This past spring and summer, something terrible happened to me.
I’m not talking about a disease or marital problems or an issue at work. No, it was something far, far worse than that.
I lost a ton of distance off the tee.
Thanks to my world-class short game, I was able to mask those issues and continue to shoot in the 80s consistently. But when you’re barely poking it around 220 yards, it’s very difficult to shoot in the low 80s, and almost impossible to break 80 on a regular basis like I want to.
My driving woes saw me begin the year as a 6.9 handicap and balloon almost all the way to a 12.
Fortunately I was able to claw back to a 9 in the Fall, and that was before I had the pleasure of meeting up with three-time major champion Padraig Harrington at the PNC Championship in December.
At 52 years young, Harrington is hitting it as far as he ever as, a byproduct of both the modern golf ball as well as the fact he’s increased his swing speed considerably thanks to hard work and dedication. As a 31-year-old, I have no excuse to not be hitting it far, too. I just needed a little help from Paddy to get on the right path.
Over a 20-minute lesson on the back of the range at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Harrington gave me a number of key drills and swing thoughts to focus on that have already helped me gain some extra speed with my driver—6 MPH during this lesson, to be exact. First order of business was to go from a weak slice to a power draw, something Harrington helped me pull off in less than two minutes with a drill that requires only a tee and a basic swing thought: “open the door, close the door.”
And here’s how it works.
Paddy’s draw tip
Paddy had me “open the door” and then “close the door,” essentially getting me to close the clubface since I had it wide open at impact. We accomplished this with a drill where Paddy had me swing at a tee in the ground to promote coming inside to out. Here’s how to setup the drill if you want to try it yourself…
- Set up to the golf ball like you normally would
- Place a tee in the ground just a little in front and off the inside of your trail foot
- Practice swinging to that spot and making contact with the ground/tee
- Try it for real and think “open the door” (backswing), “close the door” (downswing/release)
Padraig making me believe the tee off the inside of my foot was actually the ball helped me achieve that “close the door” feeling I’ve been missing for months. It felt like I was closing the clubface too early; in reality, I needed to feel that to help me square up the face in time for impact.
As you’ll see below, it took all of two swings for me to go from a (very) weak slice to a tight little draw. Golf nirvana, in other words.
You can watch the full video below:
News Related
-
Russian court extends detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich until end of January
-
Russian court extends detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges
-
Israel's economy recovered from previous wars with Hamas, but this one might go longer, hit harder
-
Stock market today: Asian shares mixed ahead of US consumer confidence and price data
-
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Sister Wives' star Christine Brown says her kids' happy marriages inspired her leave Kody Brown
-
NBA fans roast Clippers for losing to Nuggets without Jokic, Murray, Gordon
-
Panthers-Senators brawl ends in 10-minute penalty for all players on ice
-
CNBC Daily Open: Is record Black Friday sales spike a false dawn?
-
Freed Israeli hostage describes deteriorating conditions while being held by Hamas
-
High stakes and glitz mark the vote in Paris for the 2030 World Expo host
-
Biden’s unworkable nursing rule will harm seniors
-
Jalen Hurts: We did what we needed to do when it mattered the most
-
LeBron James takes NBA all-time minutes lead in career-worst loss
-
Vikings' Kevin O'Connell to evaluate Josh Dobbs, path forward at QB