Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of Best
Young Teachers in
America AND its list of Best Golf Fitness Professionals in America.
Meet your new instructor.
Meet your new instructor.
Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of
Best
Young Teachers in
America AND its list of Best Golf Fitness Professionals in America.
Meet your new
instructor.
Swing Analysis - Charles Howell III - Iron Play
Charles Howell III has been a staple on tour since his rookie year; he is currently ranked #19 on the PGA Tour's all-time money list and is continuing to climb. In this analysis video, we will look at what makes Charles such a great iron player, starting with his impact position and analyzing aspects such as low-point control, shaft lean, and wrist orientations.
Charles Howell III has been a staple on tour since his rookie year; he is currently ranked #19 on the PGA Tour's all-time money list and is continuing to climb. In this analysis video, we will look at what makes Charles such a great iron player, starting with his impact position and analyzing aspects such as low-point control, shaft lean, and wrist orientations.
Show transcript
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000
In this analysis video, we're going to take a look at the swing of Charles Howell III.
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:09,000
And in this particular analysis video, we're going to look specifically at his Iron Play.
00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:14,000
Charles was gracious enough to send me a couple swings from a recent practice session
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,000
at Iowa.
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:20,000
And I'm going to talk to you about what I think has made him such an elite level iron
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,000
player over the last 20 years or so.
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:28,000
I'll do a second video where we'll talk a little bit about what's going on with his
00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:32,000
driver and how it relates to his fitness program.
00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,000
But in this particular video, we're going to look at what makes him such a good iron
00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:36,000
player.
00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,000
Whenever I analyze Iron Play, I want to start at impact.
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,000
There are a few keys to being a really good iron player.
00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,000
And one of them is looking at the shape of the swing and the low point control.
00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:56,000
So Charles is really good at creating a lot of lag and that helps him create a lot of
00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:57,000
chef lean.
00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:02,000
We can see here from the face on camera angle that there's not much going on as far
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,000
as turf contact until after the golf ball.
00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:10,000
So it's right around this frame here that we start to see the scuff of the turf and
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:11,000
the divot form.
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:18,000
So if we go back to just before impact, the tour average is somewhere around four, four
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:23,000
and a half, five inches in front of the golf ball having the bottom of the divot or the
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,000
low point, at least with kind of the mid and short irons.
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:33,000
So what we'll see is that's right around where this divot is forming there.
00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:39,000
Now most golfers get the bottom of the swing forward through a combination of there are
00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:43,000
movements as well as body rotations.
00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:48,000
Charles tends to be a little bit, let's say under rotated as far as his body positions.
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:53,000
So he gets it there more with what he's doing with his wrist and shoulders.
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,000
But when it comes the iron play, as long as you get the bottom of the swing forward,
00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:02,000
which happens when you create this shaft lean as long as the club that is still traveling
00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,000
down, you're going to strike the ball relatively solidly.
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:11,000
So then as long as you have a club face that's relatively aligned to your target and
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:17,000
a club path that's close to neutral definitely doesn't have to be zero can be, I'd
00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:23,000
like to give a guideline of kind of plus or minus five degrees into outer out to in.
00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,000
Five degrees into out with irons can make it really tough to get the bottom of the swing
00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,000
forward or that far forward.
00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:34,000
But as long as your path is somewhere around neutral, your face is somewhat pointed at
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,000
the target and you create the shaft lean, you're going to tend to strike a lot of iron
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,000
shots really well.
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:46,000
In fact, I tell some students that I think it's the geometry of the swing that's probably
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:52,000
more important with the irons, but when it comes to the longer clubs and the driver
00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,000
specifically, I'm looking a lot more at the dynamics.
00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,000
I'm looking at how the body is moving in order to get into this position.
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000
And that's what we're going to focus on in the follow up video when we look at his driver
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:05,000
play.
00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,000
So in order to get your hands and the handle further forward, you have to build a pretty
00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,000
good release pattern.
00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:18,000
And part of that includes letting your arms extend and letting the club bottom out with
00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:24,000
still retaining some extension of that trail risk and more flexion than where you started
00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,000
at setup in the lead wrist.
