Let's analyze the swing of Lydia Ko, the newest inductee into the LPGA Golf Hall of Fame. What about her swing makes her an Olympic Gold Medalist and LPGA Major Tour winner?
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Following her Gold Medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Ko earned her final point to join the Hall of Fame. At only 27 years old, Lydia Ko becomes the YOUNGEST inductee into this prestigious group. This is just one of her “Youngest Ever” marks in her career.
- 2012: Youngest LPGA Tour winner at the CPKC Women’s Open at age 15
- 2015: Youngest amateur golfer (male or female) to reach World #1 (Amateur rankings) at age 17
- 2015: Youngest Female Major winner at the Amundi Evian Championship at age 18
- 2024: Youngest Inductee into the LPGA Hall of Fame at age 27
What makes Lydia one of the top golfers in the world? Let’s take a closer look at her golf swing that won her so many titles & honors over her golf career.
We put Lydia’s swing into our full swing analysis. We consider a great, powerful driver swing to have great success in a few categories: Rotations, Horizontals, Verticals, Rotational Speed & Release. Here’s how Lydia does in each category:
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Percentile Rankings: The ratios beside each bar chart indicate the percentile ranking of that performance indicator with respect to a database 39 LPGA peers. For example, Chest Turn Max at 83/100 means that Lydia turns more than 83% of the women in the database, i.e. 83/100 x 39 = 32.37. So, she turns more in her backswing than about 32 of the 39 golfers in the database. The length of the bar also represents this number.
Dr. Phil Cheetham, Chief of Sports Science, will share his analysis of Lydia’s swing.
- Rotations: Based off of the assessment, Lydia has excellent Chest turn & Pelvis turn maximums during her backswing. These large ranges of motions will allow her to gain speed during her downswing.
- Rotational Speed: Her rotations allow her to have a very high pelvis turn speed. This excellent pelvis turn speed means she is generating a lot of turning force in the downswing from her legs torquing against the ground.
- Verticals: Lydia's drop and lift numbers are excellent, meaning that she is also generating speed using vertical forces on the ground by dropping her body early in the downswing and lifting rapidly into impact.
These are the main items that stand out in her report. Lydia does have a higher club speed than the average of the database.
OVERALL:
At just the ripe age of 27, Lydia Ko has accomplished so much already. Where will her career take her next?