Welcome to Teachable Moments, GOLF’s weekly instruction column that will help you improve your game through the excellence and expertise of the Tour stars of the week. Class is now in session.
A key swing change
Lucas Herbert has been a successful player on the European Tour over the last few years, but on Sunday, he experienced a coming-out-party on the opposite side of the Atlantic, winning the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. The victory is Herbert’s third over the last two years, and his first west of Europe.
“It just opens up so many doors for me and it’s just so exciting, being able to play out here now and pick a schedule,” said Herbert, whose win locked up full-time PGA Tour playing privileges. “To be out of that battle and get into some of these really big events, I’m looking forward to it so much.”
Herbert explained after the win that in recent weeks, he’s been working on a swing change with his long-time coach Dom Azzopardi. After a stint of sup-optimal ball striking of late, Azzopardi suggested Herbert alter his takeaway to put the club on the correct plane.
“I was taking the club back a long way inside, inside plane going back and from there it was very hard to match it up,” Herbert said. “I was kind of leaking the ball to the right or double crossing left, which is not a really good way to play golf.”
As Herbert said, when bringing the club to the inside too far during the takeaway, his entire swing was thrown off. It resulted in blocking the ball to the right or, in an overcorrection, double crossing and pulling the ball to the left.
To fix this subtle flaw, Herbert attempted to keep the clubhead further outside his hands from the beginning of the swing until the shaft is parallel to the ground. This put his swing back on plane and allowed for a tournament-winning week of ball striking.
