An in-depth, analytic look at the unorthodox swing of Hosung Choi.
One of the most unusual golf swings in professional golf takes center stage this week when South Korean native and two-time Japan Golf Tour winner Hosung Choi makes his PGA Tour debut in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. For a detailed breakdown of Choi’s swing and, in particular, his unique spin-o-rama finish, check out the following frame-by-frame analysis from Golf Channel Academy lead coach Eujone “EJ” Kim.
Hosung flares his trail foot out and sets up really closed to the target at address, which helps him rotate his upper torso deeper on the backswing and deliver the club more from the inside.
Hosung, 45, is a late bloomer - he didn’t take up golf until his mid-20s - but he’s somehow figured out that when he squats down, he can apply more energy into the ground and generate a lot more force.
BEST MOVE: As much as his lower body is trying to race out and rotate, he does a super job of catching his arms up to his chest and syncing his upper and lower body. Note how little his hips have moved from the previous frame but how far his hands and club have traveled. That’s some serious arm speed!
Hosung’s trail foot is almost completely off the ground, reminiscent of a Justin Thomas or Lexi Thompson at impact, but what stands out here is the full, powerful extension to his arms. This is a byproduct of a good rotary motion and the club swinging down from the inside.
Up until this point, there really isn’t anything unusual about his swing. But because he’s literally jumping off the ground at impact, and so much of his momentum is being thrust forward and around to his left, the trail foot has to come up off the ground.
The wild spin is a result of his tremendous rotary action. His pelvis has rotated a full 180 degrees from where it started at address, so much so that his belt is now facing the Pacific Ocean!
There’s so much rotation to his body that he looks as if he’s straining his neck and having a hard time following the flight of the ball. He’s getting absolutely everything he can out of his swing. (Choi’s average driving distance on the Japan Golf Tour is 284 yards.)
Not your normal finish position here. Hosung recoils the shaft back down in front of him, but unlike a Patrick Reed or Nick Price he’s pointing the shaft 30 yards left of the target, not 30 yards right. He almost looks like a baseball player admiring a home run.
Eujone ‘EJ’ Kim is the Golf Channel Academy lead coach and co-owner/operator of Axis Golf Academy and Fitting Center in the northern Houston suburb of Montgomery. One of Golf Digest’s “Best Young Teachers in America,” EJ once served as a translator for eight-time PGA Tour winner K.J. Choi. For more information about Axis Golf Academy or to book a lesson, please visit axisgolfacademy.com.