00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:35,000
So if I go back to setup here, we can see that that lead wrist has an angle of about 35 degrees.
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,000
It's kind of like this.
00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:42,000
And then when he gets to impact, it's pretty close to flat.
00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,000
So he is gone this way about 35 degrees.
00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:49,000
That helps him get his hands more forward.
00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:55,000
Now one of the unique things to Charles of Pattern compared to a lot of tour pros is in
00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:01,000
transition, he loses that extension and then gets it later in the swing.
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:05,000
So here we can see at the top of the swing he's got a little bit of, it's pretty close to
00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,000
the neutral or a little bit flexed.
00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:14,000
And then right around there, it's kind of tricky to see at this particular angle, but
00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:18,000
you can see that the wrist has a little bit more cup in that position.
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:24,000
So between here and the top of the swing, he's extended that wrist a little bit.
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:30,000
So then from there down to impact is when he's flexing that wrist, which helps control
00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:34,000
that low point or get that low point more out in front.
00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:40,000
He golfer's flex the wrist just earlier or straight away from the top of the swing.
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,000
But it shows you that you don't necessarily have to do it early.
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,000
You can do it late, especially with the iron play.
00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:52,000
As long as you get the geometry that allows you to hit ball first contact by having the
00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:57,000
low point forward and the reasonable clubface and path, you're going to hit a lot of really
00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:58,000
good iron shots.
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:03,000
So if you're analyzing your own swing, start it impact, look for shaft lean.
00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:08,000
If we don't have shaft lean, look to this position here, follow through position.
00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:13,000
And I want you to see did I stay in my angle, did my arms continue to straighten?
00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,000
So did I get width here in the follow through?
00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:22,000
If let's say these arms were bent and I've stood up, then it shows that on the way through,
00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:29,000
I'm probably kind of letting the club pass my body and releasing the angles more like this
00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,000
as opposed to letting the arms extend out more like that.
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:38,000
I've got lots of videos on the site to help you with your release position or release movements
00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,000
and really coordinating this follow through position.
00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:47,000
But if you want to be a pretty good iron player, if you just master what's going on here
00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:53,000
as far as the location of your upper body and the timing and the way that you straighten
00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:57,000
your arms, you can hit a lot of greens, you can be a really good iron player.
00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:01,000
In the next video, we're going to take a look at his sequencing and we're going to talk
00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:07,000
about his power source and how he can sometimes cause a little bit of trouble with face control,
00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:08,000
especially with the driver.
In this analysis video, we're going to take a look at the swing of Charles Howell III.
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:09,000
And in this particular analysis video, we're going to look specifically at his Iron Play.
00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:14,000
Charles was gracious enough to send me a couple swings from a recent practice session
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,000
at Iowa.
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:20,000
And I'm going to talk to you about what I think has made him such an elite level iron
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,000
player over the last 20 years or so.
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:28,000
I'll do a second video where we'll talk a little bit about what's going on with his
00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:32,000
driver and how it relates to his fitness program.
00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,000
But in this particular video, we're going to look at what makes him such a good iron
00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:36,000
player.
00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,000
Whenever I analyze Iron Play, I want to start at impact.
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,000
There are a few keys to being a really good iron player.
00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,000
And one of them is looking at the shape of the swing and the low point control.
00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:56,000
So Charles is really good at creating a lot of lag and that helps him create a lot of
00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:57,000
chef lean.
00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:02,000
We can see here from the face on camera angle that there's not much going on as far
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,000
as turf contact until after the golf ball.
00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:10,000
So it's right around this frame here that we start to see the scuff of the turf and
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:11,000
the divot form.
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:18,000
So if we go back to just before impact, the tour average is somewhere around four, four
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:23,000
and a half, five inches in front of the golf ball having the bottom of the divot or the
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,000
low point, at least with kind of the mid and short irons.
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:33,000
So what we'll see is that's right around where this divot is forming there.
00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:39,000
Now most golfers get the bottom of the swing forward through a combination of there are
00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:43,000
movements as well as body rotations.
00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:48,000
Charles tends to be a little bit, let's say under rotated as far as his body positions.
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:53,000
So he gets it there more with what he's doing with his wrist and shoulders.
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,000
But when it comes the iron play, as long as you get the bottom of the swing forward,
00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:02,000
which happens when you create this shaft lean as long as the club that is still traveling
00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,000
down, you're going to strike the ball relatively solidly.
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:11,000
So then as long as you have a club face that's relatively aligned to your target and
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:17,000
a club path that's close to neutral definitely doesn't have to be zero can be, I'd
00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:23,000
like to give a guideline of kind of plus or minus five degrees into outer out to in.
00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,000
Five degrees into out with irons can make it really tough to get the bottom of the swing
00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,000
forward or that far forward.
00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:34,000
But as long as your path is somewhere around neutral, your face is somewhat pointed at
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,000
the target and you create the shaft lean, you're going to tend to strike a lot of iron
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,000
shots really well.
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:46,000
In fact, I tell some students that I think it's the geometry of the swing that's probably
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:52,000
more important with the irons, but when it comes to the longer clubs and the driver
00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,000
specifically, I'm looking a lot more at the dynamics.
00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,000
I'm looking at how the body is moving in order to get into this position.
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000
And that's what we're going to focus on in the follow up video when we look at his driver
00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:05,000
play.
00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,000
So in order to get your hands and the handle further forward, you have to build a pretty
00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,000
good release pattern.
00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:18,000
And part of that includes letting your arms extend and letting the club bottom out with
00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:24,000
still retaining some extension of that trail risk and more flexion than where you started
00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,000
at setup in the lead wrist.
00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:35,000
So if I go back to setup here, we can see that that lead wrist has an angle of about 35 degrees.
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,000
It's kind of like this.
00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:42,000
And then when he gets to impact, it's pretty close to flat.
00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,000
So he is gone this way about 35 degrees.
00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:49,000
That helps him get his hands more forward.
00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:55,000
Now one of the unique things to Charles of Pattern compared to a lot of tour pros is in
00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:01,000
transition, he loses that extension and then gets it later in the swing.
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:05,000
So here we can see at the top of the swing he's got a little bit of, it's pretty close to
00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,000
the neutral or a little bit flexed.
00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:14,000
And then right around there, it's kind of tricky to see at this particular angle, but
00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:18,000
you can see that the wrist has a little bit more cup in that position.
00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:24,000
So between here and the top of the swing, he's extended that wrist a little bit.
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:30,000
So then from there down to impact is when he's flexing that wrist, which helps control
00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:34,000
that low point or get that low point more out in front.
00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:40,000
He golfer's flex the wrist just earlier or straight away from the top of the swing.
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,000
But it shows you that you don't necessarily have to do it early.
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,000
You can do it late, especially with the iron play.
00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:52,000
As long as you get the geometry that allows you to hit ball first contact by having the
00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:57,000
low point forward and the reasonable clubface and path, you're going to hit a lot of really
00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:58,000
good iron shots.
00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:03,000
So if you're analyzing your own swing, start it impact, look for shaft lean.
00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:08,000
If we don't have shaft lean, look to this position here, follow through position.
00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:13,000
And I want you to see did I stay in my angle, did my arms continue to straighten?
00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,000
So did I get width here in the follow through?
00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:22,000
If let's say these arms were bent and I've stood up, then it shows that on the way through,
00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:29,000
I'm probably kind of letting the club pass my body and releasing the angles more like this
00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,000
as opposed to letting the arms extend out more like that.
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:38,000
I've got lots of videos on the site to help you with your release position or release movements
00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,000
and really coordinating this follow through position.
00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:47,000
But if you want to be a pretty good iron player, if you just master what's going on here
00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:53,000
as far as the location of your upper body and the timing and the way that you straighten
00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:57,000
your arms, you can hit a lot of greens, you can be a really good iron player.
00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:01,000
In the next video, we're going to take a look at his sequencing and we're going to talk
00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:07,000
about his power source and how he can sometimes cause a little bit of trouble with face control,
00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:08,000
especially with the driver.
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