These Fred Couples swing action videos show how his technique relates to a particular underlying golf swing concept which is also identifiable to varying degrees in the techniques of other present day and past elite golfers.
For instance; the swing which has won 14 major championships for Tiger Woods relates very closely to the concept as does that of Lee Westwood whereas in the highly individualistic techniques of players such as Fred Couples, Jim Furick and Sergio Garcia; correlation to the concept is only in the all important sweep-thru-impact phase.
It may be that the revelation of Ben Hogan’s legendary secret lies in the almost perfect fit of his technique to that concept the essential aspects of which are:
The following comparison to the stickman swing, in accordance with the concept, shows a close relationship of the Fred Couples technique at ball address and at the start and end of the sweep-thru-impact phase. However there is a wide divergence at the other key positions.
By pausing the video slider button at the appropriate points it can be seen that Couples lifts the club into the upswing to above his head when the virtual gate is only halfway through the takeaway turn. This then requires a special back and down manoeuvre with the arms and hands to bring the club into proper alignment in the virtual gate at a quarter way into the start of the sweep-thru-impact
The nearer a golfer's technique fits to that swing concept the higher the level of consistent performance as evidenced by the 14 major wins and the long period at World No.1 ranking enjoyed by Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan’s brilliant record from 50 years past.
Players who have developed highly individualistic techniques such as Fred Couples, Jim Furick and Sergio Garcia have been successful because their actions in the all important sweep-thru-impact phase of their swings are in accordance with the concept.
It is unlikely that the techniques of the masters and other golfing elites have been developed consciously to include vital aspects of that concept but rather through a process in which actions, which happen to conform with the concept, are gradually recognized and adopted as essential components of their techniques after many years of coaching input, trial and error and striking many thousands of balls in practice.