Project 300
Can getting physical gain our trio of amateurs even more distance?
In the final part of our distance series we look at conditioning.
Project 300 is a fourmonth, four-stage process designed to discover just how close three regular club players could get to that mythical 300-yard drive. They’ve had some tips, and been fitted for Taylormade drivers and balls, with phenomenal results – so far, our three players have gained a total of 171.9 yards, with one already beating 300 yards.
Physical conditioning may be our fourth and final element, but given the long-term nature of changing elements like flexibility, strength and speed we actually dealt with this right back at the start.
Each of the three was given an assessment by TG Top 50 coach and golf movement expert Kevin Hale at Forest of Arden’s HIT Academy. “Ultimately, if you can train yourself to move better your golf can’t help but benefit,” he says. “Moving better doesn’t have to mean gym sessions; there are things you can do at home that can help. If you can improve your base level of strength, increase your mobility and generally improve your understanding of effective golf movement, you will boost your distance potential… and that’s what we will aim to achieve here with Richard, Ryan and Lewis.”
Kevin says: Lewis has a decent range of movement and develops good clubhead speed, but throughout Project 300 his distance data has been constantly hampered by inconsistent ballstriking. When you look at his action from a conditioning standpoint, you can see why. He swings quickly from an unstable frame, which is always going to make it harder for him to find the sweetspot on a regular basis. That in itself will cost him distance, but this instability also hinders his ability to rotate at speed. Specifically, lateral motion in his pelvis is not controlled and it causes both a sway going back and a thrust towards the target on the way through, leaving him in a big reverse C at impact (right). As well as this stopping Lewis putting maximum energy into the ball, this move risks injury.
The first thing we did was to place a stretch band around Lewis’ lower body, and ask him to stretch out another across his upper body . These bands encourage Lewis to engage the stabilising muscles in his upper and lower halves; rotating with these in place, he can feel the more solid and repeatable motion that will boost his consistency. But for a second, simple way of training his movement, I asked him grab a range basket, take his posture and throw it as far as possible down the range. This awakens our naturally strong rotational movement patterns; you would never lean back to complete this task. The work Lewis has put in has been rewarded by an improved smash factor and ball speed… and that’s directly contributed to his gain of 10.5 yards.
Lewis says: I had no idea how much I leaned back until I saw these pictures. I think it has come from the advice to bump your lead hip forward from the top; it looks like I’ve been overdoing it, and it certainly explains the ache I’ve been experiencing after playing. But after working on Kevin’s advice after the past few weeks, that has subsided. I now feel much more solid over the ball and my improved striking has finally allowed my distance average to creep upwards.
‘THE WORK LEWIS HAS PUT IN HAS BEEN REWARDED’
Kevin says: When the body isn’t moving optimally, we basically have two avenues to explaining why. Is it a physical limitation, or is it simply a learned pattern of movement that is not ideal? With Ryan, a strong and reasonably flexible young man who is quite new to the game, it was always likely to be the latter.
Technically, Ryan’s issue is that he retains his right side bend, created during the backswing, well into the downswing. This means he spins and backs up into the ball, his right hip and shoulder high. It causes a steep downswing and attack, masses of spin and a weak, choppy impact.
In almost the opposite move to Lewis, Ryan needs to bump his lead hip laterally towards the target to create the opposite side bend. To check if he is able to do this, I asked him to take a wide stance and move his lead hip laterally, towards the target. A rotational motion here betrays a limitation, but Ryan was able to make the correct, lateral move. With Ryan’s issues being far more technical, we were unable to create any extra speed or power through conditioning alone. Instead a mostly technical drill – standing behind the ball then planting his lead foot and hip forward to strike – will be of more benefit to him.
‘I SUSPECTED IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE MY TECHNIQUE THAT WAS HOLDING ME BACK’
Ryan says: I have spent time in the gym and I suspected it was always going to be more my technique that was holding me back. I’ve always been under the impression you just turn hard during the downswing. I thought I was shifting laterally while I was doing this, but clearly I am not. I will use the step-forward drill Kevin has given me to gain distance through creating a more efficient release.
Kevin says: In a powerful backswing your movement stretches and loads muscles; that’s how you create rotational speed on the way down. But there’s precious little of that going on here. At the top Richard looks more collapsed than loaded.
The first step is to ascertain what physical restriction Richard has. The flat shoulder turn suggests immobility in the thoracic (mid) spine and the shoulders, which would cause him to have to lift the club to the top through his chest. When I asked him to put his back against a wall and place his forearm back against it, this was confirmed – look how much he needs to lift and extend his chest to get the wrist back there (below).
Richard’s way forward will be to work on some simple moves that will increase his rotational mobility through his midspine, while improving his concept of movement. Taking his golf posture, spreading his arms out with elbows bent then circling the elbows will loosen up his chest and shoulders. He can also get on all fours before taking each arm in turn, stretching it up and round behind him, to improve rotation. But ultimately, if he can make a shorter, tighter backswing that coils and loads the muscles better, he can gain speed and power.
Richard says: As you get older of course you lose flexibility, and I must admit I don’t do anything to work on it. But seeing results of this process gives you the incentive to ingrain new, good habits. A distance gain of almost 10 yards is as welcome as it is unexpected, and for me this is where you see the benefits of Trackman and its data.
‘SEEING RESULTS OF THIS PROCESS GIVES YOU THE INCENTIVE TO INGRAIN NEW, GOOD HABITS’