We all can not stop talking about Joaquin Niemann at the moment. With special invites into the Majors, winning on LIV Golf twice already in 2024 and winning on the European Tour whilst being a member of LIV, there is no player in the world on better form. Let’s dive into this Joaquin Niemann swing analysis to see what makes it unique, what we can copy and what makes it work.
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Joaquin Niemann Swing Analysis: Set-Up
Something very noticeable when doing these tour winners’ swing analyses is just how well they all seem to stand to the ball. Although grip orientation (strong to weak) may change from player to player, all the winners this year have stood in perfect balance, with their arms hanging freely and correct spine tilts.
Joaquin Niemann has a strong left hand grip but a neutral right, and plays the ball quite far forwards in his stance. This will help him hit the stock ‘hold off’ fade he plays the majority of his golf with.
Backswing
What is not to like about this backswing? Niemann takes the club away with very little, if not zero forearm rotation which gives him a very closed looking face. The face isn’t actually closed, but he has done a great job keeping the club nicely outside the hands, which is a great base to build a good backswing from. I love how connected his left arm is to his chest and how small the gap is between his forearms.
We can list the perfections in that top position, none of which are that hard for an average golfer to do:
- Right leg straightened, left knee more bent
- Angled hip turn
- Huge shoulder turn with left shoulder lower than the right
- Left arm slightly above shoulder tilt
- Flat left wrist
Downswing
For everything that we can copy in the backswing, it’s Niemann’s downswing that is far out of reach for us normally flexible humans. He starts his downswing with a small hip bump to the left, before making a huge body turn towards the target. In isolation, this amount of body rotation would normally result in a steep over-the-top slice, but Niemann’s magic move is a tremendous amount of right-side bend.
Niemann right side bends so much that he has to keep his right arm very flexed, and get his hands well ahead of the ball at impact otherwise he would fat the ball. We see a lot of right-side bend on tour compared to the average golfer, but Niemann must have the most out of any high-level professional golfer. If you are going to rotate that much on the way down, you must also right-side-bend an equal amount to keep the swing neutral.
Into the Finish
Niemann stays in his right side bend position for quite a while, giving him that bent-over follow-through look. Do not mistake this for keeping his head down; he is just pivoting through an extreme position. His eyes follow the ball really nicely, and he then finishes in a nice, extended, balanced position.
All of these moves work really well together but wouldn’t work in isolation. So don’t try to add right side bend without adding body rotation as the golf shots will get worse.
What can we learn?
If you want to copy Joaquin Niemann golf swing, there are some things worth adding into your swing to make you a better player.
- Little forearm rotation in the takeaway. This keeps the clubface from opening and will make the shaft steeper and more in balance
- Make a big hip turn going back
- Have your body tilts (knees, hips, shoulders) all squared away at the top of the swing.
Keep an eye out for more tour winners’ swing analysis in the future.
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