shorten my backswing to become more accurate,’ ” says Dahlquist, “and I’ll al- ways tell them, ‘Well, not necessarily.’ ” The important thing is matching your tempo to your swing length, Dahlquist says. Players with short backswings and fast tempos, like Jon Rahm and Tony Finau, have what Dahlquist refers to as “ballistic speed.” Longer swingers, like Knapp, have “building speed.” “For amateurs, a longer swing can help in two ways,” Dahlquist says. “First, it gives them more time to square up the clubface with their hands. It also gives the club more time to ramp up. Amateurs need time to let the speed gather.”
to rotate that far back – so long as the structure is still there – it’s going to cre- ate more speed.” Ortega remains an integral part of Knapp’s team, alongside Golf Digest No 9-ranked teacher Dana Dahlquist. A closer look at Knapp’s backswing re- veals a very late wrist set (above, third image) and an extended right-arm po- sition at the top (above, fourth image). His right arm is quite a bit off his body, but because his backswing is so long, he’s able to gradually increase his speed on the downswing and maximise the clubhead’s velocity through the ball. “A lot of amateurs will say, ‘I need to
TEAMING UP FOR ANOTHER TROPHY
Jake Knapp teamed up in December 2024 with Thai LPGA star Patty Ta- vatanakit to win the Grant Thornton Invitational, a 54-hole mixed pairs tournament at Tiburon GC in Florida. They hadn’t met before but had much in common. Both played college golf at UCLA. Both hit the ball miles. Both won on their respective tours on February 25, 2024. They began the tournament with a 58 in a scramble format. Knapp then had a 59 in Feb- ruary 2025 in the first round of the Cognizant Classic at PGA National, although he failed to win.
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JUNE 2025
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