I’ve seen Thompson play a few times on television, and I didn’t realize how tall she is (5-11). When you look at the photos and videos below, you’ll see that she’s an impressive-looking athlete; she’s part of an athletic family — her brother Nicholas is on the PGA Tour and her brother Curtis will play collegiate golf at LSU.
The distinguishing characteristics of Thompson’s swing are:
• Strong grip, with closed face at the top (watch the first video below, which includes an interesting discussion of her grip and how it has changed)
• One-piece takeaway
• Enormous shoulder turn
• Lower body leads the change of direction
• Head dip
• Heels off the ground at impact
Jim McLean is Thompson’s coach; watch his analysis of her swing:
Here’s a photo sequence of Thompson’s swing.
Now that you’re familiar with her swing, check out “The Worst Swing Analysis Ever?” a response to McLean from Steve Wozeniak, PGA Director of Instruction in Bellevue, Washington. He says the closed face at the top forces Thompson to make compensations that will break her body. An excerpt:
So far so good, this set up looks nice and athletic with a great triangle formed at address. From here things go very wrong and must be corrected or this young lady will have severe ball-striking problems and her back and body will not hold up.
(It should be noted that McLean says in the video above that he’s weakened her grip since he began working with her.)
Compare Alexis Thompson’s Swing To:
• Fred Couples (strong grip, closed face at the top, huge shoulder turn)
• Rickie Fowler, John Daly (huge shoulder turn)
• Paula Creamer, Lee Trevino, Peter Thomson, Rory McIlroy, Ben Hogan, Johnny Miller, Tiger Woods (head dip)
• A Young Tiger Woods (heels off the ground at impact)
Video Vault of Alexis Thompson’s Golf Swing
At the 59-second mark of this video, there’s a comparison of Thompson’s golf swing as a 9-year-old to her swing as a 15-year-old. This is something you have to see:
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