Swing Sequence: George Coetzee

Golfmagic would like to say a warm welcome to City Point Golf Studio's Chris Ingham, who will be writing our Swing Sequences for us in 2014, as well as providing us with a series of video instruction content later in the year.

AFTER knocking on the door for a while now with 24 top-ten finishes, George Coetzee burst into the winner's circle on Sunday when claiming the European Tour's Joburg Open on home turf.

The 27-year-old South African finished three shots clear and although he sent a few errant drives down the left side, his swing was faultless for much of the final round.

Let's take a closer look at his swing...

I can only guess where the ball went on this particular swing ball but I'm going to assume it's gone a little left!

I think George has quite a unique action that wouldn't work for everybody, however, he makes it work and I expect to see him win regularly in the coming years. George is a classic example of a swing suited to a certain body shape.

George sets up nicely to the ball at address. As he takes the club back, he's quite closed and has a slightly picked up/lifted take away although it is a fairly good "one piece" move

Another thing I notice is how the club is very much in front of his chest and quite steep compared to most tour players. There is also a slight overswing which is typical of George due to his picked up take away and very full turn.

The club is very much out in front of him on the downswing and not in a position that many amateurs would hit a good shot from, however, he hits down into the ball (probably to stop it going left) and has open shoulders and slightly open hips as you'd expect from an elite player.

George doesn't clear as much as most players and I don't like how the face has shut down very quickly, particularly for a Tour pro.

The follow through position below is probably his poorest position technically as the right arm runs off and away from the body.

A balanced finish makes amends somewhat and fully rotated hips, but I doubt this was
George's greatest ever swing.

*A few things to note here for the weekend player; this is an action that works for very strong guys who can "muscle the shot" with the upper body, like Angel Cabrera and KJ Choi, and the type of move I see regularly from guys I teach who train the upper body alot at the gym.