swing tempo is among the fastest on tour, which is something most amateurs misconstrue as a bad thing. “You’ll hear a lot of amateurs say, ‘Oh, I got quick,’ ” Summerhays says. “The truth is that many take it back too slow. As a result, they try to generate too much speed in the transi- tion, which can feel a little jerky. Tony goes so fast on the backswing that it makes his transition less violent, and it feels smooth to him. He doesn’t feel like he has to force the power in the transition.”
erating ball speeds exceeding 320 ki- lometres per hour, Summerhays says. But with that power came a price in the form of missed fairways, so Finau grad- ually began shortening his backswing. “He’s the only person I’ve coached whose swing got shorter,” Summer- hays says. “I don’t teach that – the game is about power and distance – but it helps him control it. Because he has a 6-foot-8 wingspan (2.03 metres), he can be short and still generate lots of leverage and power.” The 6-foot-4 (1.93m) Finau’s back-
Since his Korn Ferry days, Finau has made some subtle adjustments to hit more fairways. At address, he posi- tions his head further behind the ball than most other professionals. This al- lows him to shallow his angle of attack and hit more up on the ball without deviating much from his iron swing. “It simplifies things for him,” Sum- merhays says. “He doesn’t have to move off the ball to the right. He can pretty much stay centred behind the ball.” As a 16-year-old, Finau possessed elite power and had no trouble gen-
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 83
JUNE 2024
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