Ronan Rafferty-before and after.
Born 1964
Rafferty was born in Newry, Northern Ireland. A prodigious youth champion he won the Boys Amateur Championship aged 15, and qualified for the Open Championship at sixteen. He tied for first place with Peter McEvoy in the 1980 English Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship turning Professional the following year in 1981.
A natural golfer with a natural swing, the high-speed film taken in his early tour days shows Rafferty's beautiful wide swing and wonderful Irish rhythm.
For a period Rafferty was one of the best professional golfers in Europe. Between 1987 and 1993, he won 12 official tournaments around the world: five in Australia, and seven in Europe. He led the 1989 European Order Of Merit and in the same year qualified for the Ryder Cup team.
Unfortunately, his stellar career was a little short and ended fairly abruptly in the mid-nineteen-nineties. Perhaps it was as a result of tuition that eventually upset his natural base, or it might have also been a niggling injury that finally took its toll.
The later swing of Rafferty- now narrowed down with arms seeking height rather than width, and missing the glorious former flow he was endowed with.
Beware the Guru-or what do you think?
Christy O`Connor Jnr.
Born in 1948 the son of a farmer.
Like most top Irish golfers a natural swinger. The wonderful player O`Connor senior was his uncle.
Most swing students will point to the active left knee and foot of the O`Connor Jnr swing.
Philip Walton-Born 28 March 1962 in County Meath
Walton has won three European Tour events and four Irish PGA Championships.
He made his only Ryder Cup appearance for Europe in 1995 at Oak Hill, where he beat Jay Haas on the final green of the crucial penultimate singles match.
Philip Walton`s swing is fairly conventional when compared to many of the countrymen he preceeded. Although a little lumpy and static the Walton action was still consistent and effective enough to make him.
Des Smythe- a story of longevity
