Gary Woodland is a PGA Tour winner yet again — and it’s thanks in large part to his prodigious distance off the tee.
Through his victory at last weekend’s Houston Open, Woodland ranks second on Tour in average driving distance at 324.6 yards per poke, lagging just .2 yards behind Aldrich Potgieter. His clubhead speed leads the Tour at 128.19 mph, and his SG: Off the Tee numbers are good for fifth. In the era of the distance boom, Woodland is well-equipped to compete at the highest level.
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It would be foolish for any recreational player to assume they can replicate the drives that Woodland hits each week, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something you can learn from him. In fact, if you are looking to add a little extra distance to your game, you should copy the subtle lag move he uses in transition, explained by biomechanist Sasho Mackenzie in the video below.
How Gary Woodland generates power
If you want to get the most power out of your swing, you have to produce some lag during the downswing. But don’t go about it the wrong way. Lag is not the product of holding the angle in your wrist, rather it is the result of proper sequencing in transition.
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“The feel should be that our wrists are passively getting pulled into more lag,” Mackenzie says. “We don’t want to feel like we are adding lag actively with our wrists. But just the act of how we are holding the club and how we’re moving our hands will create a little bit of what I call ‘down-cocking.’”
If you watch Woodland swing from the face-on view you can see this motion clearly. He does not over-turn his shoulders or make any unnecessary manipulations with his wrists. When he reaches the top of the swing and begins to shift back to the target, he simply lets the wrists “cock” as a product of his sequencing.
Give it a shot if you are trying to add a little bit of speed to your swing. When done properly, it will unlock extra power you didn’t even know you had.
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