why would harmon want woodland to hit down more with his driver?

[bryan@nobackswing.com]

i was guessing it would be to gain more spin, with the idea of sacrificing some distance for the control that more spin is said to provide. i am assuming they want that spin without superhigh trajectory, but couldn't equal results be obtained with different driver components or even just by trying to hit a spot lower on the face?

and now i just read that he wants him to learn to play a draw?

i may well be missing something but it seems like a reworking of a golf swing is the long road to the results they are seeking. but i'm just an internet guy.

 

[natep]

I thought this low draw stuff thats been discussed was just some minor tweaking for Augusta.

 

[Todd Dugan]

The ONLY reason you would want to increase the negative Attack Angle with a driver is to lower the Launch Angle. With a 6* driver, its hard to imagine that Woody was launching it too high. Could Harmon possibly think that hitting down is required for a draw? I think you optimize Launch Angle with Attack Angle and Path with Swing Plane Line Direction.

 

[magicmarker]

Harmon gives big hitters more control off the tee but they will give up some yards, Woodland has more than plenty of distance to burn, so it's worth it. Remember he is getting Woodland to hit down on it more, not Brian Gay. Harmon's goal is to lower his students scores on the PGA tour, not get them into the remax LD competition.

 

[bryan@nobackswing.com]

Harmon gives big hitters more control off the tee but they will give up some yards, Woodland has more than plenty of distance to burn, so it's worth it. Remember he is getting Woodland to hit down on it more, not Brian Gay. Harmon's goal is to lower his students scores on the PGA tour, not get them into the remax LD competition.

i agree 100%, my argument was just that there would seem to be easier paths to shorter, more accurate drives than a reworked swing.

 

[grahler]

I may not know why but I DO trust Butch knows more than almost anyone on this forum about golf.

 

[Tophdad]

I may not know why but I DO trust Butch knows more than almost anyone on this forum about golf.

Which is why the question was posed in the first place.

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Question: "hit more down" - do we know if this means going from +5 to say +2, or does Harmon want him to have a negative angle of attack?

 

[grahler]

No one here really knows the situation or anything about it in reality. Thats why I posted I trust Butch. I am a fan of his so thats it.

 

[Tophdad]

Gotcha. I wasn't trying to be disagreeable for the sake of it. I agree with you that he probably has good reasons.

 

[cwdlaw223]

I suspect he can't control the path and face angle by hitting up. Had the same experience yesterday on Trackman. When I hit down (-1.5*) everything went normal with face and path. My theory is post low point the closure rate closes exponentially faster and the path goes left. Just a guess for my swing pattern only.

 

[ekennedy]

Another thought is that most player's set-ups are more conducive to hitting level or down. From my experience, to change the AoA of a player from -3 to +3 takes a few set up changes, not just ball position. If your shoulders at impact and axis tilt are significantly different from address, it will make lining up the club more difficult.

 

[aaron_lohan]

Gary mentioned that he hit his driver too high and he wanted to hit down on it to lower the trajectory. If he is going to play evens like the open he will need a low ball flight because of the wind.

 

[bryan@nobackswing.com]

i'm sure they know what they're doing. but am i correct in saying if woodland hit it lower on the face of his driver, it would go lower, shorter, and with more spin?

i think i remember reading somewhere that woodland's driver impacts were all slightly up and toe of sweetspot in order to hit a high draw with minimized spin.

 

[bryan@nobackswing.com]

i just took a look at Richie 3 Jack's excellent 2012 Pro Golf Synopsis and his write-up on Gary Woodland inspired me enough to dig this thread up from the archives.

"Woodland had a disappointing season after an excellent 2011. He ended up switching swing instructors after his former instructor, Randy Smith, dumped Woodland for dropping Smith’s son as his agent. While Woodland’s new instructor, Butch Harmon, is a much more publicized name; it is apparent that the switch instructors hurt Woodland in 2012. One of Harmon’s main objectives with Woodland was to get him to find more fairways and hit the ball with a more penetrating ball flight off the tee. Harmon had Woodland practice with trying to hit a high lofted driver and try to hit the ball lower.

Woodland launched it lower and hit it slightly lower, but generated less spin. In the end, it was much less effective off the tee. He dropped from 5th to 18th in distance, and from 17th to 123rd in driving efficiency.

Not only did Woodland hit it shorter off the tee in 2012, but he missed more fairways. His loss in distance was more devastating. If he matched his distance in 2011, he would have ranked 51st in Driving Effectiveness. Since he increased his clubhead speed from 2011, he should have been able to match his distance easily."

Exact data can be found in the ebook or probably on a PGA Tour statistics page somewhere.