Steph Curry is More Than a Celebrity Golfer. Let's Break Down His Golf Swing.

We throw around the term “celebrity golfer” pretty loosely. If you are famous and can get around a Pro-AM without hitting someone in the gallery, that's usually enough to earn the title. Steph Curry's golf game has never quite fit that mold.

By now, it’s well established that Steph is a good golfer. This isn’t a celebrity just picking up the game to play in charity events or for offseason content. He’s a legit plus-handicap player who has tested his game on professional setups, including two Korn Ferry Tour starts where he broke 75 in three of four rounds. That includes a 71—on a real course, under real conditions. If you think that’s easy, you haven’t played tournament golf.

You don’t get to this level by having some homemade swing. The details of Steph’s swing are modern and athletic. Strip away the headlines and the novelty, and what you're left with is a guy with a good swing.

RELATED: Let's Break Down Lebron James' Golf Swing.

Let’s take a look at what he does well, and where there is still room to improve.

Setup:

One of the best starting positions I’ve reviewed—especially among non-tour players. Shoulders, hips and feet are all aligned, and the arms fall naturally.

This setup is more akin to the “modern” golf swing. His right arm is stacked over his left arm. Traditionalists like to be able to see a bit of the left arm in this position because that is what impact looks like. When you set up like Steph, you have to shallow the right arm in the downswing. If you have instagram, you have seen this move thousands of times.

Backswing:

Take a screenshot and set this as your lock screen if you are looking for inspiration.

This checks nearly every box you’d look for in a modern swing. Arms are nice and wide. The clubhead is still in front of the hands and remains square. You can also see his lower body turning in sync with his upper body. Some think your lower body needs to stay static until the downswing to create torque. Theoretically this works, but if you properly use your lower body going back, you can create even more torque on the downswing with the additional depth you created.

Top of Backswing:

He keeps his width nice going back, adding to his ability to generate speed.

The club is slightly across the line at the top, meaning it points right of the target for a right-handed golfer. That’s not a deal-breaker, but it does create more work on the way down.

From this position, you have to shallow the club and rely on your hands to get the face back to square. For most golfers, that’s risky. For Curry—one of the best hand-eye athletes on the planet—it’s manageable.

Down-swing/Pre-Impact:

Including two photos here. In the first, you can see that the club is in a “steep” position. This is a direct result of being across-the-line at the top of his backswing. You can see the shaft of his club is intersecting with his shoulder. Ideally, you would want the shaft to be closer to your bicep or forearm.

When you move a few frames forward, he gets it back into a perfect position. Clubhead is square and right in front of his hands. Steph has some of the best hand eye coordination in the world, even among other professional athletes, so it is no surprise that he is able to get the club where it needs to be.

Impact:

More of the same. Steph continues to show off his exceptional hand eye coordination and delivers the club beautifully here. His lower body moves well through the ball. You can see his weight being transferred to his left side and using the ground properly.

Post-Impact:

Yep, still really good.

There are two buckets golfers fall into in this position:

People who cover the ball and the club exits left (Scottie Scheffler) or

Those who use their hands to square the clubs (Tommy Fleetwood).

Steph falls more into the Fleetwood camp.

There is no right or wrong. Golf instruction often talks in “ideals”, but it's all relative. If I could choose, I would want someone to cover the ball more because it is “easier” to control the clubface. However, if you are across- the-line at the top, you HAVE to use your hands more.

Follow through:

Balanced. Athletic. Everything you want to be at the end of your swing. Really not much more to say here.

Final Thoughts:

Coming into this, I knew it was going to be excellent. He has proven himself to be a competent golfer in some of the highest stages in the game, so it’s no surprise that he has the swing to match.

If there’s one thing to clean up, it’s the across-the-line position at the top, which would reduce how much he has to rely on his hands. But when your hands have already produced more than 4,000 NBA three-pointers, trusting them to find the center of a golf clubface feels like a pretty good bet.

More Celebrity and Athlete Golf Swing Breakdowns:

Josh Allen | Justin Bieber | Mookie Betts | Caitlin Clark | Lebron James | Andrew Santino