The Sweetest Swing? Discuss.

[LobWedge]

The Golden Bear or Tiger? Jones or Hagen? Slammin’ Sammy or Lord Byron? Sergio or Seve? Moe or The Hawk? Arnie or The Black Knight? Vijay? Lefty? Elk? Long John? The Shark? Maybe even Wie or Annika or Zaharias? Who’s your pick for the sweetest swing?

My favourite is still Fred Couples. Effortless power. So smooth, like molasses. The poor ball never knew what hit it.

One of the most underrated swings I’ve ever seen is Billy-Ray Brown. Great timing and balance for such a big man. Too bad his short game didn’t amount to much.

[Pops]

My favorite is The Big Easy! Ernie has to have the smoothest tempo sorta like spreading peanut butter.

[Andru]

Moe Norman. No one had more control of the ball than that guy. Therefore makes his the sweetest action.

[Paulio]

Annika.. it is just the ideal golf swing in my opinion.

[mberube]

Davis Love III and Ernie Els.

[Kilroy]

Fred Couples in his prime. Pure silk.

[davevandyk]

i gotta say, there is something about Retief's swing. I don't know what it is, but it kinda is like Freddy. He just doesn't look like he is ripping at it, but it goes a long way. Love his swing, and his whole demeanor.

[BC MIST]

From an aesthetic or tempo/rhythm point of view I can understand why Couples name would be chosen. To him add Sam Snead, Gene Littler, Ernie Els and my favourite of all time, Tommy Aaron. However, from a technical or fundamental point of view, Couples has one of the worst swings on Tour.

Sweetest swings: (1) Moe Norman (2) Ben Hogan (3) George Knudson.

[beatnik58]

After watching David Thoms tear up La Costa I'd put him right up there. Smooth, repeatable and did I say smooth?

[Kilroy]

From an aesthetic or tempo/rhythm point of view I can understand why Couples name would be chosen.

That's how I would define "sweetest swing" It may not be the most accurate ball striking.

Moe Norman's ball striking was awesome, but I'm not so sure about the sweetness factor.

Fred Furyk has a great swing that works for him, but is it sweet?

[mpare]

The sweetest swings for me: George Knudson; Sam Snead; Steve Elkington; Tony Lema, Julius Boros, Ernie Els and, of course, Fred Couples.

The ugliest swing that worked: Arnie's gotta be the king, followed by Gary Player when he employed that step-through move. For modern day players, it has to be Furyk. He's got the ugliest functional swing that anyone can imagine.

[dbleber]

Being of the younger generation, I would say Ernie Els has that swing that makes so jealous. How do you have that much power with so little effort? He is the big easy!
Denny

[DMurkman]

George Knudson is right up there, a blast from the past, but I still think that in his prime nobody made a sweeter pass at the golf ball than Tom Purtzer. He should have won 75 tourneys with that swing!

[LobWedge]

George Knudson is right up there, a blast from the past, but I still think that in his prime nobody made a sweeter pass at the golf ball than Tom Purtzer. He should have won 75 tourneys with that swing!

Purtzer is a sharp dresser too. Never a wrinkle or a hair out of place. Classy.

A lot of great swings have come out of the Lone Star state.

[BC MIST]

Being of the younger generation, I would say Ernie Els has that swing that makes so jealous. How do you have that much power with so little effort? He is the big easy. Denny

What distinguishes a "sweet" swinger from others who may have better technical swings, is the manner in which they arrive at the ball. The smoothies are ramp swingers in that the club head gradually accelerates from the top of the backswing to and through the ball.

The others that appear to be less smooth are called double peak swingers in that the club head accelerates from the top, decelerates, accelerates again and is actually decelerating again through impact. Hogan, Norman, Garcia and Sphere Hunter are examples. There is a third kind but I forget what it is. (Found it: a single peak swing )

I have seen acceleration graphs of many Tour players that were done by Howard Butler, former NASA scientist, who later went to work for True Temper, and it seems that all players fell into one of the three.

Lastly, while the smooth swings appear effortless, they are not. All long hitters give the ball a heck of a good poke.

[Sphere Hunter]

Best: Ernie Els
Smoooooooothest: Larry Mize, Els
Most Elegant: Steve Elkington
Most robotic: Adam Scott
Worst looking: Eamon Darcy (Not sure about the spelling of his name but I am quite sure the swing is hideous but he hits it great)
Most fun the watch: Greg Norman, Mickelson

[broken27]

Gotta be Charles Barkley! A one-of-a-kind swing for sure!!!

Dan

[mpare]

Gotta be Charles Barkley! A one-of-a-kind swing for sure!!!

Dan

You're right, Dan. Charles Barkley has one of the ugliest, non-functional swings out there. And to think that he's an athlete. I guess some athletic skills are not easily transferable.

[sensfan63]

My favorite swing ever: Payne Stewart, for its rhythm, tempo, and balance.

Best swing on Tour right now: Ernie Els and/or Retief Goosen

Swing most likely to be voted "Best Ever" by Tour players: Tom Purtzer (he was voted Best Swing on Tour something like 7 or 8 years in a row)

If the above mention of Tom Purtzer doesn't tell you something, read it again. Obviously, this game is not about aesthetics. Go with what works, and get the ball in the hole !!!

[DMurkman]

I would love to see a side by side swing sequence comparing Tom Purtzer and Allan Doyle as they hit the driver. Hey, better yet, maybe they'll be paired together one of these days on the Seniors Tour - what a study in contrasts!

You can't argue with results for Doyle though - must be the hockey player in him ... eh?

