Cover Story
Here's how to hit the power draw that helped Bryson DeChambeau win the U.S. Open
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GROWING UP, I WAS OBSESSED WITH BEN HOGAN. I still have a photo of him swinging a club on the wall in my house. He was the ball-striker I wanted to be. I even copied his grip so that I could hit a fade just like him. Yet, after a few too many disappointing finishes in majors, I realized there’s only one Ben Hogan. I needed to make some changes.
Specifically, I wanted more distance, and one of the quickest ways to pick up yards off the tee is to switch from a fade to a draw. The way draws are created, they tend to roll more than fades because they come off the club with less backspin. They tumble instead of checking up. Knowing that, I got to work on developing a powerful draw swing. The results have been remarkable. I swing my driver 129 miles per hour now—that’s 12 mph faster than when I first turned pro—and my average driving distance at the PGA Championship in May was 330.5 yards. I’m even more excited now that I’m working on building a new driver to perfectly match my new swing.
‘LISTEN, I CAN’T BLAME YOU IF YOU WANT TO SWING AS HARD AS YOU CAN. SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA GET A LITTLE PSYCHO WITH IT.’
Back to hitting power draws, I gotta say, it’s an awesome feeling when you smoke one. If you want to learn how I do it, I can show you. I’ve helped a bunch of golfers on my YouTube channel with tips to make the game easier—and more fun! Consider this article some of my greatest hits.
Before we get into it, I do have to warn you: If you’re new to golf and/or predominantly hit slices and pulls, don’t be surprised if some of my technique is tough to copy. It might even make your slice worse for a while until you get enough reps in to really feel what your body, arms and club need to do to produce a draw. I’ll try to speed up the process, but remember to be patient. If your goal is to pick up 10, 20, even 30 extra yards on your drives, my power draw is worth the wait.
GET SET TO DRAW IT
I had a lot of fun giving celebrity golfer Paige Spiranac a YouTube lesson. We talked a lot about the importance of getting the simple stuff right, like the setup. It’s easy to do but often neglected. One thing I see, especially with slicers, is that they set up with their hips or shoulders open (aligned left of the target for a right-handed golfer). It’s almost like they’re setting up to slice it on purpose. If anything, they should have their shoulders and hips aligned right of the fairway. That would promote the in-to-out swing path you need to draw the ball (I’ll talk more about that later).
Just as important as alignment in relation to the target is to make sure everything is matched up (below). You can check this by laying the shaft of your driver across your shoulders, hips, feet, etc. (above). If one body part isn’t touching the shaft and its alignment is more open or closed than the others, good luck trying to produce a consistent shot shape. Also, pay attention to ball position. Play the ball forward in your stance so the club has enough time to close in relation to your swing path (I’ll also explain this later). When you play the ball in the middle of your stance with a driver, you’re putting yourself in position to slice it before you even take the club back. Use your setup to set you up for success.
IF YOU WANT MORE POWER, YOU NEED MORE WIDTH
To create and store more power for my drives, the feeling I have going back is that while my chest is turning away from the target, I’m getting as wide as possible with my arms (below, left). I’m trying to throw the club out and away from me while stretching my body toward the sky. The more I stretch my muscles on the backswing, the more I can snap them on the downswing, like releasing a rubber band. A good swing thought: Stretch wide, then snap narrow.
When you take the club back, think about rotating into your right side, really feeling pressure all the way up from your right foot to the right hip. At the same time, keep your arms nice and long, even feeling a little stretch at the elbow joints. When you transition to the downswing, the club should feel like it’s dropping and moving in toward your body (above). This creates a kind of power called angular momentum. (That’s a little science for ya there.)
SHALLOW YOUR DOWNSWING — THE RIGHT WAY
The way to create the correct in-to-out path for a draw is to shallow your downswing, but there are misconceptions on social media about how to do it, so let me teach you the right way.
Once you have made a nice, big turn on the backswing, start down feeling as if your back is facing your target for a beat as you drop your hands toward your right pocket (above). This shallows your swing path and slots the club perfectly on that in-to-out path you need to draw it. For a slicer, this move will probably feel radically different than what you’re used to. In fact, it could even be scary because your instinct might be that swinging the club to the right of your target will make your slice even worse. Actually, the opposite is true.
A good feel is that your right elbow drops from the top and bumps your right hip. Once it’s there, turn your arms aggressively through. (Better players should try to keep that left-arm stability I talked about earlier.)
IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE, HIT MORE DRIVES WITH THE CENTER OF THE FACE
Your ability to hit the ball in the center of the clubface is a huge power component. I don’t care how fast the club is moving—if you can’t do that, you’re losing a huge amount of energy you could be transferring into the ball. My advice, especially for players who struggle with consistency, is that the brunt of your range work should be on finding the sweet spot. One of my favorite YouTube videos is a drill that can help with this.
Take two tees and set them on both sides of a wedge and place a ball between them (above). Now hit some chips with the goal of missing the tees. That will help you make centerface contact. When you can do this drill on autopilot with your wedges, start hitting full iron shots through the gate. Eventually work up to your driver, and monitor your success. If you can hit five clean drives in a row, I’m guessing you’ll get your handicap down to about 10. Do 10 in a row and you’re moving into the low single digits.
If you can routinely do it by making a full backswing, slotting that right elbow into your side and moving your body and club on an in-to-out path, you’ve just mastered all the elements to my power draw. Enjoy your new home way down the fairway!
ANTI-HOOK TIP FOR BETTER PLAYERS
I used to be afraid of hitting draws because I didn’t want to overcook one and hook it into the left rough. Watching Jordan Spieth hit his driver, especially when he won all those majors, I noticed he could draw the ball with confidence because he knew how to set his left arm on the club in a way that would prevent a hook. It was really smart. I copied it knowing that while I might hit one 40 yards right of the fairway, I knew I’d never miss one left.
What was the adjustment? When I grip the club, I rotate my left arm clockwise toward my body. This pronation makes my left elbow point toward the target. My goal is to keep this left-arm orientation all the way through my swing (photos, above). It’s what I call an “anatomical governor.” My arm is at its end range of motion, meaning I can produce a draw with a slightly closed face in relation to my swing path, but my arm won’t rotate any farther and produce a nasty hook. It’s my insurance policy.
Remember, this is a better player’s tip. If you tend to slice, you probably want your left arm to rotate more counterclockwise during the downswing, which would help close the clubface and eliminate your left-to-right curve. Hooks aren’t your problem. In fact, if you learned how to hook the ball, you’re well on your way to eliminating your slice and learning how to draw it.
POWER TIP FOR BETTER PLAYERS
The science of a draw is simple: The clubface must point to the left or be closed in relation to your swing direction. To turn a simple draw into a power draw, you need to use your body efficiently and effectively. A power move for me is shifting the mass of my body in the same direction that the club is moving.
On the backswing that means shifting my weight into the middle of my right foot. Then, on the downswing, I feel like I’m free-falling into my left foot (above). As I approach the ball, my club and body are moving out toward the right of my target (I’d say it’s about five degrees to the right). Point is, they’re working together.
This allows me to deliver the mass of my body and club into the golf ball with maximum efficiency. The reason I’m suggesting this tip is for better players is because slicers tend to swing with their weight out in their toes, so emphasizing this move in the downswing could lead them to drift with their whole body toward the ball, something called early extension, which leads to an even worse slice. They need to learn how to pivot around the lead leg more and improve their balance and stability.