Folks, it officially declares golf season. Over the next few weeks, the golf world will turn to Great Britain at the Scottish Open (men’s and women’s) and Open Championship (men’s, women’s and seniors). We’re talking about the ball in the air And on the ground. We’re talking about holding the kicks in a crosswind and sending them down in a headwind. What we’re really talking about is trajectory control, regardless of the whims Linkland throws at us.
And our professor for this assignment? None other than Tommy Fleetwood, born and raised in Southport, on the west coast of England, close to Royal Birkdale, host of this year’s Open. We had the pleasure of bringing Fleetwood on board for our “Pros Teach Joe” series, focusing on a simple idea: How does one of the best irons players in the world control the trajectory of his shots?
“It always starts with inventory,” Fleetwood told me from one of the Tommy Fleetwood Academy sports fields in Dubai. By this he means, whatever your standard ball placement is, this is where your thought processes should begin. To pitch the ball high or low, it is very important to first know where your center of stance is (most likely with your 7 iron) as well as your standard swing and impact. This is your norm. This is your stock.
In a scenario where I would like to hit the ball above my margin (using the same club, mind you), Fleetwood offers a little thought exercise that can be used as a practice drill. You can watch the video below and read the rest of the explanation.
Fleetwood likes to use the five-ball mentality, where five golf balls are lined up next to each other, parallel to the toes, just outside the hitting zone. Your lie alignment is aligned with the center ball, but to hit the ball a little higher, position yourself so that the ball you will hit is next ball forward. In other words, move the ball one ball forward in your stance.
“The difference is in the setup for a whole ball.” must make it go a little higher,” Fleetwood said. Sure enough, my smooth 7-iron topped out at 110 feet, probably 10 to 15 feet higher than normal, and traveled 156 yards—maybe 12 yards shorter than normal. We then decided to apply that theory to the 2% scenario: what if I had to hit it even higher?
“I do this all the time,” Fleetwood said. “I would call it working with a golf ball in my setup. You might have to hit the wood with it. You might be way downwind and the pins might be in front.”
This doesn’t happen often, of course. But it may happen that one day you miss your tee shot all day and suddenly you need to save. Fleetwood’s tip: Just move the ball once additional the ball is forward again. We are now two balls ahead of the shaft, swinging with the same swing, and if we put the club on the ball, it should connect with the upward motion of our swing arc to lift the ball even higher. This time my 7-iron was a little thin—you end up reaching for it a little—but still topped out at 107 feet.
The nice thing about the simplicity of this exercise is that the reverse also works. To fly the ball lower, you move the ball back in your stance away from the lie. Not a crazy amount, just one ball – and to make it even lower, of course, one. additional ball out of stock.
All this may seem too simple; your ball flight will of course be different from these different positions. But take a range drill to begin to understand what your “stock” is and even what a “stock plus one” looks like in terms of trajectory. Or “reserve minus two.” The last clue that Fleetwood holds true for himself is undoubtedly No changing any element of your stock swing. You’re simply trying to deliver the ball with your face the same way, but the ball is in a slightly different position.
If anything, when trying to hit a low iron, Fleetwood might have tried slow his little swing down from the position – where many people mistakenly speed up – just to make sure the movement is methodical and the contact is clean.
“If you feel like you’re on a 70-yard course where you just took a really long swing and just threw the club at it with a short follow-up,” he said.
The result was exactly what we were looking for: a 45-foot top with a range of 156 yards—essentially the same distance that other custom rounds have traveled, but with a completely different feel.