Luke Clanton is probably not the largest man, however he certain can generate energy. Here is how he does it.
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Welcome to Shaving Strokes, a GOLF.com collection during which we’re sharing enhancements, learnings and takeaways from novice golfers identical to you — together with a number of the pace bumps and challenges they confronted alongside the best way.
It all the time amazes me after I see a golfer with a slight body completely crushing the golf ball. Guys like Justin Thomas and Min Woo Lee come to thoughts, and each of these dudes are able to bombing it off the tee.
In contrast to another sports activities, golf isn’t all about brute energy, with approach being extra necessary with a purpose to make strong ball contact to maximise distance.
One other participant who’s rapidly producing a lot of consideration on the PGA Tour for his play and size off the tee is Luke Clanton — a 20-year-old novice who’s nonetheless in school.
This 20-year-old novice has 2 refreshing phrases for the professional golf world
Clanton, a rising junior at FSU and at present the No. 1 novice on the planet, has flexed his muscular tissues at just a few totally different Tour occasions this summer season. Not solely did he earn himself a T41 end on the U.S. Open, however he adopted that efficiency up with back-to-back T10s — T10 on the Rocket Mortgage and T2 on the John Deere Basic.
The John Deere gave the world an appetizer course of what Clanton’s able to, as he went nuclear throughout the first and last rounds, capturing a 63 in every.
Whereas his total sport appears to be in kind, Clanton’s driving has caught the attention of golf followers, with the 160-pounder averaging about 320 yards together with his driver. That’s insane!
So how does Clanton do it from such a smaller body? I requested his coach, GOLF Prime 100 Academics Alumni Jeff Leishman, who shared some secrets and techniques that may assist practically each golfer. Try the ideas beneath.
Strive these strikes for extra energy, says Luke Clanton
“Luke has a mixture of lateral, vertical, and rotational actions that, at his dimension and weight, allow him to supply probably the most environment friendly energy doable,” Leishman stated.
For Clanton to generate as a lot energy and distance as doable, it’s all about being in the correct swing positions on the proper time — one thing Leishman broke down in depth.
“His hips go from 48 levels closed on the prime of the backswing to 56 levels open at impression, and his thorax goes from from 110 levels closed on the prime to 50 levels open at impression — all in simply two-tenths of a second,” Leishman provides. “That’s very quick, and that pace permits his 160-pound body to create ball pace anyplace between 185-190 miles per hour.”
So what’s the important thing to all of this? Leishman gives three necessary elements.
1. Begin with a large base
Doing this maximizes Clanton’s potential to place pressure into the bottom.
For the typical golfer, you possibly can obtain this by merely widening your stance just a little at tackle. The outdated reference level of “having your toes shoulder width aside” is now not the aim, as most experts in the present day are considerably wider than that.
2. Use a giant flip (or coil) whereas bracing the correct leg
Picture by way of Jeff Leishman
Place an alignment rod or membership throughout the chest and make a full flip to your path facet (because the picture above demonstrates). Your aim ought to be to get your pelvis to 40 levels closed, and 80 levels closed along with your higher physique — all relative to the goal line.
Now do some rotational actions with the hips and chest first, then add the arms. This reduces the possibility of a “faux flip,” which is admittedly simply an arm elevate. When doing this rotation correctly, you’ll need the stick with level down towards the ball whereas feeling strain constructing on the within of your path foot.
3. Use floor pressure
Clanton pushes his left leg into the bottom, which drives his left hip each open and up.
Right here’s a very good visible: Think about standing on a toilet scale and placing as a lot strain on the lead foot to make the needle go as excessive as doable. There must be a shift of your pelvis to the lead facet to create sufficient push-down. Bear in mind, there’s a distinction between weight shift and strain shift.
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