So Villegas and J.B. Holmes each have, on iron swings, a backswing that goes back to the "hold the umbrella" position (and rarely past that point) that Brian talks about with respect to Nicklaus, they both let the swing go a little further on swings with drivers and fairway woods, they both are very strong (maybe could bench about 5x that of the average golfer?), they both hit the ball a very long way even by PGA standards, they both have somewhat SD-ish takeaways, and Villegas is much less open on a swing with irons than a typical PGA player.
So what's the deal with this shorter backswing and their patterns? Does the quiet, paused, "hold the umbrella" top-of-backswing gives them something to pull against hard with their left sides in the downswing or something to make their transitions slower and more powerful? What patterns does this work well for? Nicklaus did this in his backswing but let the club fall more to the target side at the top, right? Do you need to be able to bench 350 or be some sort of freak of nature to use this effectively? It looks simpler than most patterns.
So what's the deal with this shorter backswing and their patterns? Does the quiet, paused, "hold the umbrella" top-of-backswing gives them something to pull against hard with their left sides in the downswing or something to make their transitions slower and more powerful? What patterns does this work well for? Nicklaus did this in his backswing but let the club fall more to the target side at the top, right? Do you need to be able to bench 350 or be some sort of freak of nature to use this effectively? It looks simpler than most patterns.
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