How John Fox picked up 11 yards in about 45 minutes

One of the keys to unlocking speed in the golfer is overcoming ‘gravity’. As a speed coach, sometimes my biggest opponent is what golfers do a lot: sit and look at a computer. Over time, the golfer loses their athleticism to daily life. The golfer forgets that golf is a sport and swinging a golf club is an athletic movement. I wake up their inner athlete and that will always produce an increase in speed. John Fox was one of those golfers who forgot how to move. And then he met me.

As usual, I always start capturing ‘before’ data:

Tempo: 35/9 (4:1 and too slow!)
CHS: 95
BS: 142
Distance: 268 yards

So, not bad, but I think he can do much more when we unleash his inner athlete.

First Drill for John was band movements to wake up the glutes. Then we went to my rotational band series to feel how to rotate.

We were now ready to swing. When he did the Lag Popper, it was very telling. He was all hands and arms. No loading of the body. As he learned to load up, the LP popped louder and faster. From there we went to 1 arm ‘golden’ swings with the LP to open up the Fascial Slings, specifically the Spiral Line and the SFL. John was starting to get in touch with his youth when he played all types of sports.

Next Up, the Tsunami Bar and the Samurai Drill. His first try at this was a little off, he didn’t know how to brace and how to fire from that brace. As he continued he got the hang of it.

Ready for some fuller swings with the SpeedBall. He loved the feeling of resistance and you could see a better tempo! His SpeedBall tempo was 25/9, so pretty much right on! (as we continue to train, I would like to see him 24/8 or faster, but this was day 1, so we will get there). He had a few swings that didn’t stick the target, so once we dialed that in … time for a real ball.

Check out the after:

Tempo: 24/9 (3:1)
CHS: 100 (+5)
BS: 148 (+6)
Distance: 279 yards

John was excited and my favorite thought that he relayed to me: it felt so effortless. The common MISconception is that you have to swing harder (more effort) to create more speed. This needs to be more of the Julius Boros MO, ’swing easy, hit hard’. I’m not saying we should just limp it thru there, the reality is that John was using more muscles/muscle fires/muscle loading, but it shouldn’t feel full of effort. It should be different and should be more athletic, and when you do that (using the TT Speed Tools of course:), then it will be more distance and more fun!