Camilo Villegas Golf Swing @ 2009 US PGA

[bigb29952995]

@watertonrivers

Look at the swings of almost every other professional golfer nearly all of them have their right heel lifted

[remmy100]

What an odd swing. Im actually more perplexed by this swing, than Jim Furyks.

[cockywatchman1976]

@remmy100 I agree, it isn't nice. He's more a hitter than a swinger I suspect. getting his power from right bicep, rather than centrifugal force. It's a muscular hit-doesn't seem to pure it. Still a top player of course, but by these guys standards, an ugly one. haha (and before anyone says, yes I know he can beat me!)

[93MrJustin]

dont get me wrong i am not doubting camilo's ability as a player but his contact never seems to sound solid.

[watertonrivers]

@93MrJustin Here's why alot of amateurs and pros are not consistent despite their strength. Watch his right foot lift before impact...that spells trouble getting back to square. Don't believe it? Next time you go to the driving range, try to keep your right foot anchored through impact. If you practice that, you will hit it square much more often, assuming of course you swing is basically sound!!

[93MrJustin]

@watertonrivers thanks for info

[watertonrivers]

@93MrJustin I am not saying I am better than these guys obviously, but I work more on accuracy than distance. Some of those guys like Camilo Villegas are great players and hit the ball out of sight, but staying in play is what keeps scores down.

[Roelf]

He is so friggin hot!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrODINJ]

cool

[HabloIrlandes]

I wonder how long his back will last with that action?

[missingsolution]

@HabloIrlandes A good while, he's extremely health conscious if you haven't noticed..

[HabloIrlandes]

@missingsolution being health conscious will only delay the onset of injury for Camilo. That action is going to cause a breakdown somewhere. With Tiger it was his left knee, with AK his left thumb. I'm not saying he won't have a great career, but he won't be playing golf at 45 if he keeps swinging like that. Look at the vid of Hogan you have on your profile, look at the fluidity in that swing (the later clips, post 48)and he was half mashed to bits but was well able to hit a ball into his 70's+.

[guccimane753]

nice camera

[samwisegoodge]

1:08 < whippy

[costadelstevo]

I do swing analysis almost every day at work.... I can tell you that this type of swing requires ALOT of strength, mobility and stability... That's a reason why so many people can't copy his swing... hence saying it's a bad one... ridiculous comments I read here...

Of course: '' it's not how, it's how many '' Yes... and next question I ask: '' for how long before you get injured? '' That's the point you reach when you say to someone who's swing is 'bad'. They're on the tour and you're not...

[JTBlapin]

@costadelstevo

''a lot'' not- ''alot''

[PaperStarBusiness]

no wrist hinge or what?

[themothmanreturns]

@PaperStarBusiness he holds it for a long time though but dont need that much when you just lash the hell outa the ball.

[graykeller]

this swing is spot on, shoulders square and he never takes his eyes off the ball

[geet25]

camilo is a beast man who cares what anyone else thinks

[JACK195647]

horrible swing.

[daeewoo]

@JACK195647 Shut the fuck up, are you on the PGA TOUR? Didn't think so. It doesn't matter how the swing looks as long as he hits it well.

[buckweed33333]

@daeewoo he fuckin smashed the ball

[Aman12399]

mint

[KomedyKluxKlan]

@MrMick73

I sense jealousy! You are clearly talking shit because nobody could get away with steroids on tour and he was skin and bones until he started to work out when he turned pro.

[petereuropa]

Don't liste to me but...This guy has power. But do not copy this swing. I believe that this is a swing only for CV. 1st of all he does not keep the head still (ok to move it fowards after hitting the ball). 2nd He is not pointed to the ball when hitting the ball (parallell to the ball). Statistic: anyone know how many times he hit to the fairway from tee?

[cpr3584]

he is 5'10, 155 pounds. steroids? are you kidding? he has an extreme fitness program. as for the swing, i would strongly advise not trying to imitate it. works for him, but not a consistent route to success for the average player.

[derekgbraun]

@cpr3584 Correct me if im wrong, but arnt short, controlled swings like that great for iron shots? My swing atm is just inches past parallel. Is that extremely bad? My golf coach said i shouldnt worry about it but feel like hes full of shit, lol.

[ron09pauvre]

@derekgbraun listen to your golf coach and not youtubers

[masipe723]

He drops his head more than anyone I've seen...ok maybe not Jacobson! LOL

[MrMick73]

Look I know Camelho personally, he's a roider from way back . He used to score reds off me in the local park. Used to hook him up at the swingset. He used to gimme Fiddy pesos for a packet .

[77KANG77]

@MrMick73 yea because they use pesos as currency in northern Florida

[nguyendt3ytv]

Sergio Garcia and J.B. Holmes don't take it back parallel either. But all of them get a full shoulder turn and actually increase the wrist hinge during the downswing to get their power.

[MrMick73]

Yeah check out those steroid veins in his arms , cheating prick !

[stackleft]

@MrMick73 the dude works out. i can tell you're one of those fat fucks that probably doesn't get off the couch. well you get off the couch to get up to the pay the pizza delivery man. pga tour does testing num nuts.

