An extremely subjective list of the worst swings in golf
Plus Rory's in the basement lab and Golf Town woes
What a weird time the golf “off-season” is.
Maybe the biggest story of the past few days was Bernhard Langer winning the Champions Tour finale — his 18th straight year winning an event on the senior circuit.
Then there was a PGA Tour event in Mexico won by Austin Eckroat, whose card for next season is already locked up, and a DP World Tour event in Abu Dhabi, in which a guy named Paul Waring edged out Rory McIlroy and Tyrell Hatton.
We’ll try to muster some content out of all of that…
The leading edge
By Myles and Nate
Here’s perhaps the dumbest segment in Basement Golf history.
We were chatting about story ideas for today’s newsletter and started remembering some guys — a different exercise in golf than, say, the NBA, because the guys we remember are often still on Tour in some capacity.
Which brought us to Daniel Berger. Hey, whatever happened to that guy?
He was humming along a solid career path, we thought. He played in a Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup — and didn’t he finish second to Bryson at Winged Foot?
Nope, he didn’t. That was Matt Wolff. Remember him? Of course you do. He plays on LIV now, but he had that ugly, stilted swing.
And so here are a few of our other least favourite swings in golf:
Keegan Bradley
If anxiety was a swing it would be Captain Keegan Bradley’s. His lanky arms make it look like he’s gaming a set of junior clubs, the same way Aaron Judge hits with a mini bat.
His pre-shot routine is arguably more unsettling, a pretty pure reflection of Keegan’s mental state (sorry, not sorry).
Bryson DeChambeau
I can’t get back in on Bryson. I know he has a relatable YouTube channel now, and of course I thank him for all he does online.
But the main reason I can’t get there with Bryson is his swing. He is always just *so* stiff. Driver through putter, his arms are dead straight. And it’s not just a weird quirk with a funny background story — he does it to generate power, and it’s lab golf and math personified.
No thank you.
Lexi Thompson
We should all try to copy LPGA swings because of the effortless power and control — just think about Nelly Korda’s golf swing.
Lexi Thompson’s swing, on the other hand, makes me quite uncomfortable. She’s got Scottie-style (S/O Scottie-style cheeseburger sliders) footwork, a jerky and lunging impact move, and seems to lack a lot of balance.
Brian Harman
Buddy, just hit the damn ball! I don’t know what it is with these lefties, but Harman and Mike Weir are both addicted to the waggle.
It’s endearing when you’re coming out of nowhere to win a major — not so much on a week-to-week basis when you’re finishing T40.
Our own swings
Really, it could have gone without saying.
The false front
By Nate
When all goes awry, maybe you should lock yourself in a basement.
It’s not only the genesis of this newsletter, but it’s what Rory McIlroy recently confessed to doing after a long and underwhelming season.
For real — Rory locked himself in an indoor simulator for three weeks in New York City to tinker with his swing. He didn’t care where the ball ended up or the shape of the shot, but rather how his body moved in his backswing. The new drill looks a little something like this.
Tiger Woods was notorious for tweaking his swing at the pinnacle of his game, so I’m not sure it’s fair to judge. But if you dissect the 2024 season for Rory, and really the last 10 years, I lean toward an issue with his mentals over mechanics (perhaps his putter too).
Rory is as self-aware as they come, noting himself that “if I look at my year, the one thing that I would criticize myself on is the fact that I’ve had these chances to win, but when I’ve had these chances to win, OK, some may have been because of the putter, but others have been because of my ball-striking letting me down at a crucial point.”
He’s seeking something no golfer will ever get their hands on: perfection. Rory wants 100 per cent confidence in his swing so when the lights are the brightest, he can perform.
In his first test of the new “indoor” swing, Rory shot 21-under at the Abu Dhabi Championship, finishing tied for third. To the Northern Irishman, maybe this means something. To me and everyone else, it only matters if he wins a major.
The basement is merely a place to test and tinker. As a Rory believer, I have confidence his game will be in the right place to get in contention.
But I have to wonder, should Rory be spending his time on a couch across from a therapist instead?
Links roundup
Golf content we consumed over the past week
Turns out, unsurprisingly I suppose, that playing golf in New York City comes with many of the same challenges as Toronto
This is simply a link to Shotgun Start producer PJ Clark’s Twitter account, because he spent the weekend at the Champs Tour final and the content there was oddly interesting
Austin Eckroat rotates his putters weekly, which is giving major hockey-player superstition vibes
Swing thoughts
By Myles
Golf Town.
We all love it. We also all hate it.
It always *seems* like a good idea, then you walk through the front doors of the location at Eglinton and Laird and immediately realize everything is insanely expensive, it’s overly bright and, besides the clubs, their product actually isn’t that good??
The employees are all either extremely helpful or disappear for long stretches, or sometimes both.
And then you wonder why there’s no competition in the GTA, and you think to yourself hey, I should start my own golf store. (Instead, you start a golf blog. Much less capital required).
Somehow, you’ve been there for an hour. You’ve taken 50 swings after waiting 20 minutes to get into one of their sims, and even though you know they’re rigged, you’re kinda convinced that Taylormade’s newest driver is definitely the one to fix your slice.
One more glance at the price tag, though, and you remember you’re probably just better off playing that right miss.
You walk out empty-handed, frustrated, starving — and knowing that next time you hear about a deal there, you’ll come quickly back.