Revisiting Arnold Palmer's Golf Swing

In some ways, history has been unkind to Arnold Palmer. He is remembered for blowing a seven shot lead at the 1966 U.S. Open and his early-career swing was often criticized as "far from pretty," "will never win any prizes for aesthetics or grace," and lacking in "style points". His swing today gets even more criticism for poor setup and excessive head movement (here).

Palmer himself has been very self-depricating about his golf swing. Some comments I have heard him make include "I didn't really understand the golf swing very well," "My iron play was a detriment to my golf," "I hit the ball too low," "I really didn't win that much," etc.

I have a few Palmer stories. In the 1960s, I saw him play an exhibition round (I think with Gary Player and George Bayer) at the Brown Deer Golf Club in Milwaukee, WI. What struck my high school golf team and me was Palmer's ball flight. His drives started off low and took off like an F-80 jet fighter plane. Palmer also gave an exhibition (probably during the same time period) at the Odana Hills Golf Club in Madison, WI. On the 16th hole, a rock was placed for many years where Palmer hit his drive well over 300-yards in the left rough. Although the course was not watered during this period, the hole does play into the prevailing winds and Palmer was using a wooden-headed driver and a wound balata ball! It brings to mind Palmer's 346-yard drive on the first hole of the final round in the 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills.

Unfortunately, for my high school golf team and me, Palmer never wrote an instructional book. We were pretty much limited to learning what we could (which was a lot, especially about course strategy) from the Niklaus instruction books. The Niklaus swing, however, was not well suited for me (right now I agree with Zach Johnson, never hit a fade). Looking back on my golf career, copying Palmer would have been more appropriate.

The video, above, is really fun. It shows Palmer's early career swing (you can see Palmer's current swing here) with a lot of fun analysis including the launch of a five-stage rocket. The assertion in the video is that Palmer had the most efficient golf swing they have ever analyzed in slow motion.

A few things I can point out that are not part of current golf instruction except Stack & Tilt, Shawn Foley, the new Tiger Woods swing and a few others (here): (1) Head steady and centered, (2) right leg straightens on the backswing and left knee moves out toward the ball, (3) swing starts with the lower body (specifically, the left knee moving toward the target), and (4) the hands are the last swing component (stage 5 of the rocket launch) to move on the downswing. It's important to note that the swing is not a "hit" but rather a "move" starting with the lower body. If Palmer was really "hitting it hard" there would have been less leg movement and less shoulder turn. Palmer did hit it hard but it was a result of the complete move.

By the way, where did the current received wisdom about "moving your head 12 inches behind the ball" on the backswing come from? Certainly not from the swings of either Arnold Palmer, Jack Niklaus or any of that generation except possibly Trevino. And, more importantly, why is the lateral head movement superior or even necessary? Questions, questions, so many questions!

Let's also keep in mind that Arnold Palmer is still playing a lot of golf at Bay Hill, still loves to play and has had no major career golf injuries of which I'm aware. In a sport that generates a lot of back, wrist, shoulder and elbow injuries, Palmer's swing and physique definitely allowed for longevity.

Finally, let's not forget Arnold Palmer's record (here): Amateur Wins (26), Professional Wins (94), Masters (4), U.S. Open (1) and British Open (2).