What Makes It Work? Scottie Scheffler Swing Analysis

Scottie Scheffler is back in the winner’s circle after finally holing some putts, but it is his long game that puts him in a position to win week in and week out. His finish position is a little funky, but is it form or function? Find out below as PGA Professional Jack Backhouse explains how his swing works in a Scottie Scheffler golf swing analysis.

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Scottie Scheffler Swing Analysis: Set-Up

Scottie Scheffler’s posture is A1 perfect. He has fairly straight legs, not loads of bend at the hips, and the back of his arms sat directly above the balls of his feet. This is a very neutral, relaxed position that will give him a great range of motion up to the top of the swing.

Scheffler stands with quite a wide stance, which you can imagine is necessary to be able to remain standing with his crazy leg action post-impact! It is also worth noting he has a neutral to weak grip, which is something he is constantly working on with his coach, carrying a club with a grip trainer on to every golf tournament so that it doesn’t slip.

Backswing

Scheffler has loads of width in his backswing, keeping his right arm pretty much straight up to the top. This creates a giant arc with the club, which gives him club head speed. He also gets his hands extremely high at the top, with a neutral to open face by today’s standards. This upright, open position is very similar to GOAT Jack Nicklaus’s swing and is what allows him to hit the ball so high, giving him superior iron play.

Scottie Scheffler doesn’t achieve much hand depth at the top of the swing, which is contrary to what a pro would teach an amateur golfer. From this very upright position, most golfers would swing down very steep and hit slices, but Scheffler does something very unorthodox in his downswing to make this work.

Downswing

This is where the magic happens. To shallow the club from that very extreme, upright top-of-the-backswing position, Scheffler drives his legs and hips towards the target more than any other golfer on any professional tour. The effect of this is that Scheffler is able to swing down without his shoulders opening too much, stopping his hands from getting too far outside and keeping his impact very neutral.

If Scheffler had rotated his body without that huge lateral shift, we may have never even heard his name, as he would have been the biggest slicer ever to walk the earth. His hip slide is the glue that keeps the whole swing together. Equally, if a player like McIlroy with a flat swing shifted laterally this much in the downswing his swing would no longer work. This is a perfect example of pairing two characteristics together that by themselves wouldn’t work but together produce a wonderfully powerful golf swing.

Into the Finish

Whereas in all the other winner’s swing analysis I’ve done, the professional finds themselves in a lovely balanced position at the end of the swing. Scottie Scheffler laughs in the face of a balanced follow-through. His feet routinely slide all over the place, depending on what type of shot he is attempting. This is all a result of his massive hip drive and not something to be copied.

He does a great job of extending his arms for a really long time into the finish, further widening and lengthening the arc of the clubhead. He may have the longest arc of any professional golfer; the longer the arc, the more clubhead speed. It also gives you some style points, for what it’s worth.

What can we learn?

Scottie Scheffler has won so much that copying some characteristics will surely help your game. These are the simple things anyone would benefit from working on.

• Perfect set-up: check your body angles and constantly watch your grip. Starting from a good place gives us a head start on hitting good golf shots.
• For more speed and height to your shots, try making a wider arc with the club head in the backswing and follow through.
• You can only drive your hips laterally as much as Scheffler if you get your hands upright as he does!

If you enjoyed this Scottie Scheffler swing analysis, keep an eye out for more tour winners’ swing analysis in the future.

If you are interested in seeking further information from Jack that is more specific to your golf game, you can book an in-person or online golf lesson by clicking here.

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