Payne Stewart Swing Analysis: Old School Technique Should Have Led to a Long Career

Payne Stewart would be 63 (born January 30, 1957) had he not tragically died in a plane crash when he was 42 years old. His golf swing was a throwback to the days of Bobby Jones when any thought of restriction was nonexistent. Payne had more backswing hip turn and more total lateral movement (off the ball in the backswing, then forward in the downswing) than anyone on the PGA Tour today. In fact, no one is even close. You hear many words and phrases to describe great rhythm and tempo such as “fluid” or “syrupy” , “smooth”, effortless” etc., but rather than waste time trying to describe it just watch his swing in action. He won 11 times on Tour including 2 U.S. Open titles and a PGA Championship, and was twice runner up in the British Open. I have no doubt that with his Sam Snead like action he would have had an equally lengthy and successful career. His ability to return the club to impact from the backswing he used is far beyond the ability of the vast majority of golfers, which is why I believe this type of swing has fallen out of favor. Tour players have found more efficient ways to swing the club, eliminating a lot of the rotational and lateral movement used by Stewart, although it can be said that few swings these days are as aesthetically pleasing.

[@paulbanney9881]

RIP Payne. His swing was the epitome of old school. Beautiful tempo and rhythm. I can still vividly remember the news reports coming in from the USA of his plane just flying on and on until it ran out if fuel. I put it up there along with the passing of Ayrton Senna as one of the few moments in life I will never forget. Thanks for the memories Wayne.

[@wdefrancesco]

👍

[@johntatum1951]

I was able to see Payne in person at Pebble Beach one year...he had such a balanced swing that he hit the ball with effortless power. The tempo was extra smooth...great timing.

[@oliver69cork46]

Beautiful Beautiful swing-totally fluid and graceful. This is classic and what a wonderful person too

[@grahamamey3201]

Thanks for posting this video, I'm coming back to golf after a 13 years break but I loved watching Payne Stewart back in the day and tried my best (very poorly) to emulate his golf swing. All I've got so far from the lessons I've had, trying to teach me the modern way of swinging a golf club, is a bad back. Watching this has prompted me to forget all that and just go back to swinging the club, Payne Stewart, Fred Couples, Seve Ballesteros and John Daly, I loved watching them all, I guess that officially makes me a dinosaur!🙂

[@shanewilliams1216]

I am 63 years old and have played golf for 49 years now and have SO MANY lessons and every new coach wanted to change me , My first coach let me swing MY WAY and he just fine tuned what I had , he said everyone has their own swing , he just needs to implement a few basics to keep it simple , well he passed away 30 years ago and I have struggled since , but I found this guys KZbin videos and its so much easier to use. www.youtube.com/@Easiestswing Look through his videos and you may find something that works , and good luck !

[@Ben77788]

I remember watching that US Open when he beat Phil. That was some great golf. His swing is one of those classics you put up there with Fred Couples and Sam Snead, especially in term of rhythm and tempo.

[@zonashi8645]

I love the slight sway to the right. It works so well with my swing personally. I think of it as a little dance move to keep me consistent.

[@rcde2]

Avis was a fierce competitor. PGA had great characters back then.

[@pb12661]

yeah, I miss this era.

[@bobsanders8030]

Got that inside whip going. Beautiful to watch.

[@TapInForBogey]

Sweet Jesus…those hands and timing! As a vertical/non super shallower of the club growing up (and still today) PS was someone I emulated growing up. Right down to that triple tap trigger ;) I wonder what his iron lie angles were? Those ms-4’s he played were absolute butter knives. Saw a cool anecdotal story about how the design of the MP-33’s were specifically made to suit his eye. Keep up the good work, Wayne! Cheers!

[@vharrald]

Hey Wayne, i added this video to my video on a description of a fluid golf swing in my, "Bruce lee's principle to the golf swing", on my channel.

[@philcamp8621]

Would love to see Payne's swing compared Fred Couples and Jack Nicklaus's swing!!?????

[@A-FrameWedge]

Payne actually in the top ten in driving distance in his early years on the PGA Tour, but I guess he went more for accuracy or just lost distance as he got older.

[@pb12661]

he got older and the younger guys coming up were beginning to be more focused on power.

