Tommy Fleetwood comfortably sits inside the top-10 players in the world for his approach play.<\/p>\n
In recent months he\u2019s won the Tour Championship, starred in the Ryder Cup victory at Bethpage and he\u2019s now the World No. 5.<\/p>\n
Of all his attributes his swing and ball striking is probably the one thing most pros would love to be able to mimic.<\/p>\n
PGA Professional Barney Puttick breaks down what singles out the Englishman from his peers.<\/p>\n
The background<\/p>\n
Years ago when Tommy was really struggling with his game, he was producing quite a lot of hook shots and getting it stuck behind him, and he went back to his old coach Alan Thompson. And they hit some half shots, they call it windmill drills, where they just literally went halfway through the swing and re-established the plane.<\/p>\n
The swing<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a fantastic golf swing. It looks like he\u2019s just stepped out of one of those swing wheels. It\u2019s such a simple looking movement. He often looks to be like he\u2019s just hit a 50-yard pitch because it\u2019s just a shoulder high to shoulder high move and straight through and he\u2019s just hit a 7-iron, 180 yards into six feet.<\/p>\n
So there\u2019s so little for it to go wrong and there\u2019s now so little going off the plane. Obviously, it must shallow slightly because when you stand behind it, there\u2019s this minute draw.<\/p>\n
If there is a pin cut on the right then that might not be in his top-10 things to do but, if you hit it like a radar, who needs to shape it?<\/p>\n
Why does it work?<\/p>\n
Because he truncates the followthrough, it\u2019s so easy to see the path to the target and it all looks so simple. The sound it makes is also incredible and that just comes from very solid ball striking.<\/p>\n
By gripping down the club it\u2019s making the clubhead come closer to you so it\u2019s increasing your control. Any time that you\u2019re making a change it also increases your awareness. I often advocate to players to practise with a split-hand swing for exactly those reasons, to give them a different feel.<\/p>\n
How can we try this?<\/p>\n
If you are going to try gripping down the club, start with the short irons. By starting with a small stroke it will help you to get the feel of an improved strike. Don\u2019t go too far down, I\u2019ve seen players have the butt of the club protruding and that will affect the weight of the club.<\/p>\n
So grip down the club by an inch and get used to the feel of that swing. As golfers we hit so many shots from the same spot and, as soon as you change it, your brain goes this is a bit different and it heightens your senses.<\/p>\n
You would guess that Tommy was hitting these half shots and he actually preferred the feel and it\u2019s something that you could definitely experiment with at the range.<\/p>\n
You should never be afraid to experiment with stuff so start with those half swings and get the feel of some better ball striking.<\/p>\n
About Barney Puttick<\/p>\n
Barney turned professional in 1979 and worked under Ian Connelly who was best known as Sir Nick Faldo\u2019s original coach.<\/p>\n
He was once tied for third with Greg Norman in a 36-hole tournament in Cannes, behind Corey Pavin. He is based at Mid Herts GC since 2000 and he is a Golf Monthly Top 50 coach.<\/p>\n