Rerouted Paths - Ryan Moore Golf Swing Analysis

Ryan Moore, born December 5, 1982, came into focus with his recent win at the CIMB Classic 2013. Although he had a successful amateur career he did not have an equipment or apparel sponsorship for most of 2009.

Ryan sports one of the more unconventional swings on the tour which teaches an important lesson to golfers of all levels. So let’s take a closer look.

Address Position and Takeaway

Ryan Moore adressing the golf ball

Ryan Moores unconventional takeaway

Ryan Moore has his hands very close to his legs and addresses the ball with a lot of knee flex. This has a direct influence on his takeaway.

With his takeaway he gets the club very much to the outside. He keeps the clubface unturned for a very long time. Ryan Moore takes his hands and arms upwards almost vertically.

Backswing

Ryan Moore very steep at the top

His takeaway leads to a very steep position on the top of his backswing. If you draw a line across his left arm it would point more in front of his feet instead of the direction of the golf ball.

Without rerouting the club he would have no chance to hit any reasonable shots from that position.

Downswing and Impact

Ryan Moore rerouting his club during his downswing

Ryan Moore hitting it perfectly square at impact

That’s why you can see in his downswing a looping motion of the club. He’s rerouting it on the right path in a similar fashion to Jim Furyk. And here’s the main lesson to be learned. Golf’s all about the impact position. You want to deliver the club head square to your target line and with as much club head speed as possible in the small fraction of time we call impact.

Everything else in your swing is just means to an end. It’s called moment of truth for a reason. If you take a closer look at Ryan Moores swing from a face on position you’ll notice that his swing features perfect timing. You can barely notice that he’s even drawing a loop with his club from that angle.
Also notice how much force he’s putting into his swing – not by moving his body from right ot left but through rotation. If you look closely in the down the line view, he’s jumping with both feet off the ground while delivering the club.

Finish and Conclusion

Ryan Moore in his finish position

During his finish position you can see that he has most of his weight, but not all of it, on his left foot while facing the target and coiling the club around his body.

Here are the most important checkpoints to learn from this unconventional swing.

It’s all about the impact! Work on your impact position to get fast results.
Good timing and tempo are essential to a good swing. You can go through all the right motions and still hit bad shots if your timing and tempo is off.
Don’t sweat it if your swing path is off. How is it at impact?

Take the time to work on your impact positions, timing and tempo and you might hit it as solid as Ryan Moore soon.