From left: At address: Adam's grip is a little bit stronger than traditional. Finish: Adam's unbelievably wound up in the finish.
Cutting Edge
Analysis by Butch Harmon
Golf Digest Teaching Professional
with Matthew Rudy
People have always talked about how similar Adam Scott and Tiger Woods look when they swing, and they think I somehow tried to re-create Tiger's swing with Adam. That's just not true. When Adam came to UNLV from Australia in 1999, he was already swinging this way. They have similar builds, and they can do the same kinds of things athletically. I saw Adam and said to myself, "Wow, this looks familiar ..."
Physically, Adam is not quite as strong as Tiger, but it's close. He's a good 6-feet and has broad shoulders. I wanted him to be able to utilize those physical capabilities. If he has a fault, it's that he sometimes lets his left arm get too far away from his body during the backswing. When he gets that separation, he's wasting power. And if he gets too aggressive with it, he has the same problem Tiger does -- his lower body gets too active and his hands get trapped behind his body. Otherwise, his swing is so good that it's hard to even say anything about it. He looks great in these pictures.
Adam has a very modern swing. He's very flexible, and he makes a huge shoulder turn with a small hip turn -- which generates a ton of torque. He changed his body to be able to handle this swing. He's much more muscular than he was as a college player.
We haven't really seen how good Scotty can be. We've seen some flashes of brilliance, but I believe he's on the verge of breaking out. It's exciting to watch.
The two setups are very similar. Adam tends to play the ball a bit more forward than Tiger does. It's remarkable how similar their builds are. They're two of the most athletic players on tour.
