If you were to build the perfect power player, he'd look a lot like this guy. Tall and flexible, with long arms and wonderful rhythm, Dustin Johnson is built for speed. And now that his go-to tee shot is a controlled fade, he's hitting more fairways, too. While DJ might seem to be a physical freak, Butch Harmon says there's plenty for average golfers to take away from his swing. Let's take a closer look at what you can learn from the best driver in the game.
Notice two things in Dustin Johnson's driver setup: His stance is super wide, and the shaft is leaning significantly away from the target. “Standing wide tilts the spine back, setting up a big turn behind the ball,” Butch Harmon says. As for the shaft: “He's about to forward press, so the hands will move up.”
Right off the ball, Johnson establishes a wide arc, with his arms extending and wrists hinging gradually. The mistake you see amateurs make is lifting the club vertically.
“Dustin's width, here and going through, might be the best tip for amateurs. Keep the grip end of the club away from your body,” Harmon says.
Johnson's massive upper-body rotation overshadows a significant turn of the hips. “You hear that the modern swing is, Turn the shoulders, but don't turn the hips,” Harmon says. “D.J. proves you can—and should—turn both if you want speed on the downswing.”
After turning into his trail leg on the backswing, Johnson starts down by shifting hard to his front side. "See how D.J.'s right elbow looks jammed into his right side? That tells me his lower body is leading," Harmon says. "It lets him maintain the wrist hinge, creating clubhead lag and explosiveness."
“This is perfect impact for Dustin,” Harmon says. “He's so strong, he can have a closed clubface at the top of the swing and then hit the ball with his hands so far ahead that the face comes in dead square.” Might be best to just marvel at this position.
Harmon says another key takeaway is Johnson's forward rotation: “Look at how quickly his weight gets to his front foot and his lower body clears. Try letting your head turn to the target so your body can keep rotating. Don't worry about taking your eye off the ball—nobody's gonna steal it!”
Looking at Johnson pose the finish, you'd never know the club was going 125 miles an hour at impact. (He ranked 10th last year in clubhead speed.) He's balanced, and his body is fully released, with the right shoulder closer to the target than the left. Harmon says it best: “Hello, liftoff!”