not the outliers like Bubba and Furyk. By imitating Bubba you are only making things harder than necessary.

[GaijinGolfer]

Emulating Bubba's swing wouldnt be a good idea because its so dependent on proper timing.  If you can pull it off consistently, good for you but the average person doesnt have the talent or athletic ability to do so.

[zipazoid]

Originally Posted by uttexas

Centered turn, steep shoulders, hands in. Lots of extensor action. Amazing shoulder and hip/pelvis range of motion.

Weight outside back foot, club off plane. And not shown in those pics is happy feet.

It's a homemade swing that works for him, but not one to emulate. The rhythm, sure. But not much else.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by zipazoid

Weight outside back foot, club off plane.

His weight isn't outside his back foot . It's back more than almost anyone else on the PGA Tour, but he's hitting driver, so that's perfectly acceptable.

Club's off plane though yes. He simply hasn't rolled his forearms yet.

[zipazoid]

Originally Posted by iacas

His weight isn't outside his back foot. It's back more than almost anyone else on the PGA Tour, but he's hitting driver, so that's perfectly acceptable.

Club's off plane though yes. He simply hasn't rolled his forearms yet.

I defer to your professional-ness. Still doesn't look like a swing you would teach though, does it?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by zipazoid

I defer to your professional-ness. Still doesn't look like a swing you would teach though, does it?

Not as a whole, necessarily, but parts of it are really good, though.

As I said above he's a bit like Phil. When he's on, he's good to great. When he's off, he misses cuts.

[logman]

Geez there's a strange tone about the conversation about Bubba. It's a kind of begrudging acceptance that he's an OK golfer. It's like " well it's not a proper golf swing but wow he hits it a long way". The truth is he's an awesome player. People need to get over the fact that golf can be played to the highest level on a home made swing and that golf coaches, to some peeps are not needed. People like Bubba undermine the golf coachs' ethos of coaches being the gatekeepers of a professional swing. It's kind of funny really.

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by logman

Geez there's a strange tone about the conversation about Bubba. It's a kind of begrudging acceptance that he's an OK golfer. It's like " well it's not a proper golf swing but wow he hits it a long way". The truth is he's an awesome player. People need to get over the fact that golf can be played to the highest level on a home made swing and that golf coaches, to some peeps are not needed. People like Bubba undermine the golf coachs' ethos of coaches being the gatekeepers of a professional swing. It's kind of funny really.

Bubba very much takes pride in the fact that he's never had a lesson.  Interesting interview with Piers Morgan last night where he talked about always trusting his instincts and never questioning himself.  I joked somewhere that if I could hit it like Bubba does, I wouldn't take lesson either.  He still demonstrates all 5 Keys though :)

[Patrick57]

He still demonstrates all [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/t/55426/introducing-five-simple-keys]5 Keys[/URL] though :)

I would beg to differ Mike, but as 5 Keys is only concerned with the 5 iron swing and Bubba's driver is what I have observed then I don't really have an argument unless you think the 5K's hold up with his driver.