Flat backswing works for Kuchar at The Barclays

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Matt Kuchar now leads the FedExCup points.

You could make the argument that no one has had a better 2010 season then Matt Kuchar. Now granted, the big right hander didn't win a major this year but week in and week out this guy has been climbing the leader board with a total of nine top-10 finishes. This week in New Jersey at the first round of the Playoffs, Matt Kuchar finally completed that climb and defeated Martin Laird in a one-hole playoff to win The Barclays.

Listen to Travis Fulton

PGA TOUR Golf Academy's Travis Fulton breaks down the keys to Matt Kuchar's win at The Barclays on the PGA TOUR Network (XM 146, SIRIUS 209). Click to listen

Kuchar is one of those players that just quietly goes about his business around the golf course with really no change in emotion. Half of the time you can't tell if the guy just made a birdie or a double bogey as his trademark smile quickly reappears regardless the situation.

When you think of Matt Kuchar's game, the first thing that usually comes to mind is how flat his backswing is. Perhaps one of the flattest swings in PGA TOUR history, Kuchar certainly makes it work and can manage his ball flight with the best of them.

What makes Kuchar's swing so flat is how he uses his left arm. You may have noticed how Kuchar's left arm works really behind him on the backswing to the point that the hands get much deeper then the shoulders with the left arm slightly below the right shoulder. As a result, the plane of his left arm is very close to the plane of his shoulders.

In golf instruction, we refer to this relationship between the left arm and the shoulders as a one-plane motion thanks to the research and education of legendary golf instructor Jim Hardy. However, if Kuchar's left arm would be more upright then that of the shoulder plane then this would be considered two-plane. Neither way is right or wrong, it just sets the stage for what needs to happen from here on the downswing.

One of the benefits of getting the left arm on the same plane of the shoulders at the top of the swing is you can become a more rotary player on the downswing. This means you will have less lateral shift with the lower body in the initial downswing and can have the feeling of just rotating from the top and through impact. This rotation through impact is where Kuchar really doesn't look that different; although he is very flat at the top, he is text book in the way he rotates his body through impact allowing his shoulders and then left arm to follow into impact.

A very common error during the backswing for a lot of amateurs is not getting the left arm deep enough. As a result, the left arm would be on a very steep angle at the top and often times up around the neck area. This would be a more 2-plane look where the left arm is much steeper than that of the shoulder plane. Although 2-plane can be very effective when the plane of the left arm and shoulders are kept within reason, a lot of us widen this relationship too much resulting in a situation where you just can't recover on the downswing.

Now, I am not here to tell you in this week's blog whether you should be one- or two-plane or one is better than the other, however I do think it's worth noting this week that position of the left arm at the top relative to your shoulders is important. Although you don't need to get the left arm as flat and as deep at Kuchar, positioning the lead arm somewhere around covering that trail shoulder would be a good general rule of thumb.

With all this said concerning the left arm and its relationship to the shoulders, I must warn you to make sure you manage the club head and clubface as well. Often times, when trying to work the left arm flatter the club head will begin to work excessively inside. This is when then the club head gets behind the hands before the entire club shaft reaches parallel to the ground. Even with the excessive flat left arm in Kuchar's swing, he still manages to keep the club head relatively in-line with the hands once the club shaft reaches parallel to the ground. This is critical to understand because if the club head gets behind the hands early in the takeaway then over time this can defeat the purpose of the efforts of the left arm because the shoulders will quit turning allowing the left arm to move up towards the neck.

In addition, it's important that you don't open the club face as well during the backswing. Have I convinced you yet this year to not open the club face up during the backswing as it is just too difficult to recover on the downswing? Once again this week we see two players in Matt Kuchar and Martin Laird set the club face slightly closed at the top of the swing.

With Kuchar, you may have noticed how the toe of the club face was pointing slightly down once the club shaft reached parallel to the ground during the takeaway. This club face is often times defined as closed but actually is square to the arc. Again, be very careful as you work on getting the left arm deeper at the top that you don't open the club face as this will more than likely defeat the whole purpose.

Just Because
Congratulations to Michelle Wie and her second LPGA TOUR title as she won the CN Canadian Open this past week. Say what you like about Michelle and the path she has taken since turning professional but you can't help to continue to cheer her on as she now reaches her twenties. That's right -- 20 years of age. This girl seems like she has been around for the past fifteen years already.

It was neat to see Michelle play so well for four days with the No. 1 player in the world in women's golf -- Jiyai Shin of South Korea. Wie looked poised and dominant in the way she not only continued to bomb it off the tee but backed it up with consistent iron play and a fantastic short game to win by three shots.

Now who knows what's going to happen from here but this is a great sign not only for Michelle Wie but the LPGA TOUR as well. And let's face it the LPGA TOUR deserves some good fortune after losing their top rated player twice in as many years with the retirements of Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa. This would be equivalent to the PGA TOUR losing Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson -- can you imagine?

It was a great week in golf all around - see you in Boston.

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.