Who Is She?

A former world number one on the LPGA Tour, multiple major winner and with over 30 professional wins in a very short career, we never really got to see how good Lorena Ochoa could have been. She retired at the tender age of 29 years old, when she was still the world number one and at the top of her game.

Very few other professional sports people have ever retired when so young and playing so well. It would have been interesting to see if Ochoa could have carried on and kept setting the record books alight.

Now with a young family, there has been recent speculation that she may play a few mini tour events and see if she still has the passion for the game.

What She Does

As you would expect for a golfer of her age, Ochoa takes a very athletic set up position and creates a big powerful turn into her backswing. The majority of her downswing power is generated by a very athletic lower half. She drives aggressively with her right hip and knee into the start of the downswing, and shifts her bodyweight aggressively back towards the target using a fast unwinding hip action.

One of the key signature moves in this golf swing is a rather unorthodox dipping of the head. Ochoa's head drops vertically downwards and laterally backwards at the start of her downswing, a movement which she herself blames on using a unsuitably heavily weighted golf club in the early days of her golf career. The poorly fitted and too heavy driver caused her to swing in an unbalanced fashion and pulled her body weight back during her formative years of learning to play the game.

What Can You Learn?

Ochoa's swing proves that size does not automatically equate to distance. Her slight frame gives no sense of her ability to generate massive power. The lesson to be taken from this is that correct technique and dynamic leg action are more important than overall size and build.

What Should You Avoid?

Clearly an excessive head movement from Ochoa's golf swing is not something you would be encouraged to copy. However, if we understand the reason for this was the poorly fitted equipment earlier on in her career, the real lesson is that particularly with junior golfers we must ensure that all of their equipment is the right size and the right weight.

Any serious golfer who wants to play to their highest potential should invest in properly custom fitted equipment.