Thompson describes it as “keeping his left arm more connected to his chest at the top.” When he stays “connected,” the amount of width he creates is sig- nificant. From there, he drops his trail arm in front of his right hip (above, fifth image), which shallows out the club so that it can approach the ball from the inside. At impact, his left leg is posted, and he’s pushing hard off the ground, which allows his arms to go into full extension and unleash all that leverage. “His swing just screams athleticism and effortless power,” Eshleman says.
making sure that he extends his arms away from his body before he begins his turn ( above, second image ). If he rotates too soon, the arms get sucked inside and the plane of the club gets too verti- cal, leading to a pull or flare to the right. “We want his arms working slightly out on the takeaway to slightly deeper at the top, instead of working in and up,” says Eshleman, the director of golf at the Country Club of Birmingham. “The feeling that he has is that he’s throw- ing a bucket full of water over his trail shoulder at the top of the backswing.”
moves a little, it’s a lot. We try to keep his body action very simple and let all that leverage do the work.” Thompson averaged a robust 311 yards in driving distance in his rookie year on the 2023 PGA Tour, and 306 this year. The former two-time, first- team All-American at the University of Georgia is in the Top 50 in the World Ranking. His first tour win came in the John Deere Classic in July with a 28- under total of 256. The key to establishing all that width on the backswing, says Eshleman, is
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 103
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator