Golf is an interesting sport, but it is also quite strange and weird. There are golf athletes that have the most beautiful swings. Most of them had great careers and earned many wins in major championships. However, not all successful golf athletes have beautiful swings. There are also professional golf players that have some of the most unusual golf swings. There are times when you’d wonder how they are hitting the ball as powerful as they can and score like they do.
Today, high-speed cameras can capture every detail of a golfer’s swing. That is why people can observe them well. Also, gone are the days when a golf swing is expected to be traditional and almost the same as everyone else. Golf teaching professionals today mostly do not try to change the way a player swings the club anymore, as it is all about what the club is doing at impact. The important thing is that the club is in a good position at the ball. With this, we have researched and combined in this post some of the athletes with an unusual golf swings.
1. Matthew Wolfe
Matthew Wolfe, or Matt Wolfe, is quite new to the scene on the PGA Tour, but he has some amazing power. He won in an NCAA Championship and as well as on the PGA Tour. His swings are all out, which can rip his driver and irons. His unique swing begins with a very weird takeaway that goes way outside and across the line at the top. In addition, he lifts his heel way off the ground and then sets, squats, and turns without holding back.
His move involves a great amount of hip turn. Also, the way he shallows the golf club in the downswing helps him generate the amount of speed that he executes. During the downswing, his left foot spins out and moves away from the club. It is quite an impressive golf swing.
2. Nancy Lopez
Nancy Lopez is a retired American professional golfer, and she has had the most unusual golf swings. She has such a beautiful impact position, tempo, and timing in her swing. She can chase the ball down the line and hit it gracefully, which is very remarkable. What made her swing unusual was the lifting of her hands right before the swing began. Then, she would slightly wrap the club around and end up with a flying right elbow with the club across the line at the top.
With that move, she was able to drop the club to the inside and send the club flying towards the ball. Her swing kind of goes against the rules on what a proper backswing should be. However, she gets to the top in a position and then swings away. She has a slow to fast tempo that is full of power. This unusual swing earned her 52 professional victories.
3. Josh Broadaway
Josh Broadaway is popular for playing golf cross-handed and putting left-handed. He never made it big on the PGA Tour, but he did spend time on minor league tours. He ended up joining 6 PGA Tour events. He has an impressive swing speed. In fact, if you don’t look closely, you would not think that there is something unusual with his golf swing. But when you focus on his grip, you will see that he hits the ball with his left hand low as a right-handed golfer.
4. Hu Sung Choi
Hu Sung Choi has a very interesting golf swing. It actually looks like a dance move as it involves jumping off the shot and almost falling over. Even though he almost always falls on his face, he has won professional tournaments. He has won thrice on the Japan Golf Tour. His golf swing is the kind that will give people hope for what could become their own golf swings.
5. Bryson DeChambeau
Bryson DeChambeau is among the purest ball strikers out on Tour, even though he might get lots of stick for taking too long over his shots at times. He is often referred to as the “Mad Scientist.” He has a major in Physics, and he applies that knowledge to his game. Aside from calculating wind densities and other factors before making a shot, his swing already stood out when he first joined the Tour. He also uses very unique golf clubs.
He keeps a very straight plane throughout his swing as if the club he is holding is connected to his arms. His swing might be weird and something most of us had never seen before, but he already has five wins on the PGA Tour because of it.
6. Tommy Gainey
Tommy Gainey is nicknamed “Two Gloves” with his two gloves, baseball grip, bent-over setup, and some fascinating turnings of the club. His swing is easily among the oddest that you will see out on Tour. He grips his club strongly, and instead of letting his trail arm almost fold into 90 degrees like the usual golfer, he keeps it very straight by swinging as far from his body as he can. He also has a unique posture. He bends over until his chest is almost parallel to the ground.
7. Bubba Watson
Bubba Watson is the golf player who loves to play a massive cut with his driver but still hits the ball well over 300 yards. This makes him among the biggest hitters on Tour. His backswing is extremely vertical, picking the club up into the air to a really tall position with his arms stretched above him. Then, he lifts up his lead to help him rotate as much as he can. He also hinges his wrists a lot later compared to other golfers. He waits until he is about at the top before the hinge. The huge amount of lag he makes helps add to his great distance.
8. Arnold Palmer
Arnold Palmer was the golf player who could make the ball do what he wanted on most occasions with his swing. He would hit the ball hard all the time and then would follow through to something of a squatting corkscrew finish. His swing drew lots of stares and comments when he first appeared on the PGA Tour. But he also drew great reverence and respect for that non-classic swing after a career that encompassed 62 PGA Tour wins and 7 major championships.
9. Doug Sanders
Doug Sanders was an American golfer who had the shortest backswing in the professional game. He barely ever takes the club beyond hip height. But he was also among the longest hitters of his day. He won 20 times on the PGA Tour and was among the most colorful characters the game of golf has ever known.
10. Hubert Green
Today, the golf swing is taught on the principle of a wide arc for power, shoulder turn, and transfer of weight from the right side to the left or vice versa for right-handers. However, Hubert Green did not do much of that. But he still won 19 times in the 70s and 80s, including two major wins. According to him, he was not overly fond of his golf swing. If you don’t watch closely, you might miss his compact, quick swing that was big on the wrist incline.
These are some of the athletes that have unusual golf swings. No matter how you swing your golf club, the important part is that you are in a good position and that you hit the ball properly. What happens before that does not really matter too much in the game. As long as you can score well, you can keep on swinging the way you are used to, just like the athletes we’ve mentioned above. We hope this post helped you learn more about the athletes with unusual golf swings.