Modern top tier golfers definitely display old school swinging elements of the old greats. These swing styles are making their way back to the leaderboards today.

How to spot Old School Swinging Elements? 

Once you’ve spent enough time in the depths of simplistic old school intentions you can start deciphering the enigmas of golf swings. I always have the notion of – what I see isn’t what they do – close at hand not to be tricked by the limitations of first level thinking observations.

What I’m looking for is the synchronized chest turn at and past impact together with an overall feeling of a longer swing journey. I also look for smoothness and flow. All of these components witness usage of old school intentions in the modern game. From an even more abstract point of view: I look try to to spot see non punctual power climax and utilization of the complete swing arc.

I’ll just walk through the different elements for each player. It bears mentioning again, no player is completely fit “with a system” but rather strong idiosyncrasies are shown. This is also why I only teach inner workings of your power and not “very specific positions”.

The Modern Tour Case Study

• Shane Lowry – I have a fascination for golfers that operate at peak performance but rather drink a few pints than hitting the gym. It witnesses of a fundamental understanding of the relationship between power and utilizing the club the proper way. Mr Lowry is a from what I can gather trail handed old core swinger style player that has proven himself as one of golfs best ball striker when it matters the most. Portrays the perfect utilization of creating power with his trail hand in the down and through swing in the optimal way.
• Hideki Matsuyama – If you pay attention you will see mr Matsuyama rehearsing the club’s overtaking of the hands before every shot he hits. He also has shown the absolute need for a break on top of his swing to start the movement in the right order. He has been side tracked with squating moves and such but in his core one of the players that swing the club the most.
• Patrick Cantlay – He suffered from a huge back issue as a young player due to an intense x-factor (separation between lower and upper body) and is showcasing club and body sequencing at the highest level. But he is a hard nut to crack because he says that he tries to rotate the body as much as possible from the top position. I almost apply a smoke screen layer on this because it’s not what he does. An amazing ball striker where the follow through rotation is extremely harmonized.
• Robert MacIntyre – The school book example ala olden times how the club can overtake the hands and still deliver striking with top nodge control. That he broke through in the ryder cup is another token of using the core mechanics to its absolute peak. If you watch his club it will exit straight upwards after the ball which is very similar to mr 18 majors and very far from “low and to the left” as many teach.
• Justin Thomas – Growing up as rather small and with an old school PGA teacher father it’s no surprise that JT demonstrates the high swing and club leading sequencing of a lead hand dominant old school swinger like e.g. Johnny Miller. JT is forced into leaning right at impact since he jump rotates (boosts his body more than normal body rotation) through the impact area.
• Austin Eckroat – This would be the most hoganesque through swing on tour today. An aggressive chest rotation in a harmonized fashion with this, in my opinion, trail handed version of the old swinging core movements.
• Sepp Straka – The big man represents harmony in a swinging motion where the blade is kept in check through smart wrist movements in the through swing. Potentially one of the smoothest swings of tour and a bit of homage to Ernie, Vijay and Freddy. Beautiful motion in general.
• Louis Oosthuizen – The smoothest swing in golf? The shaft plane is steepened in the downswing and somehow he is still very shallow into the ball. I would say the harmony of this closely puts this as one of my top 10 swings of all time. How he has less than 10 majors is a mystery but understanding that his life priorities are 1) family 2) the farm and 3) golf kind of sheds some light. An amazing motion.
• Xander Schauffele – The last few years Xander has moved into the realms of letting go of the “use the lag” business and more moved into utilizing the full potential of the forces in the golf club. I believe he has worked with different coaches but Chris Como especially. They’ve done a hell of a job to turn XS into the smoothest swinger in golf today alongside increasing his ball speed. Natural power transition happening in front of our eyes.
• Scottie Scheffler – The extreme package of this amazing golfer is hard to understand unless you know what you are looking for. He is so wide and from the inside in the downswing that he even slips backwards with his trail foot (opposite of early extension). This sets up the massive complete body rotation that he performs through the ball and then the huge arm momentum pulls the entire package towards the target. This is the old school swinging motion on steroids with the (critique world’s nr 1 player….) difference that he doesn’t refold his arms intentionally as early as e.g. Sam Snead.
• Ludvig Åberg – Coming out hot from colleague is no surprise when you see how he rotates synchronized through the ball in a hoganescue accelerating fashion. There is not a trace of some kind of weird baseball swing here but a pure swinging motion where the hands and the club have a clear role for the entire through swing to his finish. I wouldn’t be surprised if he keeps in the top 5 in the world for decades to come. The wide backswing position also makes life easy for him.
• Jake Knapp – Fred Couples with body building tendencies. I find it so cool when a ultra strong person chooses to use the club instead of “muscling the shot” with brute force. It’s just a pure testament to the downswing being an underutilized part of the golf swing for most golfers today.
• Sami Välimäki – He first caught my eye on the post it stamp in 2023’s open championship. A half shot where the club went straight upwards after the ball like the good old bear in finest fashion. Although extremely powerful he always let’s the club overtake the hands in the old school motion that I love.
• Adam Scott – No comments needed. Adam Scott has one of the game’s most natural swinging motions. He utilizes natural power and can hit a pretty high draw of the deck with a driver. That shouldn’t be possible right?
• The list can definitely be made longer…

Conclusions – Old School Swinging on Tour

Not outracing your motion with your hips (like e.g. Dusting Johnson with 70 degree open hips at impact) “forces” you to use natural elements for creating power, accelerating and controlling power. It’s great to see old school swing elements in the modern game.

If you are into golf systems and different styles to swing then check out this page.

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