Colin Morikawa Before and After: Why His New Swing Looks More Old School

The Rise of Modern Precision

When Colin Morikawa arrived on the PGA Tour, he looked like the future of golf. His rise was so rapid that it almost felt inevitable. Within a remarkably short period of time he established himself as one of the best ball strikers in the world, collected major championships, and built a reputation for control that very few players have ever possessed.

What made Morikawa so fascinating wasn’t just the results. It was how different he appeared from many of his peers. While modern golf increasingly became associated with speed, aggression, and power, Morikawa seemed to thrive through precision. He looked like a player who could place the ball wherever he wanted and repeat his motion under immense pressure.

Yet golf has a way of exposing limitations over time. The motion that takes a player to the top isn’t always the motion that keeps them there.

A Different Morikawa

Fast forward to the 2026 Masters and we are looking at a noticeably different golfer.

Not a complete rebuild. Not a reinvention. But certainly a player who has moved away from some of the characteristics that defined him earlier in his career.

The swing appears freer. More athletic. Less concerned with maintaining certain positions and more concerned with creating motion. While the changes are subtle, the overall impression is significant. The club appears to flow differently. The body appears to react differently. The entire motion feels less manufactured.

That is what immediately caught my attention.

Moving Away From Positions

The modern golf world often assumes that progress means becoming more modern. More data. More positions. More technical detail. Yet when you study many of the greatest players in history, a different picture emerges.

The swings often look simpler.

Not simple because they lacked sophistication, but simple because they were built around function.

Many golfers today learn the swing through positions. They learn where the club should be. Where the hands should be. Where the body should be. Over time the swing can become a collection of checkpoints rather than a flowing athletic motion.

The old-school greats often approached the problem differently. Their primary concern was not how the swing looked. Their concern was what the club was doing.

The positions emerged from the solution.

Why Hogan Comes To Mind

Ben Hogan is perhaps the most misunderstood example of this.

People often describe Hogan as a technical golfer. In reality, Hogan was obsessed with function. He wanted the club to behave in a certain way. He wanted predictable impact conditions. He wanted reliable ball flights.

Everything else served those goals.

When I watch Morikawa’s newer motion, I see elements of that same thinking. The swing appears less focused on creating a model and more focused on creating an outcome. There is a sense that the motion is being allowed to happen rather than constantly managed.

That doesn’t make it less technical.

It makes it more functional.

The Trap Many Golfers Fall Into

This matters because everyday golfers often face the exact same challenge.

They assume the answer lies in adding more information. Another swing thought. Another position. Another checkpoint.

The result is frequently the opposite of what they want.

The motion becomes slower. More cautious. Less athletic. The club begins to lose its natural role within the swing because the golfer is too busy managing body positions.

Power suffers. Timing suffers. Consistency suffers.

The irony is that many golfers become more knowledgeable while simultaneously becoming worse movers.

The Club Still Comes First

One of the core ideas behind Forgotten Master Moves is that the club must come first.

Power begins with how the club is moved.

Direction begins with how the club is moved.

Consistency begins with how the club is moved.

The body matters, of course, but the body exists to support the movement of the club. Not the other way around.

That is why Morikawa’s changes are so interesting. They appear to move him toward a motion that is less concerned with appearance and more concerned with function.

Final Thoughts

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Colin Morikawa’s newer swing is that it doesn’t feel revolutionary.

It feels familiar.

Despite being a modern player competing in a modern era, some of the principles now visible in his motion seem to belong to a much older tradition. One that values function over appearance, movement over positions, and performance over theory.

In a sport that constantly searches for the next new thing, Morikawa may have rediscovered something that great players understood all along.

The swing is not a collection of positions.

It is a motion designed to move the club.

If you are into swing development for real then the best question you should ask yourself is this – which pattern fits just you? Do the quiz below. It takes 2 minutes.

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