Coach deep dive: How this 17 handicap dropped down to a 7 handicap

When James walked into the Golf Studio at Old Palm more than a year ago he had some big ideas and big plans for his game. James was a 17-handicap who hit his 7-iron 132-135 yards max. His goal was to become a single-digit handicap and over some time be able to play and compete in local and club functions. James, like most golfers, have big dreams and goals. The difference with James was his commitment to do it and willingness to do anything to get there. He said he wanted a whole team approach and we assembled a great one around him. When we filmed this episode of Pro Work with James a couple weeks ago he was down to a 7.1 index and carried a 7-iron 154 yards.

Here’s the process James used to make these changes and some videos of the work he did. It helped James improve and it can help you gain distance and lower your handicap also!

1. Add strength

First was to add strength. James was pretty skinny. In fact he had just gotten back from fasting in a cave for a week. One of the first priorities was to add size and strength to him so he possessed the strength and stability in his body, especially his core, to create speed. James began regular workouts with Aaron McConley from Joey D’s gym in Jupiter, Fla., via FaceTime when on the road and in person when he came down to work on his game.

The exercises he did were designed to build core strength but also help train James’ body to learn to turn and load in the back swing. Then, as we went along, the exercises were designed to develop strength and learn how to unwind out of the top of the swing and eventually improve his rotation through the ball. How is this different than how other golfers workout?

Aaron and I worked hand in hand and each exercise and workout was designed to help James build strength and was geared toward a specific move in his golf swing that we were working on. Every time James and Aaron worked out they were also making James’ golf swing better. You and I may not need to add size but workouts designed to specifically help your body learn what you’re working on in your golf swing can help all of us. When you go to the gym you should be training your body to move in the same planes and ways you want it to move when you’re on the range or course. It speeds up the learning process. Here’s some scenes from James’ workouts that can likely help your game as well.

2. Learn how to load

Second, we learned how to create a load in the backswing or how to help James properly wind up. James thought the best way to make a backswing was to move the weight or pressure laterally by sliding his hips to the right. When James would do this he tended to swing his arms fast and stand out of posture on the backswing. As a result he had no leverage to go back through the ball.

James, Aaron and I worked tirelessly for a long time on how to learn to wind his upper body over his lower body and to wind his hips up to the backswing so that he was loaded to the max to deliver the club on his down swing. Here are the exercises and drills James did to help him learn how to make deeper backswing turns and eliminate slide. There’s also a look at James’ pressure trace and video where you can see how different the new motion looks like going back.

3. Dial-in contact

Third we started to talk about contact and how to get more out of the hit. James very rarely made a divot and when we hit on launch monitors his angle of attack was always positive. In fact, he usually had a positive attack angle around 1.5 to 3 degrees up. That’s fine for a driver not for an iron. During our last lesson and on this Pro Work episode James’ angle of attack with a 7-iron had gone to -1.5 to 2.5 down. The carry numbers instantly went up, the sound of the strike was totally different and the carry jumped up considerably.

This is how we did it. We explained that to get the low point in front of the ball and the attack angle down James needed to get his center (I always equate it for simplicity as his sternum) to rotate through the ball and release toward the target. It’s really difficult to compress the ball and get the low point in front of the ball when your center is behind it. The tendency for James was to leave his center behind the ball and try and add hit to the ball with his hands—the result was his club was swinging up away from the ground at impact. We worked in the gym and in the Golf Studio on James learning to move his center through the ball and improve his rotation. In fact, some of the work was slow motion shots where I helped James physically turn through the ball. If you struggle with weak irons or don’t take a divot these drills could be a game changer.

4. Face and path basics

Lastly, we helped James learn to match hit club face and path and how to properly release the club so that he could hit nice drawing 7-irons. We often used the Goldilocks theory I learned from Dr. Scott Lynn. We would hit big hooks then fades and learn what straight or a slight draw was. We learned to hit small shots and check where the face was at his finish and then learned where the face needed to be in order to hit a draw. If you hit the ball but struggle keeping it online sometimes simple drills like these and building an awareness of where the club face is can help you. Here’s a video of James and I working on where his club face needs to be and how to release the club for his draw. If you struggle hitting it online watch this video.

So how did James make such a big change in such a relatively small amount of time? Commitment to work. Improved his body’s ability to move and his strength, developed and learned to create speed by developing his pivot first, finally learned to control the ball flight. Try having a plan and learning a new swing with some of these drills and exercises and you might see some speed increases and longer carries like James did.