Worldwide Golf

Two-time Major champion Dustin Johnson is well-known for his long power game, helped by his athleticism standing at 6’4” and 190lbs.

The American used to be one of the longest drivers on the PGA Tour having been ranked in the top ten annually in driving distance from 2008 to 2020, leading in 2015. By virtue of his 2020 Travelers Championship win, Johnson also became the third player in PGA Tour history to win a Tour title in each of his first 13 seasons, joining Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, while he’s also been the World No.1 for a total of over 130 weeks.

His brother, Austin, has been his caddie since 2013 and despite also having a pro as a dad, DJ is largely self-taught and learnt to play from watching other golfers on the range. With his unique movement DJ’s obviously spent a huge number of hours moulding his own movement, following the advice of the late Ben Hogan who would state “the secret is in the dirt”.

One of my favourite movers out there, DJ starts with a very tall athletic look to his posture. A common error we see here with the longer clubs is not being able to see the left arm, DJ’s is in a strong position.
One point we don’t see from this angle that’s worth noting is how his head is tilted at setup with his left ear closer to the ball. This allows him the freedom to coil as he does so well. Look out for this next time you watch him on TV.
Having the ability to maintain your balance points is important for ball striking and power. That said, keeping your head absolutely still could inhibit your movement. Allow yourself a little freedom if you need it.
Do you see how DJ’s left hand is in front of his left shoulder in this frame? Whilst creating such leverage, the American maintains his clubface angle well matching it to his spine. Many would call this closed, however it’s square to his arc.

DJ maintains his arm structure allowing him to create such width. But what do we mean by arm structure? It’s the triangular shape created between the arms and the chest. Note how DJ’s elbows here at 3/4 back are still the same width apart as setup.
It’s often said that during DJ’s takeaway his club is outside the line. However, this is the appearance created by how well he spirals his body. We can also note how his hat has turned more to face the camera allowing for a 120 degree shoulder spiral.
DJ maintains his posture wonderfully with a slight straightening of the right leg with a matching spiralled left knee. We can not see it from this angle but he’s already pressured his left side to increase his coil further during the downward spiral.
The biggest talking point of his swing is the top of his backswing where we can see here his left wrist is more bowed. I have to say this is something I like to see in a swing. With DJ’s massive turn he is able to stretch his arms nice and high.

During transition the American uses the ground wonderfully. This is partly due to his centred backswing but more importantly how he maintains his posture, working his lower body down and around to the left, transferring the power through efficiently.
Here we start to see Johnson has started to transition the energy through his body into the club. His left leg helps to create space for his arms to work down using natural forces.
His lower half is now working around and up. His shoulders are still a fraction closed with his forearms pointing right ready to release the energy. Due to DJ’s lower half opening, he has created huge room here for his arms.
We can see here just how DJ creates so much ball speed. Not only has he moved all of the energy from is body out to his full extended arms, but perhaps more importantly presented a square clubface to the ball. This allows for a bigger area to strike the ball.

It’s evident from this frame just how well DJ transfers the energy through his body as his lower half remains stable as the arms and club accelerate through. As we saw earlier in his swing, DJ maintains his posture but allows his head to rotate through giving freedom to his shoulder turn.
The two-time Major champion matches the movement of the upper body and arms to his lower body spiralling around and up to the left. Take note again to the width between DJ’s elbows, the extension and connection he’s able to achieve can be attributed to his flexibility and strength.
All golfers can use these four things from DJ’s swing to improve: 1. Ability to maintain his balance 2. Postural control 3. The use of the big muscles 4. Transfer of energy from big muscles into the arms and club

DJ's swing sequence