As the dust settles over St Andrews after a fantastic British Open, it also concludes yet another solid performance by young Rickie Fowler. Although not in contention for this major it is still amazing to look at the improvement Rickie has made in the last two years since he began to work with Butch Harmon. When we look at the difference in swing we can see just how much of a drastic change it actually was.
After a disappointing 2013 season Rickie began working with Butch that December and has not looked back since. In 2014 Rickie accomplished an amazing feat by finishing in the top 5 in all 4 majors, an accomplishment only ever achieved by Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, however in doing so he also developed the label of not being able to finish a tournament off and steal that essential victory. Fast forward to 2015 and the murmurs continued, made even more apparent by a pole in a well known sports magazine which labelled Rickie as being the most “over rated player in golf”. This however only merely served as motivation for the young talent and he produced one of the most impressive comebacks you will see at sawgrass to capture the Players Championship, widely regarded as the 5th major. Not to be classed as a one hit wonder he continued his form at the Scottish open by snatching a late victory from Matt Kucher.
SET UP
Although the camera angles are slightly different, as we look at Rickie’s set up you can see a couple of subtle changes here. First of all he looks a little taller and his hands look much higher in the more recent swing. This will be a key aspect to altering how Rickie takes the club away from the ball. You will also notice he looks a touch closer to the golf ball as well.
TAKEAWAY
This is definitely one of the most noticeable changes to Rickie Fowler’s golf swing. If we take a quick look at Rickie’s old swing you will notice he really “drags” the golf club back away from the ball, you can see his hands are particularly inside the club head which sits above the original shaft angle and as a result of this the club face becomes quite shut. When we look at his 2014 version you will notice the club sits nicely in front of the hands with the toe of the club pointing more up in the air, this will make it much easier for Rickie to hinge the club and keep it more on plane in the back swing, this will also mean he has a lot less work to do in the downswing.
HALFWAY BACK
As Rickie begins to get the club towards the top of the backswing, you can see the impact his takeaway has on the rest of the swing. With Rickie’s old swing you will notice that his hands have begun to move significantly behind his body in an attempt to shallow out the club after a very steep takeaway. On the right you will see a much more traditional backswing position. He has positioned his hands more in front of his body, the club is nicely on plane and pointing towards the golf ball and the club face is in quite a neutral position. This will make it much easier for Rickie to achieve a good position on the downswing.
TOP OF BACKSWING
When we compare old and new side by side at the top of the backswing we can see just how different his new swing as become. You will notice with his old swing on the left hand side the club has gone significantly passed parallel and the club face is in an extremely closed position pointing almost towards the sky. with his 2014 swing on the right hand side the club is in a fantastic position. It has finished in a much shorter and more supported backswing and the face is in a far more neutral position. This supported backswing position will make it far easier for Rickie to produce consistency in his downswing.
THE TRANSITION
As Rickie transitions into the downswing we can see the club begins to really fall behind him and under his shoulder, pointing almost towards the grandstand on the left with his old swing. With his more recent swing we can see because of the more supported backswing it is much easier for Rickie to keep the club more in front of his body. This will make it far easier to produce a consistent impact position with less draw on the golf ball.
HALFWAY DOWN
You will notice in Rickie’s old downswing both his hands and the golf club are significantly behind him. This is almost the polar opposite to the beginning of his backswing which was upright and closed. This reroute had actually began to cause Rickie quite a bit of back pain prior to working with Butch. This became one key that they really wanted to improve in order to preserve Rickies longevity in golf as well as his performance. You can see on the right the golf club is far more in front of his body, on a very similar plane to where it was on the backswing. This should mean a lot less pressure on Fowler’s back and also more consistent results.
IMPACT
At impact we can see Rickie now has the ability to get much more on top of the golf ball. No longer does he need to stay behind the ball and protect against it going left, he can go at the golf ball aggressively and without pain in his lower back.
THE FINISH
As we look at both finishes they appear to be quite similar but there is one or two subtle differences. on the right you will notice Rickie does not look as tightly wound as on the left, you could call it a little shorter even. To me I would suspect that this has something to do with removing the tension on his back.
