on Worldwide Golf

SWING IT LIKE KO

LYDIA KO SWING SEQUENCE

By Jonathan Craddock, PGA Professional, Peter Cowen Academy

Lydia Ko is already a household name in the game of golf despite still being just 26 years old. Born in South Korea, she moved to New Zealand when she was four and by the age of eight she was already competing in the under-19 division of golf tournaments.

Her rise the top has been meteoric with a host of incredible achievements, such as becoming the world number one at the age of 17. The two-time Major winner simply wouldn’t have been able to achieve all of what she’s achieved without a consistent, sound and brilliant golf swing. You will no doubt be able to learn a thing or two from this swing sequence as she finds many great positions in her movement.

Ko is a very consistent striker of the ball and we can see straight away. She starts in a very athletic position tilted forward from the hips. Note that if we were to draw a line down from her tailbone it is not too far behind her heels.
This allows for this super start to the swing created by the body action. Her arms, hands and club really aren’t doing too much as the club works nicely around and up.
I have to say 99% of golfers I see who struggle at this point in the swing have their arms already doing too much work. The club head is usually moving lower and more inside towards the thigh area. Ko, however, continues to spiral and maintain beautiful posture.
Ko’s body continues to spiral and we see little to no rotation from the arms, hands and club action. Instead, we see a slight hinging of the wrists and cocking of the club along with a fold of the right elbow.

Look how high the 26-year-old’s left arm is with the clubface in the perfect spot ready to change direction. Take a look at the next frame and then look back to this one. Brilliant.
We can see Ko’s change of direction is incredible with the arms lowering into a perfect spot for delivery, along with her lower half spiralling down and around creating power and stability.
Look at how much room Ko has created with her wonderful body action. Many of you reading this article should take note of how she doesn’t move the clubhead out in front of the body, rather the arms and hands are out in front instead.
Club is in the perfect position with the arm structure out in front of the body. You will hear me mention how great players maintain the angle of the trailing elbow and shaft. This is due to the dynamic balance and maintenance of posture.

The body action is responsible for holding on to deliver the power at impact which we can see here with the left side braced and upper right side continuing to move through. This continued spiral is important to maintain the wonderfully square face following impact.
Lydia holds her posture wonderfully with her arms, hands and club action very much being controlled by the continuation of the spiral from her body action, around and up. Notice how extended the left leg is in allowing her to maintain her posture so well.
Her upper body continues to spiral around and up to match the proceeding movement from the lower body. When you get the opportunity to watch Ko play please take it. She has wonderful control and balance as movement. It’s a very simplistic movement created by practicing the correct movements.
Textbook finish to a golf swing with the shaft at 90 degrees to her spine angle. Her elbows are still in front of her with an upper body at least 45 degrees left to the target. The matching arm action and body action is something all golfers reading this could work on at low speeds.