If you walked onto a local driving range today and showed a PGA professional the Paul Azinger golf swing, they’d probably try to fix it before you even finished your first bucket of balls. It’s weird. Honestly, it’s a mechanical anomaly. Azinger’s hands are turned so far to the right that you can see almost every knuckle on his left hand. His clubface looks at the sky at the top of the swing. Most amateurs who try this would hit a hook so violent it might actually circle back and hit them in the back of the head.
Yet, "Zinger" used this move to win 12 times on the PGA Tour, including a gutsy 1993 PGA Championship playoff victory against Greg Norman. He wasn't just a winner; he was one of the most consistent ball-strikers of his era.
What most people get wrong about the Azinger method is thinking it’s just a "strong grip." It’s actually a sophisticated system of compensations. If you have one extreme element in your swing, you need an equal and opposite extreme to balance it out. Azinger is the king of that balance.
The Ultra-Strong Grip and the Shut Face
The heart of the Paul Azinger golf swing is that left hand. In technical terms, it’s an ultra-strong grip. While most coaches suggest seeing two knuckles at address, Azinger showed four. This pre-sets the clubface in a closed position.
Because his hands were already rotated so far, he had almost zero forearm rotation on the backswing. Think about that for a second. Most golfers are taught to "fan" the club open or rotate the toe up. Azinger did none of that. He just lifted the club.
Consequently, at the top of his swing, the clubface was "shut"—pointing directly at the sky. For a normal golfer, a shut face means a one-way ticket to Snap Hook City. But Azinger didn't hook it. He hit a power fade. How?
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The "Hold-Off" Release
To keep that shut face from closing even further at impact, Azinger used a very specific body move. He cleared his hips faster than almost anyone else. By rotating his lower body aggressively toward the target, he was able to "drag" the handle of the club through the hitting zone.
He didn't flip his wrists. He didn't roll his over. He basically held the face open with his pivot.
Wayne DeFrancesco, a well-known swing analyst, often points out that Azinger’s hand path was actually very "inside-out," but the body rotation kept the face from turning over. It’s a "push-fade" of sorts. He aimed left, swung right, and let the ball bleed back to the center. It was incredibly reliable under pressure.
Why He Swung "Off the Toe"
One of the coolest, most overlooked parts of his game wasn't the full swing—it was how he handled the short game with those same mechanics. Azinger famously talked about "making a living off the toe."
Standard instruction says to hit the ball in the center of the face. Azinger disagreed, especially for chips and pitches. He would stand the club up vertically, making the shaft more 90-degree to the ground. This lifted the heel off the turf.
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Why? Because the heel is what digs.
By using the toe of the club, he engaged the bounce in a way that made it almost impossible to "chunk" a chip. If you've ever struggled with those nervy, tight lies around the green, this is the secret. He used a "dead hands" approach, letting the lower body control the distance while the toe of the club glided through the grass.
The 1993 PGA Championship: A Masterclass in Pressure
If you want to see the Paul Azinger golf swing at its peak, go watch the 1993 PGA at Inverness. He was playing against Greg Norman, who had arguably the "prettiest" swing in the history of the sport. Norman was the prototype—long, fluid, and technically perfect.
Azinger was the gritty alternative.
He stayed in his process. He didn't try to out-drive Norman. He just trusted that weird, shut-face fade. On the final day, he birdied four of the last seven holes. He didn't blink in the playoff. While Norman's "perfect" swing produced a few loose shots under the ultimate heat, Azinger’s "idiosyncratic" move held up because he owned every inch of it.
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He once mentioned that Byron Nelson told him earlier that week to just play for the middle of the greens. That’s exactly what he did. It wasn't flashy; it was surgical.
The Cancer Diagnosis and the Swing’s Evolution
The momentum of that 1993 win was tragically cut short. Just months later, Azinger was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in his right shoulder. It's a miracle he played again at all.
When he returned, the swing had to change slightly. Chemotherapy and radiation take a toll on the body's flexibility and strength. He worked with Phil Rodgers (and later was influenced by Jimmy Ballard’s "connection" theories) to find a way to stay competitive.
He became even more reliant on his "L-theory" for putting and his short game. He couldn't always out-slug the young kids anymore, but he could out-maneuver them. His win at the 2000 Sony Open in Hawaii, seven years after his cancer diagnosis, is one of the most underrated comeback stories in golf. It proved that his "weird" mechanics weren't a fluke—they were a repeatable, high-level skill set.
Can You Learn from Azinger?
Look, I wouldn't recommend a beginner copy the Paul Azinger golf swing exactly. It requires a lot of hip speed and core strength to prevent the hooks. However, there are three major takeaways for any golfer:
- Grip and Pivot are Linked: If you have a strong grip, you must rotate your hips faster. If you have a weak grip, you must use more hand release. You can't mix and match.
- Own Your Shape: Azinger knew he was going to hit a fade. He didn't try to hit draws just because the hole "called for it." He aimed left and let it leak right. Every time.
- Use the Bounce: His "toe-down" chipping method is a lifesaver for amateurs. If you’re scared of a tight lie, stand the club up and hit it off the toe. It’s a cheat code.
Azinger’s career is a reminder that there isn't one "correct" way to swing a golf club. There is only a "functional" way. If the ball goes where you want it to go, who cares what it looks like at the top?
Take Action on Your Game
If you're struggling with a slice, try strengthening your left-hand grip slightly—not as much as Azinger, but maybe three knuckles. To prevent the hook, focus on getting your lead hip out of the way as fast as possible on the downswing. Don't worry about "rolling" your wrists; just pull the handle through the target. If you can master that "drag" feeling, you'll find a level of consistency you never thought possible.