Jason Day has been knocking on the door for a few years now, so in my opinion it was only a matter of time before he notched up his first Major.
His mental game is what impresses me the most. Yes, his golf swing is terrific – as you’ll see in the analysis below. But the way he conducts himself on and off the course is what I like the most about him.
Pre-shot routine
He doesn’t walk up to the ball until he’s visualized exactly what he wants the ball to do – from start to finish, and he’s in no rush either.
He stands behind the ball, controlling his breathing (4 seconds in – 4 seconds out), while his eyes are nearly closed. This I think, helps him shut out all the distractions and helps him focus on building up a clear image of the shot he wants to play.
Once he sees it in his minds eye, he starts walking towards the ball. But once he’s got this mini-movie in his mind he doesn’t allow it to drift away. He’s fully absorbed in trying to make his movie become reality.
This is such an important part of playing the game well, and I hope you picked up how he conducts himself around the ball as well.
It’s as though he’s tip toeing up to the ball in an effort to not disturb his train of thought. He’s fully immersed in the shot, it’s clear, bright, and he knows exactly what to do – play out the movie..
His golf swing isn’t too bad either! I’d describe it has a two-plane, restriction based swing, proving once again that there’s many ways to skin a cat.
A few weeks ago when I predicted a win a the US Open I took a snap of the drill he was using on the range.
You can see the stick under his right foot. This I believe, is there to feel like he is keeping his right heel down longer in the downswing. Just maintaining contact longer..
This makes sense when you dive deeper into his swing. He has such tremendous hip drive/thrust coming down, that I’m sure his bad shots originate from his hips spinning out to fast. The good players fault..
Take a look at the analysis below..
Hi James, I have a question. Since Zachs leg straightens onthe backswing how does it affects his downswing. It sounds like you’re a stack and tilt teacher if I’m correct. I tried that style of swing and it didn’t work. Also which swing do you think is easier to learn?
Hi Cordell, Zachs right leg will regain flex as he starts the downswing. This blog may with that https://www.jamesparkergolf.com/improve-your-timing-by-regaining-flexion/ the idea behind straightening the right leg (a little) is to allow the hips to turn on a tilted angle and therefore stay centered. So it’s more of a less-restriction model as opposed to a restriction based model where the right knee is kept flexed. The hip turn should increase and therefore make it easier for the spine to do a good job tilting, turning and extending. Many of the top players throughout history have straightened their back leg while their front leg flexes.
Also, have a read of this blog to understand the difference between the two models https://www.jamesparkergolf.com/to-resist-or-not-to-resist/
Hope that helps.
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Thank you! A couple of years now. Please join my newsletter and I’ll keep you posted when my new site goes live. Should be feb or march 2016.