Swing Analysis: Mickey Wright

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Arguably the greatest woman golfer of all time, Ben Hogan stated that he thought Mickey Wright had the best swing of anyone, male or female, that he had ever seen. As you watch this video you will see why Hogan was so enamored of her action, as it was smooth and powerful, athletic and aggressive, with clean, conventional plane lines reminiscent of Steve Elkington or Nick Faldo. What stands out most to my eye is the dynamic transition from backswing to forward swing, which, much like Hogan, produced oodles of clubhead lag and a superior approach to impact.

As is the case with most great players and their swings, Wright's had a few idiosyncrasies. The one that stands out the most is that her backswing reached the left arm parallel position with almost no wrist cock to speak of, certainly not all that common among the best players in history, especially recently as an "early set" has become more in vogue, although many fine strikers used less than 90 degrees of wrist cock at left arm parallel. In a sense this promoted the "hard catch" she employed in transition, which gave her swing the power and grace that sets it apart.