Instruction blog: Stricker's four simple swing keys

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Steve Stricker is a master of returning the clubhead inside the target line.

What Happened
After knocking on the door all year, Steve Stricker finally gets his fifth career PGA TOUR win at the Crowne Plaza Invitational. Once again, Hogan's Alley was a great stage for the world's best players to put on a show with great shot-making. With a wide range of players atop the leaderboard, it was only fitting that it came down to an exciting three-man playoff.

With chances to win a couple of times this year already, Stricker struggled with the lead down the stretch with some costly bogeys, but Tim Clark's pulled tee shot on the 18th revived Stricker's chances.

Travis Fulton's TOUR Academy

PGA TOUR Golf Academy's Travis Fulton analyzes Steve Stricker's victory in the Crowne Plaza Invitaitonal on the the PGA TOUR Network (XM 146, SIRIUS 209). Click to listen The Student Manual will walk you through the "Building Block Approach" as taught at all TOUR Academies. Learn the proper steps on building an efficient full swing and short game. Buy the manual

What We Can Learn
There is so much from Stricker's game to learn from, from his very simple and efficient swing to his fundamentally sound putting stroke. At the TOUR Academies, we talk a lot about the swing plane and how each player uses it to create the type of shot they prefer. Swing plane is simply the shaft's relationship to the target line. In order for the shaft to be on-plane, it should either be parallel to or pointing at the target line at every point in the swing.

Stricker's swing plane is one that geometrically makes sense for maximum consistency. The sequence of his swing plane -- like so many others on the PGA TOUR -- can be defined as followed: Up. Back. Down. Out.

His sequence paints a picture of what should be happening with the club during the backswing and downswing. Stricker follows this sequence to near-perfection, and it is one of the key reasons why he stikes so many solid shots.

Up. When you watch Stricker take the club away, you will notice that the clubhead will begin to move up immediately. This can happen as a function of two things. Some players will work the clubhead up as function of cocking the left wrist, where others will pick it up through the folding of the right elbow. Regardless, the clubhead needs to work up and stay in front of the body until the club shaft gets to parallel.

Most golfers take the clubhead back too far to the inside where the clubhead gets quickly behind the hands. This is a common error and one that interrupts the recommended sequence above. If this is the case for you, focus on the left wrist or right elbow during the takeaway to achieve the necessary upward motion.

Back. With the clubhead working upwards you now can work the club back by making a full shoulder turn and rotating the lead forearm. These two components allow the shaft to stay on plane as well as encourage the proper clubface rotation. What I enjoy most about Stricker's swing is how he blends the shoulder turn with the rotation of the left forearm to set the shaft in a three-quarter-length backswing position. This is a great position from which to hit consistent golf shots.

If the clubhead gets too far to the inside during the first step, your next move will more than likely be upward. This doesn't encourage a player's full shoulder turn or enough forearm rotation. This result will see the shaft pointed across the line and often countered with some sort of body fault whether a lift, sway or even the dreaded reverse pivot.

Down. The first move on the downswing should be exactly that -- down. This is the move where most golfers struggle, starting the downswing by moving the club towards the target. This move sends the clubhead to the outside of the targetline where the shaft reaches impact along a much steeper angle of approach,resulting in pulled shots and weak fades.

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Stricker's right shoulder is well below his left shoulder just after impact.

Stricker starts the downswing with the lower body moving laterally towards the target. This allows the trail shoulder to lower and the trail elbow to move down towards the trail hip. This is a critical move as it allows the clubhead to move down and stay behind the hands until the proper moment for the release to occur.

Out. The final step is to return the clubhead to the ball from inside the targetline. This will feel as if you are hitting the back inside quadrant of the ball while swinging out twards right field (if the clubface were looking from home plate out onto a baseball field at impact). This inside approach is a key component to Stricker's swing.

It was interesting that two of the players in the playoff use the sequence somewhat opposite. As I mentioned Stricker swings Up, back, down, out, where Tim Clark is just the opposite (Back, up, out, down).

You may have noticed how Clark's swing moved back and more inside initially during the backswing. As a result, he then lifts the club more up, putting the shaft across the targetline at the top. From here, his first move on the downswing is out, sending the hands and clubhead slightly towards the ball steepening the swing plane and then finally down into impact.

Although not ideal, Clark clearly manages this use of the swing plane and has control of his ball flight, demonstrating once again there are variations to how you can successfully get around the golf course.

Just Because
Well the NBA playoffs are still going -- real shocker, I know. The Finals are finally here absent Lebron James. But I think the Lakers-Magic series has real potential to be a good one. Man, I can't wait for the NFL to start.

Summer is also here and let me tell you it is in full force in Florida. Absolutely lovin the 90-degree temps and 100 percent humidity. Just awesome. With every known insect to this earth crawling, walking, running or flying around, the countdown is certainly on for the fall. Man, I can't wait for the NFL to start.

And how about my Mariners - I know you are all following along. Recently, the M's have rattled off a few wins after losing an impressive 9 of 10 games in May, but still very much in the thick of things. Work a few things out, and make a run for the Wild Card, right? Nope, their entire team now seems to be on the trading block to help every other team make a run.

Man, I can't wait for the NFL to start.

For ways Travis can help your game, click here.