Sam Burns Swing Analysis: Early Set, Great Action

Watching the PGA Tour tournaments recently I couldn’t help but notice how impressive Sam Burns’ swing looked. Powerful and simple were the words that came to mind, with a classic on-plane look and a fluid tempo that looks somewhere between Morikawa and Rahm. Slowing it down I was surprised by Burns’ early set of the hands (a la Ernie Els), although like Els he gains width throughout the rest of the backswing and has the advantage of cranking up his upper trunk without getting the right arm behind him. At 6’1” and 185 lbs. he is the prototypical modern young player, someone who would have been a high-level operator in any sport of his choosing. Lots of his swing elements coincide with stuff I like to teach: a neutral grip with the left wrist in extension, right foot squared in with the left flared out, right load and deepening hips in the backswing, an on-plane, neutral to flat left wrist at the top, a continuous motion transition with the hands moving outward toward the ball with shaft shallowing (OTTFTI) but the shaft descending above the right forearm, and lots of left wrist flexion at impact with a left exit and full right wrist release in the follow-through. Overall, I believe he will be a top ten player for years to come.