Herbert’s coach, the highly regarded Dom Azzopardi, has identified the three key areas Herbert is working to improve on:

Driving accuracy

Azzopardi: At the end of 2021, Lucas and I sat down and looked at an annual stats report we commissioned on Lucas from Tom Boys at Upgame analytics. The stats laid bare the issue was Lucas’s accuracy from the tee. He has the length of Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson, but they drive it straighter. Here is a list of checkpoints I went through with Lucas in a plan we devised to hit more fairways this year.

How: I asked Lucas what sort of shape is he seeing with his driver on good swings? The answer was a one-yard draw. But because it was a tight draw, sometimes the miss was to leave it out right if he was worried about trouble left. We agreed Lucas ideally needs to see a stronger, five-yard draw with his driver, that way he can trust the ball will turn over without finishing too far left. We will increase the loft on his driver to generate the spin required for that bigger draw.

Because Lucas is a very talented athlete, I can get him to create the swings and path required to hit that bigger draw simply by choosing targets on the range. A starting line further right than he’d normally hit with a driver, but the same target, forces him to create the correct swing for that stronger right-to-left ball flight.

However, the average amateur reading this can use Lucas’s process for their own game. When I coach an amateur who’s ‘cuppy’ with the wrists and hits up on the ball, I’ll take them out onto the course and put them under a tree in the rough. I’ll choose a branch that forces them to hit a 7-iron low to get it under a branch. It’s always amazing the way they start using a compact, three-quarter swing, start leaning the shaft at impact like the pros, start compressing the ball and taking a divot. I can get change to happen by forcing amateurs to hit a shape.

Wedges

In the Upgame report, we realised Lucas’s distance between 75 and 125 yards could get better. When it’s less than 75 yards, Lucas has had some great results because he’s put in a lot of work and he’s so creative. However, 75-125 yards is such an important area of the game because the longer pros on the PGA Tour face so many shots in that range. Sometimes Lucas short-sided himself on tour, even when he’s hit a decent wedge shot, because his target was too aggressive. He liked to go right at flags but often that wasn’t the smart play. So how did we address the problem?

1. We talked a lot about focusing on more conservative targets but being aggressive to those targets. Tiger Woods used to say that: aggressive swings to conservative targets. For example, even if a wedge shot is 90 yards, the smart play could be 10 feet left of the hole and Lucas can be aggressive at that target. ‘Going right at it’ would be aiming directly at the 10-feet-left-of-the-hole mark. 12 feet left would still be a nice, smart shot.

2. Like the driver, the advice I gave Lucas is relevant to amateurs. The best advice I could give an amateur whose handicap is 8 or above, is to hit all wedge shots to the middle of the green. It may sound unpleasant, especially from, say 70 yards, but the statistics say you will hit the green more often than if you were to go for the flag. You will shoot lower scores doing that. It’s really only from a 7 handicap or better that a player has the ability to go at flags with wedges and get a consistent proximity.

Photo by kurt thompson

Putting

Lucas is a great putter, so we really only work on maintaining speed control. When Lucas is holing a lot of putts, it’s because his speed control is brilliant.

How: To do that, we work on what allows Lucas to have good control: a soft stroke that gets the ball rolling gently. That allows him to hit short and long putts with a similar roll and therefore he just feels the distance. For amateurs, that’s the biggest key to improve their putting; amateurs put so much emphasis on the path and line, but not enough time practising speed control and the actual rolling of the ball.