Jimmy Demaret (Video) - by Peter Finch
Jimmy Demaret (Video) - by Peter Finch

A legend of golf and a legend of the Masters Tournament in particular Jimmy Demaret should be considered as one of the best golfers to ever have walked the planet. He had a long career with multiple wins but he’s most famously noticed for his three Masters triumphs. Now obviously to win the Masters three times you have to have an exceptional show game but you also have to have fantastic control over the golf ball. And that is what Jimmy had he was able to shape both ways through the air by making little subtle changes to his setup, to his grip and to his swing.

Now Jimmy Demaret used to shape the shot by first of all altering the grip, so if he wanted to move the ball from right to left he would move the left hand a little bit more on top, the right hand a little bit more underneath and that would help strengthen the clubface at impact closing it to his path. And that would help the ball move from the right to the left. When he wanted to fade the ball he used to weaken the left hand so move it more around to the left, bring the right hand on top of the club and that would help weaken the clubface at impact as well and send the ball from left to right. But throughout his career and throughout his swings he never tried to manipulate the swing massively to shorten it, to cut it off, to hook it, to really move the arms around. He managed to maintain the same rhythm and the same flow to all is shots. So he changed the grip, so for playing the draw shot slightly stronger he move his alignment more off to the right of the target and then keep the swing flowing allow the grip to turn the clubface over. And move the ball from right to left where he wanted it then it was the same difference moving it left to right. He was a fantastic ball striker, a fantastic show game exponent but he had a wonderful flowing swing and an ability to move the ball wherever he wanted to. 2015-04-20

A legend of golf and a legend of the Masters Tournament in particular Jimmy Demaret should be considered as one of the best golfers to ever have walked the planet. He had a long career with multiple wins but he’s most famously noticed for his three Masters triumphs. Now obviously to win the Masters three times you have to have an exceptional show game but you also have to have fantastic control over the golf ball. And that is what Jimmy had he was able to shape both ways through the air by making little subtle changes to his setup, to his grip and to his swing.

Now Jimmy Demaret used to shape the shot by first of all altering the grip, so if he wanted to move the ball from right to left he would move the left hand a little bit more on top, the right hand a little bit more underneath and that would help strengthen the clubface at impact closing it to his path. And that would help the ball move from the right to the left. When he wanted to fade the ball he used to weaken the left hand so move it more around to the left, bring the right hand on top of the club and that would help weaken the clubface at impact as well and send the ball from left to right.

But throughout his career and throughout his swings he never tried to manipulate the swing massively to shorten it, to cut it off, to hook it, to really move the arms around. He managed to maintain the same rhythm and the same flow to all is shots. So he changed the grip, so for playing the draw shot slightly stronger he move his alignment more off to the right of the target and then keep the swing flowing allow the grip to turn the clubface over. And move the ball from right to left where he wanted it then it was the same difference moving it left to right. He was a fantastic ball striker, a fantastic show game exponent but he had a wonderful flowing swing and an ability to move the ball wherever he wanted to.