[@thomastrain7311]

The reason I started playing the game 30 yrs ago

[@rygroves]

Two things, first he passed just before the Pro V1 came out. So it would have been interesting to see how his game adapted to the new ball. Second, with Ground Reaction Force data and Trackman coming to coaching within his years leading to Champions Tour time (8 more years), would he have changed anything? He’s definitely a rear post player with an on top grip. He uses predominantly lateral force, with little rotary, and not much vertical. Would the fad of increasing vert force have changed to lessen lateral and get to his lead side earlier?

[@wdefrancesco]

He only would have changed if he found himself in a prolonged slump. Then it would be a toss-up as to whether any kind of new technology or information would be helpful, or if it would be a better idea to just keep grinding with what got you there and ride it out.

[@pjpredhomme7699]

Not very likely - Payne was taught by his dad who was a fine amateur and then Chuck Cook all his professional career- he had gone thru a slump after winning his first US Open - and by the late 90's had come thru the other side. I remember that some of that had to do with equipment - he had signed a very lucrative deal with spalding/ Top flite and was playing with some game improvement type clubs and they really didn't work for him at all. He did play a high fade on most shots. clearly he is close to Wayne D in age - I could see him possibly eliminating some of the lateral motion and rotating more in the future. You could say that he might have won some more in his 40s as he was pretty ADD and he seemed to have been able to manage that better at the same time he died just as Tiger was coming into his prime.

[@shofey]

Wayne goes nuts on the face on bacswing. But the down the line shows a compact golf swing. Wiith modern equipment Payne would play with the best o them. How can you call it Sam Snead. Then call it questionable??

[@spencerjsteel]

Any mortal with that early extension and steep shaft would hit the ball all over the planet. He had the great tempo that you speak of, but my God he had to have some pair of hands on him. With almost no margin for error, he managed to square up that clubface with his hands under the most pressure-packed situations (3 majors tells the story). Wayne, why do you think he played well relatively late - he won the '99 US Open at 42 just four months before he tragically died - while guys like Seve and Norman who also depended on their hands a lot were cooked by their late-30s?

[@wdefrancesco]

Stewart was ranked in the top 10 in the world from 1986 to 1993. He won his first two majors in 89 and 91. It was 4 years between victories when he won in 95, then another 4 before winning at Pebble and then the U.S. Open in 99. He credited finding Jesus for his Open win, but he was a consistently great player for almost 20 years. I see no reason why he wouldn't have continued to win. He was just really good at what he did.

[@andrewrobinson8305]

Greg Norman wasn’t cooked by his late-30s. He played his best golf from aged 38 to 42 (still ranked world No.1 in late-1997). Stewart had a gorgeous golf swing, but his long game (by his own admission) wasn’t great in ‘98 and ‘99 - he was outside the top 100 in driving and GIR. But he was a great scrambler and putter. His best days were probably behind him by the time he tragically died at 42, but what an awesome player he was to watch!

[@pjpredhomme7699]

After he won US open in 91 - he got a big endorsement deal and started using clubs that did not suit him - and he carried the title of Open champion differently - it changed his behavior - he was much more uptight - he went from a very happy go lucky guy to very uptight - and frankly pissed off all the time. I was actually at the old Kemper open in I think '93 or 94 - he had played badly and just went off on the media - said they sucked - and his attitude sucked -and he was taking some time away - it was after that one of his best friends - Paul Azinger was diagnosed with Cancer and it changed Payne Stewart's attitude - he went back to being more himself by the late 90s - and by the time he won that second open - and later the '99 Ryder cup which he was unquestionably the leader of the players - then he died a month later.. Oh yeah - he had also drastically improved his wedge game and putting in those years where he was struggling

[@TheAmpharosFreak]

Word of advice: don’t lick your lips and smack them together so much when recording audio.

[@SpinandThrowDiscGolf]

When tiger was good before they screwed him up he moved off the ball at least three or four inches. Jimmy Ballard had several major champions that came from his teaching and they all moved off the ball. Moving off the ball is actually completely natural and keeping the head still is just stupid. People have been saying they keep their heads still for years and they don't. If you're going to make videos man, you at least ought to show the swing a few times before you start putting lines on everything. Just so the people can see what the swing looks like before you start chopping it up in a little pieces

[@brianmcg321]

Yep. Trying to not move off the ball is a great way to mess up your back.

[@user-gx5kk2ik8m]

Tempo Tempo Tempo