Bubba Watson won the Masters Golf Tournament with what some golf aficionados describe as a less than classic swing. However, when comparing the Bubba Watson swing dynamics to the ideal dynamics of Impact Zone Golf®, the results aren’t surprising at all. Let’s take them one by one:
IMPACT ZONE™ Dynamic #1 – The Flat Left Wrist at impact (In Bubba’s case, The Flat Right Wrist at impact). The back of the hand, wrist, and the forearm create, or lie on a flat, straight plane. Take a look at Bubba at impact with his driver; it is clear that he demonstrates the Flat Right Wrist at impact.
IMPACT ZONE Dynamic #2 – The Forward Swing Bottom. The bottom, or center of the swing arc, as well as the divot, falls approximately four inches in front of the ball. In other words, the club moves downward and strikes the ball before it reaches both the ground and the bottom of its arc. It then continues to descend to its low point of four inches in front of the ball, as shown in this picture of Bubba.
IMPACT ZONE Dynamic #3 – Loading the Club. The stronger you load the club in the backswing by cocking your left (Bubba’s right) wrist, the more powerfully you will be able to hit the ball. You can measure the load by the angle between the left (Bubba’s right) wrist and the club shaft, once the wrist cock has set the club in the backswing. Notice the tremendous angle that Bubba sets at the top of his backswing.
IMPACT ZONE Dynamic #4 – Lag the Load. Lag not only belongs to the downswing part of your motion, it is the downswing’s number one priority, concern, and goal, until you’ve swung well past the both-arms-straight, follow through position. Lag has been described as “the secret of golf,” and it is impossible to have too much lag. Look how Bubba retains his lag well into the downswing.
IMPACT ZONE Dynamic #5 – The Straight Plane Line Through impact. The only way we can possibly start our golf shot straight along the line on which we intend the ball to fly is to swing our club shaft on the straight plane line through impact. That is to say, the club shaft will point to the plane line or an extension thereof except for the four times the shaft is parallel to the target line (half way back in the backswing, at the top of the swing, halfway down in the downswing, and half way into the finish after striking the ball). In the following photo, Bubba shows his on-plane club half way into the finish.
While Bubba Watson has his own personal swing style and is able to curve the golf ball by controlling the club face angle at impact, his ability to employ the Five Dynamics of Impact Zone Golf result in one of the great talents in the game of golf. Congratulations, Bubba on your fantastic win at Augusta!
