We all have certain golf swing feels that we love.
It’s our feels that help our golf swings travel well from the range to the course. And every now and again, we happen upon a feel that clicks. It just makes sense in some strange way. The shots are better, and it boosts your confidence along the way.
So that’s what I’ve been asking players at various points over the course of the season, including at this week’s FedEx St. Jude Classic.
1. Rory McIlroy: Shake hands with the target
Rory McIlroy says he likes the feeling of making an aggressive turn with his body through the ball—a common theme, as you’ll see. He describes the feeling of turning his body so he’s facing the target and shaking hands with it. When he doesn’t turn enough, his arms move out to the right, and the draws start moving with too much shape.
“I like the feeling of being able to release it, so rotating enough of my lower body to then be able to feel like I shake hands with the target type. Sometimes if I don’t turn enough, my right arm thrusts out the ways, instead of like down the line…so just making sure my body rotation is enough to then feel like I can shake hands with the target basically.”
2. Ludvig Aberg: Palm down to the ground
Like Rory, Ludvig is elite at hitting high, straight bombs off the tee. But he has a slightly different feel to get there.
“I like the feeling of a strong clubface. Like my right palm is pointing down towards the ground during impact. That helps me get to my left side on the downswing. When I don’t do that, I stay back and have to flip my hands…sometimes I even do a paddle drill, where I’ll swing with my right hand open, so I can feel the palm down more.”
3. Rickie Fowler: Slot and turn
Your hands do a lot of work in the golf swing. That’s a fact. Yet it’s the feeling of the hands staying quiet, and the body rotating aggressively, that so many pros seem to gravitate towards.
“If I can get the club right on my hands before impact [parallel to the ground] I feel like all I have to do is turn through. If I can get the club in a good spot, I just turn from there and I’m good.”
4. Scottie Scheffler: Feel the club move
One of Scheffler’s preferred feels is a little difficult to describe. He often says he likes feeling “athletic” through the ball. What he’s often looking for above all else, though, is a sense of where the club is during his swing. If he can feel the club as he swings it, he can make adjustments on the fly.
“My thing is if I can get a feel for where the club is, I can do what I need to do with the golf ball. So if I’m having trouble getting a feel for where the club is I’ll make a little judgment to try to feel the club. That’s why I talk to getting back to neutral and seeing and creating shots, because my goal is always to have a feel for where the clubhead is and then use that feel to curve the golf ball different ways and control it. For me it’s very simple in a sense of like if I can just feel it, then I’m in a good spot. And if I can’t, we’re just trying to figure out how to find it, essentially.”
5. Alex Fitzpatrick: Arms in and pause
Alex Fitzpatrick says he used to only be able to hit low cuts off the tee, which happens when his arms flung out too far away from his body on the downswing.
He still hits cuts, but now they’ve got more height to them. And it was a Cam Young-inspired feel that helped him get there.
“I’m good friends with Cam Young, and one of the things my coach Mike Walker and I looked at with him is he pauses a lot. It felt like after seeing him, that was how he kept his left arm in on the downswing, so I basically just copied him. I started to pause more at the top. That helps keep my left arm in on the downswing; keeps it more connected. That seems to work the trick.”
6. Matt Wallace: Let the ball get in the way
Matt Wallace works hard on his golf swing, and all the different positions within it. His feel-based advice for amateurs, though, is to focus on something else: Smooth tempo.
“For amateur golfers tempo is probably more important than positions, because amateurs often don’t get in the right positions. Obviously, you want to work to improve the positions, but on a day-to-day basis, I would work on rhythm, the feeling of letting the ball get in the way of your swing rather than trying to smack it.”
7. Davis Chatfield: Sink into my right hip
PGA Tour rookie Davis Chatfield is one of the most accurate drivers on tour, and has the rare distinction of being entirely self-taught thanks, mainly, to YouTube tips. His key feel? It happens on the backswing.
“I flare my hips out and really focus on the feeling of sinking into my right hip on the way back. When I do that, I can really get through onto my left side on the way through.”
8. Jake Knapp: Make a putting stroke on the takeaway
Jake Knapp has one of the smoothest and most powerful swings on tour. He sends his driver longer than almost everyone else, yet when he’s chasing that speed he’s not thinking about his driver at all. He thinks about a tip from his junior coach John Ortega:
“A feeling I’ve had my whole life is that on the takeaway, I feel like I’m making a long putting stroke. Feel like the clubhead stays low to the ground for as long as possible, like you’re pushing it away from your body.”
9. Max Homa: Catch the club in transition
There’s no golf swing tempo I like looking at more than Max Homa’s. I asked him once about his key to silky tempo, and he came back with an interesting one:
“I almost feel like I’m catching the club in transition. I get to the top, then as I start down, I let the club drop and catch it as I swing through.”