Now, Sergio’s golf swing is a very, very natural action. It is not something that you will take probably in a whole package and actually try and teach a new golfer, because of the amount of reflection that he has because of the suppleness that he has to the right swing, not many people will be able to copy his swing identically. But there are very many benefits of what he does within his technique that can be introduced into your game if as long as you don’t probably take it as a full 100% change. Now, one of these huge benefits is the amount of late release that he has and the amount of lag angle that he has as well.
Now, with Sergio what is slightly different than a lot of people is as people stir up lag angle within the downswing what they are able to do is produce masses of club head speed. Now, Sergio gets the ball out there, but he’s certainly not the longest hitter on tour, but what he is probably one of the best at, is striking the ball first and then the turf. Even with clubs as high as the 3-Wood he will regularly hit the ball first and take quite big divots out of the tee box after his hit. Now, this is a benefit because that’s not lag angle he stirred up, as that club becomes quite laid off behind him, he is able to get the hands in the position where they are quite a long way ahead of the ball at the point of impact. Now, we have fairway wood and even with the driver which he does as the angle of attack is descending through the point of impact the amount of loft is lowered.
Now, with the amount of loft being lowered and that downward angle of attack the ball flight that he produces is initially very, very low and then it rises up. Now if you can imagine playing in a windy condition how much of a benefit and how much of an asset that will be. So one of the huge benefits that Sergio has is when the wind is blowing he has a massive amount of control over his ball flight. Another thing which a downward angle of attack ensures especially with the iron shot and the fairway woods is a very clean contact. If that ball is lying quite well with downward angle of attack, he’s able to hit ball first and then turf and that is why you see when he is playing on tour some absolutely whooping divots being produced. Okay, for Sergio, not great for someone with slightly dodgy wrists, but storing up that lag, hitting it with that late release allows him to strike down on the ball and have a lot more control over his ball flight in windy conditions.