If you haven’t been paying attention to Nicolai Hojgaard, you should be. The 24-year-old Dane has racked up four DP World Tour wins, including last year’s Irish Open, and he’s doing it with a swing that’s both powerful and beautifully simple. What stands out is how efficiently he delivers the club through impact—a move that reveals several key fundamentals.
1. Great setup from Nicolai as he adopts an athletic and stable posture . His arms hang beautifully under his body with his right forearm relaxed under his left.
2. Great leg pressure holding the ground as he starts the primary movement in the takeaway. Fantastic upper body coil against his lower half as the arms extend back. He allows his right hand to stay on top of the shaft allowing the clubface to match his spine producing a no fuss pattern with no unnecessary sway.
3. As his lead arm reaches parallel to the ground his hips start to open slightly as his right elbow continues to fold. You’ll notice his wrists have stayed relatively firm with minimal vertical set. This allows his hands and arms to work slightly deeper than what you may typically see.
4. You’ll start to notice the push pull factor with his lower half as his trail leg extends and his lead leg flexes and he continues to make a beautiful upper body coil with minimal wrist set and very good hand and arm depth.
5. Reaching the top of his pattern his lead arm has worked under his shoulder plane his right elbow has moved slightly behind his body and the club reaches a point short of parallel. All these factors are influences of the minimal vertical wrist set he adopts and fantastic upper body coil against the ground. It really is a powerful position ready to unleash to transition.
6. In transition he uncoils nicely against the ground with his lower and upper half. It’s a relaxed flow as his arms start to move back in front of his body.
7. As he continues to uncoil his trail elbow has moved beautifully back in front of his body and the shaft plane runs perfectly through the middle of the ball around 45 degrees. You notice he’s now down cocked his wrists which once released will generate optimum speed once combined with his excellent rotational power.
8. Pre impact you start to see the vertical power kick in as his hip rotation starts to slow down and he pushes back up from the ground. You’ll notice he maintains excellent posture even at this speed giving his arms lots of room as the shaft starts to match up with his wrists just before impact. Again the separation his hip and shoulder coil is incredible showing now strong and athletic he really is.
9. Fantastic arm extension and start line control at such high speed as he drives through the ball with his trail side.
10. Half way through he again maintains excellent posture as the club exits under his shoulder plane similar to now his lead arm worked during the backswing. His hips have stayed back and his shoulder plane is extending towards where the ball once was pre impact.
11. He continues to extend and maintain his left side bend as his arms and hands work up and the natural rotation of the club keeps in.
12. His head starts to rotate as he reaches the finish of his swing as the body starts to down and enjoy the shot.
