Furyk's unorthodox approach pays divends again

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Jim Furyk has two wins this season on the PGA TOUR.

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PGA TOUR Golf Academy's Todd Jones breaks down the keys to Jim Furyk's win at Harbour Town on the PGA TOUR Network (XM 146, SIRIUS 209). Click to listen

It was certainly a bizarre finish to the Verizon Heritage on Hilton Head Island as Jim Furyk wins for the second time this year. On a golf course that is set-up for a player like Furyk, the right-handed veteran bounced back after a poor showing at the Masters just one week ago.

What a difference a week can make even for the best players in the world. Even they will really struggle one week, then play well the next. So don't ever think that this is only happening to you, as Jim Furyk showed us again just how crazy this game can be even at the highest of levels.

When putting together the programs and curriculums for the TOUR Academies, I don't very often use Jim Furyk's swing as and example. To the human eye, his swing looks different then the more mechanically sound motions on the PGA TOUR but at the end of the day produces the same great results. It shows us all that there are a number ways to swing the golf club and still have success. Here are some things that Furyk does very well in "his" golf swing and that I think we can all learn from.

Backswing
What looks the most unorthodox with Jim Furyk's swings the golf club is his shape during the backswing. Furyk's backswing is one that produces a very steep movement with his left arm and club shaft angle. At the top of the swing you will notice how Furyk's left arm is pointing up around the neck area well above the trail shoulder and that the club shaft angle is hinged to a quite vertical position; where the butt-of-the club is pointing behind him rather than towards the target line. Although this position is not preferred, Furyk still makes it work with the adjustments he makes on the downswing.

What I do like about the top of Furyk's swing is that the club face angle is square. You will notice that the angle of the club face runs relatively parallel to his left wrist, although the overall shape of the swing is too steep, this club face position is ideal when looking to return the clubface back to square on a consistent basis.

Downswing
Like all PGA TOUR players, Furyk does a great job on retaining the angle of the right wrist on the downswing and through impact. Due to the overall shape being too steep during the backswing, Furyk really shallows out the plane angle on the downswing by dropping the left arm and club shaft angle to the inside. This shallowing out effect promotes the club head to stay behind the hands on the downswing as a result of keeping the right wrist bent.

This movement is referred to as club head lag and should be sustained through impact. Club head lag on the downswing represents one of the major fundamentals of a good golf swing and can lead to great ball striking when learned from a square club face at the top of the swing.

Finish
His entire career, Furyk always seems to be in good balance all the way to his finish position. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen Furyk lose his balance into the follow through after striking a shot. The reason for this is Furyk allows his weight to move through the arches of his feet during the downswing and into his left heel into the finish position. This type of weight transfer is promoted because of how close he sets up to the golf ball.

You may have noticed at address that Furyk hands are almost touching his body, which eliminates the chance of him losing his balance towards his toes during the swing. If this occurred, Furyk would expose the hosel to the golf ball and I think we all know what happens from here. Standing closer to the golf ball encourages the weight to avoid the toes during the swing, which generally leads to better overall balance for most players during the swing.

Just Because
Last weekend at Harbour Town was another great example of just how great this game is when Brian Davis called himself out during the playoff on a penalty he made. This is not the first time a player has done this as the history books are full of examples of professional golfers holding themselves accountable to the rules of the game. This week at the Verizon Heritage, Brian Davis once again reminded us just how different the game of golf really is.

With other sports, you will often time see players raise their hands up in the air in total disgust that the infraction was called on them. I would love to see an NBA game where the players had to call their own fouls or even an NFL game where each player would have their own penalty flag and would simply throw it down when they felt they did something wrong.

Golf is just different when it comes to this and even with the tournament on the line, a player like Brian Davis holds up the integrity of the game and calls himself out. It was a very classy move and I really hope Davis continues to play well and eventually gets in that winner's circle where he deserves to be.

Travis Fulton is PGA TOUR Academy's Director of Instruction. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR. To learn more about the TOUR Academy, click here.