Image via Kelvin Kelly
Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game improvement column that will help you play smarter and better golf.
With Sir Nick Faldo back in the booth last week at The Open Championship, plenty of fans were reminiscing about his playing days on social media — and with good reason, because Faldo’s golf swing has clearly stood the test of time.
Winner of six Grand Slams, Faldo spent 98 weeks as the No. 1 ranked player in the world during the peak of his career. While that helped him become a legend during his generation, even today, his golf swing is admired by many for his precise stroke – which he spent building with David Ledbetter.
In today’s Play Smart lesson, GOLF To Watch instructor Kelvin Kelley dives deeper into the swing of a Faldo driver – revealing what players can do Still Learn from Faldo’s immortal moves.
3 things you can learn from Nick Faldo’s swing
According to Kelley, setup angles are often overlooked, and there’s usually a root for the part you don’t like about golf. This is hard to fix, especially when the club is in motion – so you’d better fix it in a fixed position.
In order to help achieve this, here are the three areas in driver preparation that you can learn from Faldo.
1. Arms relaxed
Having soft, relaxed arms is the equivalent of fast arms on a golf swing. Find your arms to be relaxed, with the pass shoulder under the front arm. This will enable you to bend the lane arm and in a “push motion” to start the swing.
2. The relationship of the upper and lower halves
With the arm structure above, this allows your upper body to be slightly behind your lower body. This is the proper position of the body on impact. Note that the shoulder line also matches the eye line in Faldo’s setup.
3. Foot angle
The angle of the feet is easy to overlook on the golf swing, yet it plays a huge role in how the body moves. With an open lane, the lane side of the body can work backwards and around the top of the swing.
The best way to practice this heading position is through direct comments. Using a mirror, a reflection from a window, your shade from the sun, or even your phone all work great. If you decide to use your phone, just switch the camera to screen view and place it in front of you.
With the help of the Faldo swing, you can start making great contact and see better shot results.
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