Brian Sparks - Golf Swing Analysis
The Easiest Swing in Golf

I've bought and read through twice Brian Sparks' book "Positive Impact Golf" as part of my quest to improve my golf game. One reason I was attracted to his methods was his emphasis on a body-friendly swing. As I mentioned in my recent review article of Positive Impact Golf, the book contains some valuable ideas, yet is light on "how to" details that I need to properly implement them.

So what I've done is watched a bunch of videos of Brain's swing in an attempt to suss out solutions to problems I've had reliably implementing his method. I've prepared the following video providing slow-motion style snapshots of Brian's swing from setup to finish to enable attention to details that can be missed in a normal video presentation. Here's a few things to watch for in this video:

Subtle weight shift as swing begins
More erect than normal posture
Right elbow throughout swing
Bend in left arm in backswing
Movement of left foot in backswing
Eyes and head in downswing through finish
Position of golf shaft at top of backswing & at finish

My review and comments continue below the video

Slow Motion Video - Brian Sparks Golf Swing

To the right are three photos illustrating one, of many, differences in Brian's swing compared to traditional golf instruction. For comparison to Brian's swing, I've chosen two older golfers whose swing is much admired: Steve Stricker and Fred Couples.

The differences are apparent in these views at the top of the backswing.

Brian teaches a very relaxed, tension-free golf swing. So he allows the arms to fold and the club follow a natural path over his shoulder. The right elbow never strays too far from his body and is immediately engaged in the downswing.

In the downswing, club head speed is generated through the rotation of his body in the downswing as the club is whipped around. Quiet arms are essential. If you get caught thinking about swinging your arms, tension will increase and throw off the natural movement of the club towards the ball.

When you watch some of the full-motion videos of Brian's swing (see below in links), you'll doubt that the ball will carry any distance with such a relaxed swing. But the secret is in that space of time just-before through just-after the ball is struck. That is when his club head generates maximum speed and is difficult to catch with the naked eye. In my attempts to capture stills from the video I could never get that moment as the ball was struck because the club head was moving too fast.

Comments? Make them below our YouTube Video at: https://youtu.be/WGD2I9j_X2g

Golf Swing Video Links, Learning more about Positive Impact Golf: