Hideki Matsuyama Swing Analysis: Success Through Great Ball Striking

Hideki Matsuyama doesn’t get nearly enough credit for being the ball striking machine that he is. He has amassed an amazing record in 8 years on Tour with over 36 million dollars of earnings, 7 PGA Tour victories, and, of course, last year’s Masters, all while never ranking above 78th in strokes gained putting, and indeed ranking worse than 150th in 4 of his 8 years. How is that possible, you might wonder? Just look at his ball striking stats: his rankings in strokes gained tee to green read like this- 2014-4th, 2015-7th, 2016-6th, 2017-3rd, 2018-15th, 2019-3rd, 2020-2nd, 2021-15th. In strokes gained approaching the green he finished in the top 10 for 6 straight years. While acknowledged in the US as a talented player, Matsuyama does not speak fluent English and thus his star shines brightest in his home country of Japan, where he is revered. On the technique side, Hideki’s swing is notable for its pronounced pause in transition, something that teaching pros suggest to students all the time but happens to be a bit quirky for a PGA Tour player. In the video we see how he has more recently made his transition “catchier,” where the hips interrupt the backswing earlier and cause a more fluid looking transition, but that doesn’t seem to matter much as it would be hard to improve on any of his ball striking stats. The things that stand out to me are the incredible stretch and load he gets in the backswing while maintaining or even increasing his knee flex, his impeccable club positions throughout the swing, and the pelvic movement he uses to keep his hips ultra-deep through the hitting area.

[@jefftaylor8644]

God if he could putt it would be game over for everyone.

[@slytown]

It's amazing how good he can be with a long club and how terrible he can be with a putter.

[@jefftaylor8644]

Can’t wait for a Scheffler breakdown. A player who everyone thinks his swing is awkward and not built for consistency, yet he has good ball striking numbers as far as I can tell. Also has trouble with the putter.

[@jporter504]

Always enjoy your analysis.

[@benmartinez8995]

Well if you find someone who hits it that good and is top50 in putting you would have another Tiger Woods! Most great ball strikers aren’t high on putting because they’re putting for birdie more than they are for par! Best putters on tour usually are worst ball strikers except for Tiger in his hey day!

[@A-FrameWedge]

They have stats for strokes gained putting which is more than just how many putts per round they have, but breaks it down to percentage of putts made from all distances, and 3 putt avoidance.

[@davidmcnamara3243]

Yea, it's funny that I'it????

[@davidmcnamara3243]

I've always favored a slow motion backswing : the more you flex the shaft on the backswing, the more, the potential energy is stored in the shaft, and the more ammunition, the shaft will have in order, to release the flex, prematurely, and escape, from the rotating mass. The penalty, on must pay, are weak hooks and slices, because, the rotating mass got mechanically decoupled from the arms, so the club was hit by the 20lb mass of the arms, rather than the 220 lb mass of the body!!!! ( typically).