Travis Fulton Blog: Ogilvy's controlled short-iron swing

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Geoff Ogilvy racked up 27 birdies last week at Kapalua.

The 2009 season has arrived, and Geoff Ogilvy is the early favorite for Player of the Year.

Listen to Travis Fulton

The TOURAcademy's Travis Fulton discusses the secrets behind Geoff Ogilvy's victory last week in the Mercedes-Benz Championship. Click to listen

Okay, it may be a bit early to start handicapping the year-end awards, but if this past week is any indication, the smooth-swinging Australian should be in the mix for some 2009 honors. At Kapalua, he blistered the field, shooting 24 under to win his fifth career PGA TOUR event.

Although Ogilvy's six-shot lead heading into the final day was trimmed to just one shot midway through the final round, the patient veteran didn't panic, and he got back in gear on the back nine and pushed the lead back to six over Anthony Kim by day's end.

This nifty little start to the season earns the Aussie a cool $1.12 million, the keys to a Mercedes SL550, and oh yes, a great-looking trophy. Not a bad trio for a week's work in paradise. I wonder where Geoff will put the trophy?

I always enjoy this tournament because the field consists of only last year's winners on the PGA TOUR. The field's balanced dose of confident youth and wily veterans didn't disappoint as most looked to already be in mid-season form with lots of birdies on the beautiful Plantation Course at Kapalua.

This win for Ogilvy will position him in the world's top 10 going into the Sony Open next week. The 31-year-old has certainly become one of the best in the game with a resume highlighted with two World Golf Championships and one major championship that came at the 2006 U.S. Open.

What Can We Learn?
Last year when Ogilvy won the World Golf Championships-CA Championship at Doral, I talked about how Geoff used the clubface during his golf swing. Historically, Ogilvy rotates the clubface open relative to the arc during the backswing and then closes it during the downswing.

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Ogilvy's clubhead points downward at the top of his swing.

This open clubface is evident at the top of the swing, where the club's toe points straight down. This clubface rotation helps Geoff hit the ball higher than most with his long irons as well as fine-tune his spin and distance control with his wedges. Perhaps nothing was more polished this week then Geoff's wedge play.

All week, you saw Ogilvy hit a number of short irons and wedge shots very close to the flag. Ogilvy controlled these approaches with a shorter arm swing that allowed for a more compact motion. This three-quarter length swing has really become a staple on the PGA TOUR and perhaps something we can all learn from.

The next time you are faced with a short approach, try swinging with a three-quarter length motion that resembles more of a knock down-type shot. This motion will see your hands travel just above your trail shoulder and finishing just above the lead shoulder.

This abbreviated finish is not a deceleration, but rather a commitment to hit down on the ball, encouraging solid contact. As a result, your trajectory will be lower, easier to control, and it may even have more backspin.

I have always been a big fan of having two different types of finishes for the golf swing: One where you finish low and abbreviated -- as described above -- and one where you let it out to a higher finish.

The lower finish will bring the ball flight down and is often useful for short-irons and wedge shots. The other finish will allow the ball to fly higher with mid-to-long irons. Both are great to have and will allow you to hit the ball at different trajectories when approaching greens just like Ogilvy.

Just Because
It is hard to believe we are already in year two of this blog --- where does time go?

Oh, I know where my time went, let's see, where do I start? Since we last talked, let me give you a little recap. My Seattle Mariners finished the 2008 season with a Major League-leading 101 losses, my dear Seahawks completed their campaign at 4-12 and the Supersonics decided to just pack up and leave town. Next thing you know, Starbucks will take the Cinnamon Dolce Latte off the menu. That's where I draw the line!

Wow! It has been a long, long 2008 for my fellow sports friends and me in the Northwest. Not that I am looking for sympathy but -- come on -- that's a pretty brutal tally.

So let's just say I am extremely happy to see the New Year arrive and I'll be expecting a little more out of my teams in 2009. Thankfully, I have a very short memory and remain optimistic that 2009 will improve.

As one of my favorite people -- Chris Berman -- says on Sundays, "Come on Seattle."