[steelerfn]

@MrMick73 dude just cause veins are popping out doesnt mean steriods. i have most of the same veins popping out of my arms and im not on roids. veins popping out means 1. hes got an extemely low body fat % 2. the veins protrude more because the muscle is firm and takes up more space and pushes out the veins. both not caused by roids. he rides the bike and works out alot which will cause the veins to pop out.

[idmunro]

1:08, that is power, look at the shaft

[DonLduk]

@idmunro thats camera's artifacts

[hotstuffpizza11]

i was there :)

[helenathena]

camilo is soooooo sick i cant believe he drives it 300 yards taking it that for back

[bidaly2]

this man's swing has solved my problem. I already had a beautiful drive by bringing the club all the way to the top so it is parallel to the ground. Now that ive changed to his 3-quarter style, i still have this distance and i am alot more accurate with my driving. The same goes for 5-iron to 3-iron fairway shots.

Thanks Camillo

[davidcho2334]

@MizunoGolfer14 your stupid bubba watson is u idiot, research before you make a statement on internet

[MizunoGolfer14]

@ davidcho srry chill out i was watching golf channel and it said he was the leader in driving distance but u r right bubba watson is the leader now

[helenathena]

you know camilo swing with his right arm? he just keeps his left arm straight, i went to colombia for a month in meddellin up in the valleys where camilo played golf, i met his teacher when he was growing up and he tried to teach me the same technique i just hate cutting off my swing there but camilo is strong as hell

[Nriney123456]

Your back should be at the target your club should be at a 90 degree angle with your arm .

[tgriff315]

is his shaft at a weird angle when he gets to the top? i thought your club head was supposed to be more at your target

[mrchickatees]

no man if your clubshaft at the top is pointing at the target it will mean you are getting the club too far across the line at the top, ideally it should be parallel to the target line. camillo looks a little laid off at the top, because of his 3 quater swing but he is perfectly on plane

[hamburglar10]

if he took it all the way back to parallel it would be pointing right at the target

[TheLeftie13]

look at the power and lag created at 1:08

[mattyco1234]

also, show me ONE swing where someone maintains posture through impact, it's not even possible, even tiger doesn't do it and he is as fit as they come, and has the best fundamentals in the game. You need a lesson in teaching, what makes a great golfers isn't little fundamentals. What makes a good player is 1) develop a swing that produces power and 2) repeat that swing until it is second nature to you and can be repeated under pressure. Get to know the tournament game.

[CAsHizZ]

Your an idiot who obviously knows nothng about golf from the second you said about power... The power comes from the strike and general quality of your swing and so does consistency and what makes a good golf swing is that it is simple and repeatable which is why moves like dropping the club in and coming over the top are bad although coming over the top is better than dropping it in which you are probably going to disagree with aswell

[whitepatch342]

Actually he is right because a swing that produces power effectively applies force to the golf ball. No where in his post did he mention swinging hard to create an over the top move. All the guys on tour hit balls with ease and even the shorter hitters seem to hit it long.

[Marsmensch234]

X-treme x factor. this is where his distance came from!

[460cc]

no such thing as a fundamentally sound swing, arnold palmers wasnt even perfect but what counted was that he got all ball, and put the club back into plane, but anyways.... damn look at the lag he gets!!!

[daisy1382]

He has legs coming out of his shoulders!! :P

[thepackage11]

the analysis here is laughable, aside from being a bit "steep" going back, this is one of the most fundamentally sound swings out there, and is one of the few players, along with Tiger, who creates incredible leverage with the ground. This is truly a player who understands the swing starts from the Ground up. What some said about his foot slipping is a result of the incredible ground leverage he is creating with his lower body

[CDTC9377]

why do u want his pants lol?

[MicrowavedHamster]

I want his pants. So bad.

[str8upptalent]

i love how everyone crticizes camillo when hes 5 9 and hits it 340

[fusion2888]

Not to mention being an absolute physical specimen.

Anyone else notice the shaft kicking thru @ 1:08? Hmm..

[hendrixreborn7475]

his backswing to be fair is pretty shit but everything else is spot on

but i cant criticise cus he is such an awesome golfer

[cinderellaboy55]

look at the shaft flex at 1:09

[syllybaby]

wow look at the finish

[golfization]

his right foot slips badly in the downswing

[0123kid]

newb question. I thought at the top of your swing the club "should be" parallel with the ground? What's the advantage of that?

[soiker]

its all about the shoulder turn. if you get enough shoulder turn, the club should be parallel to the ground, but doesn't have to be.

[UNCGolfer2009]

To add on, it's about the strength of your core muscle groups as well, that's how guys like Villegas and Scott and Watney can create power by being short and just short of parrallel

[nikepumps123]

parellel creates power. he just brings it back less and has more control. and he accelerates through the ball so well he has planty of power without bringing the club back all the way

[CamiloVillegasFan21]

camilo is the man

[SniiPEZzi]

wow his right foot slips a lot through impact!

