Zeroing Out the Club Path with Proper Release for Long Accurate Drives - Live Lesson
85I had a great session with aspiring professional long driver Chris C. What a fast learner!
His initial Trackman numbers had him 11 degrees in to out but only level with his angle of attack, which is quite unusual, and most in to outers hit way up on the ball. He was losing this because of his 'float loading downcock' as he headed down into the slot, which forced him to flip the face through impact and bring a duck hook and a two way miss into play.
Another effect of this type of loading/late release is a high amount of backspin, which when accompanied by a fairly low launch angle, just kills our distance.
We worked on straightening out the path while changing the loading profile from the top of the swing down. More wrist cock at the top, and a feel of casting or free releasing much sooner.
Little by little we started to see an uptick in his AoA while his path held steady near 0 degrees or straight. The duck hook completely disappeared while the straight shots started coming in droves. Driving distance efficiency started to max out as he hit a ball a staggering 291 and only 100.7 mph of clubhead speed. Finally he recorded a drive with a 0 path and upwards nearly 5 degrees, which is perfect.
At 130 mph, his current max speed, he should see drives exceeding 380 with this change of technique.
Working on changes this large necessitates an extremely slow and patience training swing. Think Karate Kid, wax on wax off. Many of Chris's swings were between 80 and 90 mph.
While the workout itself appears to stray away from the Austin look, the while session was grounded in Austin principles of controlling plane and blade, while hitting under up and out.