A Quick Look at Na Yeon Choi's Swing

Na Yeon Choi is 5'5" tall and averages just over 252 yards off the tee. That's 56th on the LPGA, which is considerably better than average.

She also hits over 73% of her fairways, which puts her 75th. That would be incredible on the PGA Tour but it's just average on the LPGA.

Since she won in Arkansas on Sunday, I thought I'd do a quick post about her swing -- in particular, something that I think is a real strength of hers. This is a short video, only 35 seconds long, but it shows her swing several times and gradually slows it down. It's just a face-on view but it's recent and it shows what I want you to see.



NYC's swing, like that of most of the Korean players, is very simple and mechanically sound. But I want you to notice how balanced, how rhythmic, how smooth it is. Although she's hitting it pretty hard -- and developing quite a bit of swing speed in order to hit the ball as far as she does -- she doesn't appear to be going at it that hard at all.

The reason is that she avoids exaggeration. By that I mean that she doesn't make big dramatic moves when she doesn't need them. She's not moving off the ball on her backswing, she's not lurching forward at impact, and she doesn't squat down dramatically and then jump up off the ground in an effort to create more swing speed.

What she's doing is using her club as a tool. She swings it and lets it do the work of launching the ball. It's entirely proper to say that she NAILS the shot because she uses her club like a hammer. She can do this because, although she's swinging as fast as she can, she's trying to keep her muscles relaxed throughout the swing. Relaxed muscles can move faster than tight muscles, and she doesn't have to lurch back and forth because almost all of the energy is going into the club.

If you've ever swung a tennis racket or thrown a Frisbee™, you know this feeling. There's a sense of... let me call it "gathering yourself" as the top of your backswing. It's not really a pause because you don't stop moving. It's just a moment in your swing when you change direction.

If you exaggerate your lower body movement when you start down, you'll destroy this feeling. I often recommend that you try to feel as if you were falling from the top of your backswing, literally just relaxing your legs so both feet are planted solidly on the ground and your hips automatically move forward a bit. If you don't interfere with the start of your downswing, your lower body WILL start your move into the ball; it's physically impossible to change direction any other way.

Watch Na Yeon Choi's swing a few times, try to imagine what it feels like, and then try to duplicate it. Imitation is one of the easiest ways to learn tempo and speed.

Morgan Pressel's Tempo Drill

Most weekend players have a problem avoiding that "jerk from the top," the too-quick change of direction that messes up your swing. Well, Morgan Pressel has a breathing exercise that she uses to smooth out her swing:



It's deceptively simple, this "breathe in during your backswing, breathe out during your downswing" idea. When Morgan says to make sure you breathe out all the way to the finish, that's the key. If you try to change direction too quickly, you won't have a long smooth exhale. Rather, you'll "puff" out your breath too fast and it will slow down your swing.

If you do it right, you'll be able to swing at full speed but you'll get that brief moment to "gather yourself" at the top and make a smooth swing to the finish. Otherwise, your swing won't feel smooth at all.

It's a simple drill that you can use out on the course as well... and quite frankly, proper breathing can help you pick up some club head speed. If you look at the url for the golf.com page I linked to above the video, you see it says it's a tempo trick for longer drives. I can tell you this from experience: Controlling the power of your punches with your breathing is an old martial arts trick. To use the technique to its fullest extent with your golf swing, just exhale more gently at the top as you start down, then "force your breath out" as the club head strikes the ball. You might be surprised how much it helps!