[samimalmstrom]

A swing full of compensations. Takes the club too far inside in the take away, then compensates by getting the club more upright, drops the club to the inside on the downswing to flatten the plane of the shaft, and finally, at impact drops his chin for some reason into his chest, probably causing him to occasionally block his shoulders from rotating through at impact causing pushes.

[emncaity]

Yup, it's a mess--which is why it shocked me that through at least midyear (I haven't checked since then), he was one of the top guys in GIRs. I woulda lost a lot of money on that bet.

[GolfinPride95]

yep. and after all of that hes still on the pga tour. ummm... oh yeah are you on the tour?? didnt think so.

[samimalmstrom]

What difference does it make if im on tour or not. Fact is that the things i picked out in his swing are the very elements he is working on off the course. Just because a player has weaknesses in his technique does not mean i dislike or ridicule him or her of it. He is a great player who is working on getting the fundamentals right, so to did Tiger. Just because someone is on the tour doesnt mean they have the perfect swing, they accept it and work on the right fundamentals to get better.

[mattyco1234]

he's definetly not working on any of those things. his swing is really fundamentally sound, its really obvious that you know absolutely nothing about the golf swing or camillo's golf swing. i can guarantee you that camillo is not working on any of the things you're talking about. However, if you do want to see a very fundamentally sound golf swing, check mine out.

[samimalmstrom]

Camilo's swing is not fundamentally sound. If you pause at 0:38 you will see fundamental errors at impact, particularly his right heel completely off the ground which means he blocks his hips from rotating through and therefore has to flip his hands to square the face. If u look at Tigers 2009 swings you will notice his right foot almost flat at impact even with a driver, nor does he dip his chin into his chest like Camilo, in fact ur swing is fundamentally more sound at impact than Camilo's.

[mattyco1234]

well my swing is perfect so i already knew that. but there is no player that maintains his spine angle perfectly through impact. it's not possible. tiger is very close but he doesnt do it. you know nothing about the golf swing if you don't think camilo has a good swing.

[samimalmstrom]

And you know nothing about the golf swing if you seriously think that you have a 'perfect' swing.

[mattyco1234]

it has nothing to do with thinking or analyzing. it's a fact that my golf swing is perfect. arguing that fact is like arguing that the earth isn't round. it's just stupid.

[2005mtfuji]

mattyco1234 is a hack, ask him what his handicap is. .........

[CAsHizZ]

lol perfect golf swing?? so you hit every fairway and hole every second shot? plus hole in one every par 3

[samimalmstrom]

Continued

I am a qualified golf instructor and have been teaching for 4 years, to say I know nothing about the swing is a tall order. Also I have studied bio mechanics relating to the swing and looking at Camilo's swing his spine goes from perfectly straight at address to arched at impact, that tells you he is doing something not fundamentally correct. Similar to your swing, ur spine straightens throughout ur backswing, try maintaining the spine angle throughout the swing. All the best.

[emncaity]

Villegas' swing is even stranger from a face-on view. Too much shoving and heaving and '70s-style dragging the club through for my taste--but he makes it work a lot better than I would've thought just by looking at the action. You wouldn't pick him to be in the top half of GIR leaders, and yet he was among the best through the first half of this year.

[samimalmstrom]

I think the problem with Villegas' swing is that he hasnt changed his swing mechanics from when he was lanky and only hit it 230 yards. Then he started working out adding muscle but basically kept the old swing, and I think the old mechanically faulty swing itself was responsible for a lack of distance not muscle. Its like tuning up a car to 800 horses but not changing the chassis, drive train or brakes, all you have is power and chaos.

[mattyco1234]

are you kidding?? the one thing that I think everyone can agree on is that camillo has one of the most powerful swings on tour. The guy weighs 150 and hits it 310, you don't do that just because your fit.

[samimalmstrom]

Many guys on tour routinely rip it well over 310 yards, even somebody as old as Kenny Perry hits well over 300 yards. What it comes down to is percentages of fairways hit, and that can only come from correct fundamentals, something Villegas lacks, and a lot of it comes from loss of posture. Loss of posture before and during impact is common among 80% of golfers, its something I try to teach to all of my students, and as a teacher for the past 6 years its the reoccuring symptom for bad shots.

[mattyco1234]

villegas is long on tour i dont know the exact yardages and neither do you. And I never said anything about fairways hit or whatever you're talking about. And believe me, I'm a good player, not some coach who can't play the game, when it comes to hitting fairways in tournament golf, it has nothing to do with fundamentals, it has to do with confidence and trusting what you're doing. Villegas trusts his swing, and thats why he is among the top players in the world. You don't play golf, so shutup.

[samimalmstrom]

Continued

Which is why most weekend hackers dont improve because they accept that they have reached their highest potential and are not willing to sacrifice time for practise, let alone practising the right stuff, like Camilo is doing. As a teacher I know this from experience, most of the people ignore the fundamentals which is why progression is difficult for them. Camilo, because he works VERY hard on his swing will become a consistent PGA Tour player, and it will take its time.

[mtcarlos11]

wow, so closed and off plane at the top but clears his hips so fast and get the club back on path quickly.

[cjcollas]

Super hip squat..