Paul McGinley Swing Sequence

Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Barney Puttick takes an in-depth look at a Paul McGinley Swing Sequence to see what you can learn from Europe's Ryder Cup Captain

This Paul McGinley swing sequence is one of my favourites on tour. It’s an uncomplicated action that Paul is able to repeat time after time. This is one of the main reasons why the 47-year old remains competitive.

We can all take a lot from this action, particularly compared to players like Dustin Johnson who, at 6ft 4in and 14 stone, is nine inches taller and 2.5 stone heavier than Paul and with an action the majority of us would struggle to recreate. Something that all golfers would do well to imitate is Paul’s set-up. It is technically superb, and provides a very stable base from which to initiate the swing. From there, the swing remains impressively on plane throughout.

In fact, if you were to put Paul on the Explanar (a training aid designed to encourage golfers to swing on the optimum plane) it would fit perfectly. I’ve used this swing in lessons to demonstrate how to swing on plane. Imagine a wheel or hoop running around Paul’s body, on plane with the set-up, and his path would fit this wheel throughout.

I’m a particularly big fan of the movement Paul makes from the top of his swing, which initiates the downward motion. The weight transfer and turn on to the left side are outstanding. It’s almost the complete opposite to stack and tilt, and is one of the main reasons Paul is able to create impressive power, relative to his height. Note that this is a turn rather than a sway, a trap that many golfers fall into, particularly when trying to hit the ball further.

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This Paul McGinley swing sequence shows that the repetitive nature of the action, the fantastic rhythm and the outstanding change of direction into the downswing all mean that there’s no reason why Paul can’t continue to play well. Once the pressure of the Ryder Cup has passed, I have absolutely no doubt the 2014 European captain will go on to be very competitive on the Senior Tour, if he wishes, when he reaches the age of 50.