Case Study: Nelly Korda & Scottie Scheffler

A look at Nelly and Scottie's historical 2024 and breakdown what makes their swings so consistent and powerful.

The Golf Superstars of this Generation

Golf doesn’t get much better than the spectacular events that Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler have produced in 2024. Both golfers have solidified their place in golf history, let’s check out what company they have in accomplishing their respective feats. 

Nelly Korda joins an impressive list of past LPGA players who have accomplished this feat. Nancy Lopez earned her 5th consecutive victory in 1978 at the Banker Trust Classic and Annika Sorenstam won the Mizuno Classic in 2005 for her consecutive 5th. It has been almost 2 decades since another female golfer has completed that feat, and now Nelly Korda joins this great company after winning her 5th event in a row at the Chevron Championship. 

Even though Scottie did not win the past five PGA tour events in a row, he did win four of the five. The only event that he did not win was the Texas Children’s Hospital, where he was the runner up.

Both players are the World’s number 1 golfer — let’s see what makes their swings so powerful and consistent on the Sportsbox Speed Assessment. 

Nelly Korda on the Sportsbox Speed Assessment

• Verticals and Rotations: Nelly’s primary superpowers are her ability to use the ground¹ through verticals and rotational speed. Her pelvis drop (96%) and lift into impact (99%) are some of the largest compared to her peers. She utilizes the ground and has a large pelvis turn (79%) and turn speed (86%). 
• Arm Speed and Release: Nelly ranks highly in Arm Speed (85%) and release factors (lead wrist angle² at arm 30 degrees (90%), hand speed max (89%), wrist release timing (75%). Her efficiency using the ground and correct timing aids in the transfer of energy through her arm and release action that increase speed compared to her peers.

Scottie Scheffler on the Sportsbox Speed Assessment

• Rotations: Scottie’s superpower is primarily his ability to rotate. His body rotations in the backswing are very large compared to his peers (pelvis 94%, chest 87%, X-Factor 89%). This provides a large range of motion to generate speed.

• Horizontals: Being a lead side post³ golfer with large rotation, Scottie transitions horizontally more compared to his peers with his chest to his lead side into the top of backswing (90%) and ranks high when it comes to chest-pelvis sway gap⁴ (84%).

• Verticals: Scottie showcases that there are different ways to generate speed compared to some peers and this is evident as he ranks lower in pelvis slide in transition (28%) and drop (36%) but utilizes driving up with his lead leg to produce lift into impact (86%) which is very high compared to his peers.

Combining his excellent rotational and vertical motions effectively allows him to generate high club head speeds.

Glossary of Terms

1. Using the ground^: This means that she pushes into the ground to get lift, or produces a turning force on the ground (torque) by pushing back with one foot and forward with the other.

2. Wrist Angle: The angle between the lead forearm and the club shaft. At the top the wrist angle is generally around 90 degrees or less, at impact its has been released and is generally near 160 degrees.

3. Lead Side Post: The golfer rotates and stays primarily on the lead leg during the swing.

4. Sway Gap: The horizontal distance between a center point of the pelvis and chest. Negative is the chest is more away from the target than the pelvis. Positive the chest is more towards the target than the pelvis.