Robert Rock Golf Swing

[iacas]

Folks in certain circles of the golf swing business have known about Robert Rock's golf swing for quite some time. He's a Mac O'Grady guy, and works with Matt Belsham, who is said to be Mac's "main guy" in Europe.

Robert Rock has had a good or great golf swing for quite some time now, and yet has only recently won events. There's a lot more to golf than having a great swing (as many know - look at Phil Mickelson, or Tiger in 2007-2009), but having a good golf swing is often not a bad thing. :)

Robert Rock is (along with some of his instructors) @RobRockAcademy on Twitter and has a YouTube channel with some of his swings: robrock9 .

A funny moment occurred Sunday morning when Josh said to Dave, Mike, and myself "Hey, do you guys know who Robert Rock is?" and we all almost simultaneously deadpanned "no, who's that?" Of course we knew. :) The sarcasm wasn't lost on Josh, who proceeded to tell us that Rob was his new favorite golfer. :)

Here are some of the swings Rob's posted on his YouTube channel:

He's an approachable dude, too, who has even commented on other people's swings on YouTube and who responds via Twitter, email, on Facebook, etc.

Two analyses:

If what we (at Golf Evolution) teach had a model, it may very well be Rob Rock.

[poser]

I've been a big fan of his swing for a while now.  I don't know how you can hit the ball to far offline with that action.

[Yeri]

Are there any specific elements of Rock's swing that stand out as opposed to the normal favorites like Charlie & Grant?

[poser]

Anyone know his club distances?

[colin007]

that guy is too damn good looking for his own good.  he should be called Rob Hair.

[mchepp]

iacas,

It seems his miss is a pull, are there any thoughts on why? Or do you think his miss is something else.

Please note: I feel his swing is the best for a touring pro, so I am not bashing but looking for thoughts.

[mvmac]

Who?

[TourSpoon]

Originally Posted by mvmac

Who?

You know, the golf pro from the Flintstones. Right? No wait, that was Arnold Palmrock.

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by Yeri

Are there any specific elements of Rock's swing that stand out as opposed to the normal favorites like Charlie & Grant?

Not much, I think Rock likes to play a cut and Grant draws it.  Difference will be with left arm location at P5

Compared to Charlie, Rock's has more rotation in the lower center on the downswing, Wi almost has too much slide compared to the amount of rotation

Originally Posted by poser

Anyone know his club distances?

I think he's basically tour average, here are his stats

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/players/playerid=30383/statistics/index.html

Originally Posted by mchepp

iacas,

It seems his miss is a pull, are there any thoughts on why? Or do you think his miss is something else.

Please note: I feel his swing is the best for a touring pro, so I am not bashing but looking for thoughts.

Stronger grip and left arm being more "out"

[johnthejoiner]

Robert Rock has been on the radar on this side of the pond for a few years now, sometimes for the wrong reasons. His fondness for the amber nectar has possibly kept him from reaching his full potential. When he plays well hes got a beautiful swing but he's got a tendency to almost fan the club open toe up, and can get too handsy through impact

[iacas]

Originally Posted by mvmac

Stronger grip and left arm being more "out"

It really isn't though. He plays a cut because of things he does well after P5. Quite literally we're talking about a few degrees - +2 for Charlie and -2 for Rock, and that's at most. Same for Grant - tiny little differences. Quite simply where he aims his feet a few degrees can account for the differences, and when you add in really really teeny differences in how quickly his body turns through the impact interval, his use of the third accumulator through impact interval, etc. then you can easily get +/- 2°.

[LuciusWooding]

I like this guy and try to use him as a swing model for one aspect; I have long hair and don't wear a hat, so I try to get my hair to fly around on my follow through like his. The trick is to keep your head very still and release your hair as late as you can hold it. It might not help your game much, but if the sun is just right, it looks pretty damned good. Maybe it could intimidate your opponents...

The man should get an endorsement deal with Head & Shoulders instead of getting paid to wear a hat. He stands out so much for not wearing the cap.

As for his swing, I like his very quiet legs. He loses power, but he has fewer moving parts because of it. Beautiful timing as well; not the most explosive hip turn, but it clears nicely and his hands are in a good position to fade the ball.

[michaeljames92]

Believe me, Rock is a lot longer than tour average. He can seriously bomb when he wants to.

[mchepp]

Originally Posted by iacas

It really isn't though. He plays a cut because of things he does well after P5. Quite literally we're talking about a few degrees - +2 for Charlie and -2 for Rock, and that's at most. Same for Grant - tiny little differences. Quite simply where he aims his feet a few degrees can account for the differences, and when you add in really really teeny differences in how quickly his body turns through the impact interval, his use of the third accumulator through impact interval, etc. then you can easily get +/- 2°.

Good post here. It still doesn't answer my question, but maybe there is not an easy answer. The comparisons in my opinion start to really change a P6. Both the shoulders and the elbow positions.

[LuciusWooding]

Originally Posted by michaeljames92

Believe me, Rock is a lot longer than tour average. He can seriously bomb when he wants to.

His driving distance has been all over the place since he got on tour; his high is 305 on the euro tour, but he hasn't gotten over 300 since, and is normally solidly in your 280-290 range. His accuracy numbers are a bit better, but not good enough to indicate a conservative strategy.

The euro tour doesn't seem to track the longest drives for the players, but I haven't seen Rock hit anything particularly long for a tour player. Maybe he had a more power oriented swing early in his career, but it seems his power has gone down sharply while his overall game has improved a lot. Taking 2 strokes off his stroke average is notable.

Category	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Stroke Average	72.93	72.28	71.72	71.00	71.51	71.37	71.03	69.83
Driving Accuracy (%)	55.26	54.67	57.66	62.89	53.41	56.31	61.53	62.34
Driving Distance (Yards)	305.57	295.94	289.79	297.42	297.66	288.86	285.57	285
Greens In Regulation (%)	65.69	67.45	65.05	72.38	68.09	64.58	71.82	71.72
Average Putts Per Round	30.88	30.6	29.68	30.48	29.92	29.33	30.24	28.55
Putts Per Gir	1.85	1.8399999	1.8	1.8199999	1.78	1.77	1.78	1.6600000
Sand Saves (% / Total save attempts)	46.38 / 69	42.86 / 56	40 / 100	63.08 / 65	51.55 / 97	53.97 / 126	48.21 / 112	66.67 / 12

[Yeri]

Great stuff mvmac, thanks!

[sk golf]

Originally Posted by mvmac

Compared to Charlie, Rock's has more rotation in the lower center on the downswing, Wi almost has too much slide compared to the amount of rotation

I think he's basically tour average, here are his stats

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/players/playerid=30383/statistics/index.html

Stronger grip and left arm being more "out"

Stronger attachment and Rock has slight more rotation.  Lots of slide can cause the club to travel more inside out.

Also, without access to software at this moment, looking at Wi's swing and Rock's swing from p7 to p7.75 from dtl. Wi's looks slightly more out than Rock's.  (measuring from shaft line at p7 to p7.75 ish...)

Extremely slight

If Mike or Erik could confirm or deny this with some line :)  Thanks

[mvmac]

Originally Posted by sk golf

Stronger attachment and Rock has slight more rotation.  Lots of slide can cause the club to travel more inside out.

Also, without access to software at this moment, looking at Wi's swing and Rock's swing from p7 to p7.75 from dtl. Wi's looks slightly more out than Rock's.  (measuring from shaft line at p7 to p7.75 ish...)

Extremely slight

If Mike or Erik could confirm or deny this with some line :)  Thanks

Slightly :-)