Ryder Cup special: Europe’s rookie Nicolai Hojgaard’s explosive power move explained

PGA Advanced Professional and England Men’s Coach Rob Watts takes a look at the modern technique of the talented Ryder Cup rookie.

I first watched Nicolai when he played for Denmark against England in the quarter-finals of the European Boys’ Team Championship at La Manga, Spain in 2018. He and his twin brother Rasmus were the stand-out players. They out-struck and out-hit our team. Even at 15. Nicolai’s amateur career was stellar, capped by winning the European Amateur Championship.

Like most of the younger generation of modern players he’s athletic and technically very sound, generating phenomenal speed and power. More importantly though, particularly for this weekend where the players must avoid the brutal long rough at the Ryder Cup in Marco Simone GC, Rome, he has got fantastic control of the club face in how he works the ball. This means he produces a very neutral ball flight and hits shots very straight.

Nicolai has a very strong upper body pivot into a nice balanced lower half. Notice his long lead arm - he has loads of width in his golf swing. He turns his upper body twice the amount of his lower body and his lower body twice the amount of his lead knee. He maintains phenomenal forward bend and right side rotation through his shots. He also has good control over his body tilts and clears his lower half exceptionally well.

One of the Dane’s greatest assets is the incredible pressure he gets onto the heart of the ball from this athletic manner in which he moves.

One of the Dane’s greatest assets is the incredible pressure he gets onto the heart of the ball from this athletic manner in which he moves. This results in one of the greatest ball flights I know of among the younger generation of players I watch. His control over his ball flight is phenomenal. He doesn’t curve shots a lot. Modern players aren’t looking for any more than single digits of footage of curve on their ball flight in training. So they are hitting shots from say 175 yards that don’t curve more than six feet in the air. The modern ball and modern equipment helps. Golfers tend to shot shape from their address position preferences nowadays, as opposed to in swing movement mechanics.

Load and clear

You can see here how Nicolai loads the club really well and posts his left side nicely up and through the ball. He has complete control of the face from his body pivot. Notice how his right arm stays close to his side and he keeps the loft through the position of his right forearm, which doesn’t chase the club down. It’s all because of how well he pivots through the shot. He has more right side bend then turn rotation. All the young kids are trying to replicate this style of move. He’s one of your model images of that.

Body release, aggressive faces - it’s the modern way

The modern players have a stronger club face throughout the whole of the swing and they hold their forward-bend rotation faster through the ball, squaring the club face by clearing their lower half. Way more so than we used to see, say a decade ago. Players back then used more of a body release. In the past we watched golfers like Darren Clarke use their chest to cover the ball. Now the sense of mass and the sense of gravity has dropped down more into the pelvis of these younger players. They are much more controlling their body pivots through their pelvis rather than their chest.