European star Robert MacIntyre earned his maiden PGA Tour victory at the Canadian Open. PGA Professional Jack Backhouse breaks down his swing.
Robert MacIntyre won the RBC Canadian Open last week in style by getting out in front of the field and fending off some major stars. In the below video, PGA Professional Jack Backhouse breaks down Robert MacIntyre golf swing to see what works so well and discovers Bob’s secret to shallowing the golf club.
Set-Up
Bob stands to the ball with a pretty ‘old school’ posture in which he has pretty straight legs, and a rounded upper back. Some golfers think that this is hunched over, but this is actually a pretty relaxed way to stand to the golf ball, with low tension in his back and legs.
His arms hang down nicely and he has a fairly neutral grip. This is an excellent set up that you do not have to be a fit athlete to emulate, and gets you into a position where you are able to make a huge pivot in the backswing.
Backswing – Pivot
MacIntyre takes the club away very straight, with the club not working in at all during the first 3 feet of his golf swing. This puts the club in what appears to be a closed position, but because his trail arm has remained so straight to get the club so far outside, it is actually pretty square.
Bob makes a perfect pivot in his backswing, with his hips turning, his knees changing flex, and turning well beyond 90 degrees. As he reaches the top he has a perfect wide arm structure, where the club face is square to his lead wrist and arm.
MacIntyre’s lead heel does come up slightly as he reaches the top of the backswing, but this happens due to making a huge turn rather than just lifting it for lifting its sake. He remains centred over the ball in a practically perfect position.
Downswing – Shallow
As soon as MacIntyre starts his downswing he plants his lead heel and moves his weight to his lead leg, you can really see the pressure he is putting into the ground and the tension he is creating up his right leg.
As Bob starts down, he shallows out the club by tilting his head. His chin moves closer to the target and his left ear moves down closer to his left shoulder. This tilt shifts the whole direction of the body, and moves the club down behind him into an extremely shallow hitting position.
From this shallow position, MacIntyre uses his left arm throw and release the golf club by extending it from 90 degrees to fully extended at 180 degrees. This ‘punch power’ is what allows Bob to hit the golf ball so far, he built up the energy and torque in his body as he starts the downswing, and then releases it though his arms into he golf ball. This is perfect downswing sequencing.
Into The Finish
MacIntyre’s through swing features a very strong left wrist throw and roll, and the club face closes down very quickly following impact. This is obviously fine and Bob does make it work, he needs the full release for more club head speed and more power and this is how he creates it.
The follow-through looks a bit untidy into the finish position, with his neck tilt and left foot, but he turns through nicely and finishes in a nice balanced position at the end.
What can we learn?
Bob’s swing is not completely unachievable for the average mid handicapped golfer. He is obviously a very strong, incredibly coordinated athlete, but there are some characteristics that would really help a lot of golfers that are copyable.
- Club head outside the hands and closed in the takeaway. This sets you up to be able to shallow the club in transition with a square face.
- lift the front heel up when you are not able to keep it down when making a full turn
- tilt the head back in the downswing to shift your swing direction to the inside
- throw the trail arm as hard as you can from this shallow position for maximum speed.
If you enjoyed this Robert MacIntyre golf swing analysis, keep an eye out for more tour winners’ swing analysis in the future. Robert MacIntyre’s Secret To Shallowing The Golf Club.
