Fernandez-Castano swing sequence
Fernandez-Castano swing sequence

Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Barney Putting offers his Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano Swing Analysis

In this exclusive feature, Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Barney Puttick offers his Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano swing analysis.

The Spaniard is one of the most consistent ball strikers on the European Tour. Over the past nine seasons he has amassed almost €7million, and in so doing has developed a reputation among his peers as being one of the best ball strikers in the game. The good habits that lie at the heart of his consistency are a chain reaction, kick-started by an excellent takeaway. Sometimes people can get a bit ‘handsy’ in the takeaway, jerking the club back quickly and on the wrong line, but Fernandez-Castano has a one-piece takeaway. By that, I mean his body works with his arms in the takeaway. With the two moving in sync, he has a really strong coil at the top of the backswing. In picture three of the sequence, you can see he’s in a great position.

His arms have only gone three quarters of the way back, but his body has made a full rotation. From here, the arms come down on almost the same swing plane they went back on. This shows the simple mechanics of the golf swing at work, moving exactly as they should. You can tell how well a player is using his body during the swing by looking at how his right shoulder passes under his left. With a lot of amateurs, and I’m sure some of you reading this will recognise this fault, there is a tendency to spin out of the shot. The right shoulder rides high during the downswing and this can cause a whole host of damaging shots. With Fernandez-Castano, though, the right shoulder passes under his left, allowing him to maintain his posture – crucial for consistently sweet ball striking.

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If you take just one thing away from watching Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, let it be the way in which he links his arm movement with his body. If you watch the short video that accompanies this piece, you’ll notice that the club collects the ball through impact and that the momentum of the club almost pulls him into a naturally sound finish position.

The right shoulder has come a long way past his left, and I always think this is a sure sign of a great technique.

Neil Tappin
Editor

In July 2023, Neil became just the 9th editor in Golf Monthly's 112-year history. Originally working with the best coaches in the UK to produce instruction content, he has also presented many Golf Monthly videos looking at all areas of the game from Tour player interviews to the rules of golf. 

Throughout his time with the brand he has also covered equipment launches that date back well over a decade. He clearly remembers the launch of the Callaway and Nike square drivers as well as the white TaylorMade driver families, such as the RocketBallz! If you take a look at the Golf Monthly YouTube channel, you'll see his equipment videos dating back over a decade! He has also conducted 'What's In The Bag' interviews with many of the game's best players like Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm. Over the years, Neil has tested a vast array of products in each category and at drastically different price-points. 


Neil is currently playing: Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus Fairway Wood: Titleist TSR2 Hybrid: Titleist TS3 Irons: PING Blueprint S (4&5), PING Blueprint T (6-PW) Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 50˚, 54˚, 60˚ Putter: Odyssey Triple Track Ten Ball: Titleist Pro V1X