Who Is He?

Vijay has the reputation as being the most prolific practiser on the PGA tour. He is often found on the practice ground up to three hours before his round of golf, and up to another three hours after he has finished. This former world number one and three time major winner was at one time touted as Tiger's biggest rival, during the 2004-2005 golf season. He has more recently found notoriety after his run in with the PGA tour over the use of a banned substance, some Deer Antler spray, which has resulted in Vijay actually suing the PGA tour.

What He Does

Vijay Singh's golf swing is a study of slow rhythm and exceptional power. Vijay has one of the slowest but longest backswings on tour. He has a substantial lateral head movement to the rear foot during the backswing, and a similar aggressive lateral shift during the downswing. This helps create the length that has become a trademark of his game.

What Can You Learn?

Vijay's aggressive lateral shift during the backswing means that he must swing the club back with a slower rhythm. If you too would like to create a lateral shifting coiled up top of the backswing position, you must allow your body time to turn, by swinging the hands and arms up more slowly. If you feel that your backswing is a quick, hands and arms action, you may struggle to effectively load your body weight onto your rear foot. This could result in a swing that displays poor timing and is out of sync.

What Should You Avoid?

Vijay Singh has an aggressive head movement away from the golf ball and target during the backswing. Due to his level of flexibility and athleticism, he is able to recover this head shift during the downswing phase as he moves aggressively back towards the target.

However, if you feel that due to a lack of flexibility or athleticism, you would struggle to make this returning and dynamic movement in the downswing, it may be better for you to remain more centred during the backswing, and not move your head so much away from the golf ball in the first instance.