After one of the most successful amateur careers in golf history, Leona Maguire has continued to win at the top level. In this Leona Maguire swing analysis, PGA Pro Jack Backhouse breaks down the golf swing to see why she is so good and what we can learn to hit the ball further.
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Leona Maguire Swing Analysis: Set-Up
Maguire stands to the ball in a perfect set-up position. She has a well balanced, tall posture, a good stance with all her feet, knees, hips, shoulders and forearms square. This can be overlooked by amateur golfers who tinker with their swing but these things go a long way in creating a neutral golf swing.
Maguire has quite a weak left-hand grip, which results in an open to closed-face style golf swing with a lot of release and whip-through impact, but this can be used to create more speed.
Backswing
Leona Maguire starts the backswing with her left shoulder moving down significantly, creating a steep shoulder tilt that she stays on throughout the backswing. Doing this keeps the club head out in front of her throughout the whole backswing.
She doesn’t have much hip turn or change in hip flex throughout the backswing but does manage to achieve a well over 100-degree shoulder turn, which is essential for power.
I really like how, at the top of the swing, Maguire has her hands well above her head whilst also achieving a decent amount of depth to her hands. This is a similar position to Scottie Scheffler and other long hitters and is desirable because of how big the arc of the swing is, giving more time for speed and momentum.
Downswing
With only a small amount of hip turn in the backswing, Maguire has to start the downswing with her hands moving back and down quite significantly in the transition so that her lower body doesn’t outrace the upper body.
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She does manage to sync everything up nicely and hits an extremely good, neutral delivery position with open hips, the club behind her hands, and a loaded bent right arm.
Maguire does create a lot of lag in the downswing, which means that as she approaches impact, her hips actually have to stop turning to sling-shot her hands and arms through to square the face and release the power. This is a similar move to Rory McIlroy and creates massive club head speed.
Into The Finish
Post impact, Maguire manages to control all these moving parts into a controlled balanced finish position. There is a lot of hand release very quickly after impact but it is all timed beautifully.
What can we learn?
Maguire’s technique is interesting in so much that she really creates a slingshot in the downswing to maximise her club head speed. Here’s what you can copy:
- Flawless set up
- Huge shoulder turn in the backswing
- Hands work down and behind to sync up the upper and lower body in the downswing
- Turn your hips and throw your hands at it into impact to release the energy out of the club
You may not want to copy Leona Maguire’s golf swing exactly, but watching his can help you understand your own more.
If you enjoyed this Leona Maguire swing analysis, keep an eye out for more tour winners’ swing analysis in the future.
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