GOLFTEC: Hit Your Driver Like Rickie Fowler with this Simple Drill

Start hitting long and straight drives off of the tee by taking this tip from Rickie Fowler’s backswing.

By Sabrina Naccarato

The pros hit the ball a long way. We all know that. And it doesn’t look like that trend will start moving in the opposite direction anytime soon. So if us average Joes want to get on the “hitting bombs” train, what do we need to do?

The easiest and most obvious thing to do is to look at the pro’s themselves and see what they’re doing in their swings and try to integrate their solid fundamentals into our own swings. Luckily for you, that’s what we’re doing today with long-bomber, Rickie Fowler.

Swing it like Rick

So why are we choosing Rickie’s swing in particular? Well, because he averages over 300 yards every single time he picks up his driver. There are multiple factors that encourage Rickie’s monster drives, but we’re going to look at one specifically: where he takes his hand back at the top of his swing.

As Rickie takes his driver to the top of his backswing, he moves his hand up but mainly back, as you can see in the picture to the right. This is important to note because having your hands in that location promotes two critical factors for hitting long, straight drives.

The first reason is that having your hands here at the top of your swing promotes an in-to-out swing to help prevent a slice. The second, and maybe most valuable reason, is that it’ll help you swing fast through the ball.

Take it back now

Now that you have the basic understanding of how Rickie hits his tee shots so far, it’s time for you to implement this same motion into your own swing. In the video below, GOLFTEC’s Director of Teaching Quality, Brad Skupaka, shares a simple drill to help you take your hands back so you can start hitting drives just like Rickie.

VIDEO: Learn to Swing like Rickie Fowler

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