(Above: Doug Sanders after winning the 1956 Canadian Open)
Take a look and tell me what’s more memorable, his clothes or his swing:
Here is Sanders in a series of photos from 1964, straight on:
Gene Sarazen analyzes Sanders, down the line:
That’s an amazing swing, no doubt about it.
One Golfer’s Opinion of the Doug Sanders Golf Swing
John Erickson, writing at his Web site, AdvancedBallStriking.com, says of Sanders:
Doug Sanders’s swing was a thing of beauty, even though 99% of the golfing world would look at it and laugh because it looked so ungainly with some of his follow through positions and because of his short backswing.
I had the unique opportunity of not only watching about two or three clinics from Doug but also caddying for him in an event back in 1986. He was only 53 years old then and still very competitive on the Champions Tour.
What I witnessed was this: if you went beyond the look of his swing and watched the ball and the control of where his shots went and how they flew, you couldn’t deny what he was doing was correct. He hit the ball to the correct portions of the fairway to make his next shot easier. I would give him a yardage to the hole and he would strike his approach dead perfect distance each time. He would play bump up shots running the ball up or hit flying approaches next to the hole, all with correct distance control. That was a real eye opener to me, seeing it all up close.
Doug Sanders Wrote a Book, “Compact Golf”
Sanders wrote “Compact Golf,” which was published in 1964. In it Sanders says:
The short controlled swing makes it easier for my hands and wrists to return to the hitting zone in proper position. From my position at the top of my swing -about shoulder high- there is nothing to hamper the full free use of my wrists and hands in developing ALMOST maximum clubhead speed, and in guiding the club on a path through the ball that gives it a straight long flight.
My swing is really not too much different from that of anyone else in my league. The most noticeable differences are the wider stance and the shorter or more restricted backswing. But if you were to match photos of my swing with someone else’s- put my feet 8-12 inches closer together and extend my hands another 8-12 inches higher- my swing would be just about the same. So the fact is that my swing is not unorthodox at all. It’s just that I don’t continue the arc back quite as far.
The ONLY important part of a golf swing is getting the club in position two feet before it reaches the ball on the downswing and two feet after it passes through the ball. So in retrospect it is much easier to maintain the same pattern every time with a short swing than one that comes from up behind the head.
The second element of Sanders’s swing is the wide stance. Sanders writes:
The short swing and the wide stance go together. If you intend to build a game with a shorter, controlled, powerful swing, then the legs must be the supporting pillars. They need to be planted solidly, with the spikes dug in firmly. A good test is to watch a boxer in action. For a solid punch he always has his feet spread good and wide. Your own stance should be wide enough that no-one could get you off balance with an ordinary push.
The wide stance also creates more muscle power in the downswing. This is because the feet stay firmly planted in throughout the swing. The foot and leg muscles are in a much better position to give thrust when the club gets into the hitting area near the ball. They give the swing more kick.
With a narrow stance the body must be swung and turned a great deal. Whenever a player makes a big body turn he’s likely to sway off center and get the club more easily off target. With a wide stance and less body movement the club can come back with more control and stay a bit more square. Finally, the wider stance on a full power shot is more likely to guide the club through the ball on a straight line. With the wide stance I feel like I am using my legs to extend the line of my body further along the path of the ball. I can keep the clubhead on target longer, both coming into the ball and on the follow through.
The Last Word on the Doug Sanders Golf Swing
The man with the short backswing and wide stance won 20 times on the PGA Tour, had 13 top-10 finishes in majors, including four second-place finishes: 1959 PGA Championship, 1961 U.S. Open, 1966 Open Championship, and 1970 Open Championship.
The last word belongs to Erickson from AdvancedBallStriking.com:
Dynamics of the swing are far more important than the so called “pretty” swing. Work on your dynamics and the ball will take the correct route…Control of the ball should be the goal..Also plan ahead. Get the ball in position to make your next shot easier…Very basic simple logic that has become forgotten in much of today’s golfing circles.
Compare Doug Sanders’s Golf Swing To:
• Moe Norman (wide stance and short backswing)
• Allen Doyle (backswing and swing plane)
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