From Adam Scott, Cam Smith and Hannah Green to Min Woo Lee and Jason Day, these are the best Aussie pro moves you can steal to shoot lower scores.
Watching Australia’s best tour pros in action during tournament broadcasts each week can have a positive impact on your own game… if you know what to look for.
Here are five of our leading players and a single trait from each that you can take from their game and apply to yours.
Order up! What you can learn from ‘Dr Chipinski’
Min Woo Lee is one of the most electrifying golfers in the world and is fresh off his first PGA Tour win. Although it’s his amazing ball speed that gets most of the shine, his short game is equally impressive, earning (one of) his nicknames – “Dr Chipinski” – by ranking eighth in the important Strokes Gained: Around the Green stat on the PGA Tour.
Learning from Lee’s chipping action may be a bit more attainable than reaching 190mph ball speed with a driver
The most common faults I see when teaching chipping to recreational golfers is a poor setup and turf interaction. Lee sets up with a more new-age, closed stance (meaning his right foot is behind his left) while maintaining square hips and shoulders. He also has a narrow stance with his pressure favouring his lead side. This setup promotes a simplistic action that eliminates falling back and scooping across the ball, a common trait among poor chippers.
Lee then can focus on continuing his pivot through the ball and extending up with his body facing the target. This release allows him to be versatile and play lower, basic chip shots as well as high, soft pitches.
His sequence is reliable, allowing him to swing the club on plane and have the confidence to be tension-free.
To practice this, drop your trail foot back a few inches and lift your heel off the ground to make sure your pressure stays forward. Who knows, your mates may give you a new nickname soon…
Stuff your wedges like Jason Day
Jason Day has spent the past few years rebuilding his golf swing. Although he is yet to reach the lofty heights of his record 2015 major-winning season, the former world No.1 is becoming one of the best wedge players on tour. He is known to have an amazing short game and is currently the best on the PGA Tour this year from 125-150 yards.
There are some fundamentals in his new action that you can replicate, and these fundamentals explain why Day is so lethal from pitching wedge down while placing less stress on his body. Take on some of these concepts and you will dial in your own wedge distances.
One non-negotiable is a solid setup. Day’s pressure favours his lead side with a slight shaft lean. From here he can make a simple one-piece move, pivoting around his centre with no unnecessary movement to the top of the swing.
He sets the club to his desired length on the backswing, usually somewhere between 9 and 11 on the clockface (viewed from front-on) depending on the distance he is trying to carry.
Wedge play is all about control. In the past, Day might have been accused of lashing at the ball. Now he can range his wedges comfortably by flighting shots and controlling spin. You will never see Day author a full-release follow through. If this happens, you are probably trying to hit it too hard, creating a high, spinny, uncontrolled wedge shot.
Copy Day’s move by keeping it simple. Pivot around your centre and control a 9-o’clock-to-3-o’clock swing. Then measure how far your stock wedge shots fly.
Adam Scott: It’s all in the takeaway
Adam Scott has maintained a high level of consistency and distance even as he approaches his ‘veteran’ years.
I know what you’re thinking! How could I possibly swing it like Adam Scott? Well, you probably won’t. But you can take inspiration from the fundamentals he utilises in his takeaway to maximise your driver swing.
Scott starts his driver routine with an emphasis on placing the pad of his left hand onto the grip. It works both as a trigger within his pre-shot routine and to make sure he is holding the club in the correct position. This also helps him hinge the club properly going back.
How does he set the club with so much organisation while also loading up to create so much power? The answer is in his takeaway. Scott has a beautiful takeaway, with his clubhead sweeping wide as he takes the club back and maintaining the triangle formed by his arms and shoulders.
By the time he reaches hip height, his clubhead is out in front of his hands. He has nice arm structure, a square clubface and has pitched the club up roughly 45 degrees with the help of the earlier grip position. He has created both width in his arms and depth in his hips by this position. It seems trivial, yet so many amateur golf swings are a complete mess by this early part of the swing.
Copying parts of Scott’s loading phase will help you create power while remaining structured at the top of the backswing. From there it will give you the best opportunity to hit long and consistent drives.
*Golfers with poor mobility should try dropping the trail foot back and flaring out both feet at address.
Hannah Green takes us to ‘Tempo Town’
As a golf coach, I am constantly trying to find low-hanging fruit to improve golfers’ scores easily, and the lowest-hanging fruit is usually putting.
Hannah Green is one of the world’s finest putters – currently ranking sixth in Strokes Gained: Putting on the LPGA Tour. Watching Hannah recently, I was amazed by how pure her tempo is. That’s something you can try to emulate to improve your speed control and lag putting. Poor putters often get the ratio wrong by either decelerating on their putts or hitting through the ball and racing it way past.
Green has a brilliant putting motion. She sets up solid yet relaxed, with her elbows hanging down towards her body before seamlessly pulling the trigger once she has gone through her routine.
What you should try to copy is the silky tempo she produces. Whether it is a long, medium or short putt, Green maintains a similar tempo ratio. Most of the best putters produce a 2:1 ratio of backswing to through swing. This is a drastic change from a full golf swing. Yes, the longer the putt, the faster the blade will naturally travel. So while the speed and length might change, you want that ratio to stay consistent.
It’s why Green never looks like she is hitting at her putts despite how long they are. Like Cam Smith, she controls distance via the length of her backswing. The whole motion looks relaxed and tension-free.
This type of consistency helps Green have the confidence to make clutch putts, none more crucial than the curling, six-foot putt she drained to win her first major in 2019.
Copy Hannah Green and you’ll hopefully improve your pace control, confidence and ultimately have fewer three-putts.
Cam Smith: Flow through impact
Cameron Smith’s putting stroke is legendary, but he also has one of the best moves through the golf ball in the full swing I have seen. There are a few concepts you can emulate to improve delivery and impact.
Often referred to as ‘unique’ for his slightly across-the-line look at the top of his backswing, he loads nicely before starting his transition move by shifting the pressure into his left side first before his shoulders and arms follow suit.
If you look at Smith’s delivery through the ball, he is extremely consistent, creating an enormous amount of lag and whip. From there he can turn the corner around his left heel. His impact position is a thing of beauty, as he always has nice shaft lean and ground control as a result of clearing this left side.
There is a reason he has played so well at golf courses like Kapalua in Hawaii and St Andrews.
Steal Smithy’s move by practising hitting ‘mini’ golf shots that focus on impact and flow through the ball. Hold the finish with your hips posted up and arms extended away from you. Don’t be shy with the turf, as the emphasis here is on achieving good impact alignment.
Master these smaller pitch shots before making three-quarter then full swings.
Main Min Woo Lee Photo: Richard Heathcote /getty images