[stevetheduffer]

Payne Stewart had the sweetest swing,I think.......
but the one I like to watch over and over is Freddie's

[Marmotte]

Freddy Couples still has one of the best swing to watch, smooth rythmic and effortless. Ernie Els can be called the Big Easy, but his swing does not flow as silk on a woman's body!
On the funny side, Moe Norman and Lee Trevino remain my understanding of the self-made golf swing...
In the young gorilla generation, Charles Howell III and Sergio Garcia are impressing.

[jbrace]

I have to agree with you about Howell III, but no so sure about Garcia. As much as I enjoy watching him play, I just don't think his swing is very good, or (more importantly) dependable. Sergio gets really narrow at the top with alot of wristcok (sp). From here his swing gets fairly steep, in comparison to other tour players that is. Sergio then has no choice but to rely on timing his hands perfectly. It's a swing that can produce 30 on the front side and 39 on the back. Although I hear he's been working on getting his swing a little wider with "quieter" hands. All that being said, he still remains one of my favourites to watch.

[BC MIST]

but the one I like to watch over and over is Freddie's

Why? You admire his outside the line backswing takeaway, extreme flying right elbow, cross the line club shaft, cupped left wrist, reverse pivot and inside loop. Hmmmm! Ooops, forgot. He's smooth.

[Kilroy]

Ya know BC Mist, not everyone will agree with you that Moe's swing is the best. Lots of people would prefer a smooth yet imperfect swing. Moe Norman's swing looks ridiculous to me, but I will not critisize it because it worked for him. I will not critisize you for liking it, even though it makes me laugh to watch it.

[kewarken]

Lots of pro swing videos:

http://www.golfswing.com/goodswings.htm

They're all in Quicktime so you can easily slide back and forth frame by frame.

cheers,

Kris

[LobWedge]

Ahhh yes. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

There seem to be some "cultural" differences here. BC MIST is a proponent of the science of the swing, Natural Golf, TGM, single axis, etc., as many others are. While others find beauty in the individual artistry.

The one thing that great ball strikers have in common is great timing, whether they're born to it or work very hard to develop it.

Moe Norman shot 59 three times with his swing, Jack Nicklaus won 18 majors with his.

I believe that there is no such thing as the perfect swing. It's all about determination, repeatability, and timing.

[Golfpeasant]

My favorite is The Big Easy! Ernie has to have the smoothest tempo sorta like spreading peanut butter.

Gotta agree.

[BC MIST]

Ahhh yes. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

There seem to be some "cultural" differences here. BC MIST is a proponent of the science of the swing, Natural Golf, TGM, single axis, etc., as many others are. While others find beauty in the individual artistry.

The one thing that great ball strikers have in common is great timing, whether they're born to it or work very hard to develop it.

Moe Norman shot 59 three times with his swing, Jack Nicklaus won 18 majors with his.

I believe that there is no such thing as the perfect swing. It's all about determination, repeatability, and timing.

There is a physics term "ideal mechanical advantage" which means for golf there is a golf swing that approaches a machine like characteristic(Iron Byron/Max Headspeed) resulting in maximum output for minimum input. Being human we cannot exactly duplicate these machines, however, the closer a golf swing comes to this machine, the better the result can be. IMO, Moe's single axis swing is the closest. Sure, the more talented you are, the greater are your chances of repeating a good swing or compensating for a poor one, but also, the closer you are to the machine like swing, along with being highly talented, the better the ball striking results are going to be. The conventional swing is obviously flawed because of the double axis setup that needs to become single axis at impact, and the finger grip of the right/lower hand. But, obvious too is that a lot of golfers can play extremely well this way. It is just not the most efficient way to swing a golf club.If conventional golfers were to use a single axis swing, they would be better ball strikers, however, convincing others of this is futile.

Some of you enjoy watching beautiful looking golf swings, whereas I enjoy watching golfers who can hit the ball where they need to hit it. To me it is like watching Meryll Streep and Jennifer Lopez act in a movie. The latter may be nicer to look at but the former sure gets the job done.

[sensfan63]

There is a physics term "ideal mechanical advantage" which means for golf there is a golf swing that approaches a machine like characteristic(Iron Byron/Max Headspeed) resulting in maximum output for minimum input. Being human we cannot exactly duplicate these machines, however, the closer a golf swing comes to this machine, the better the result can be. IMO, Moe's single axis swing is the closest. Sure, the more talented you are, the greater are your chances of repeating a good swing or compensating for a poor one, but also, the closer you are to the machine like swing, along with being highly talented, the better the ball striking results are going to be. The conventional swing is obviously flawed because of the double axis setup that needs to become single axis at impact, and the finger grip of the right/lower hand. But, obvious too is that a lot of golfers can play extremely well this way. It is just not the most efficient way to swing a golf club.If conventional golfers were to use a single axis swing, they would be better ball strikers, however, convincing others of this is futile.

Some of you enjoy watching beautiful looking golf swings, whereas I enjoy watching golfers who can hit the ball where they need to hit it. To me it is like watching Meryll Streep and Jennifer Lopez act in a movie. The latter may be nicer to look at but the former sure gets the job done.

If I suddenly get the urge to want to hit it 40 yards shorter, I'll give single axis a try...but for now, I'll continue to maintain rotation and keep my "inferior" double axis move.

I believe that with the increasing yardage being added to today's courses, you have to be able to drive the ball a long way. And with a single axis swing, which severely limits rotation (and thus clubhead speed), you're not going to hit the ball very far.

All you have to do is look at the PGA Tour...from the top ten money winners last year, one finished in the top-100 in driving accuracy, but all ten finished in the top-40 (i think that's the right number) of driving distance...

It's a brave new world out there, BC MIST, don't get left behind! Of course, you could always move up a tee box