The J.B. Holmes Baseball Swing

This may be one of the most unorthodox swing lessons you'll ever see. Perhaps that's why I love it! Golf Magazine's Top100 Teacher Brian Manzella has a most unusual take on J.B. Holmes and how he hits a drive so far.



Let me see if I can get these 3 keys correct:

1. J.B.'s position at the top of his backswing looks like a baseball player at the plate, complete with flying elbows. It's not a long swing like, say, Phil Mickelson or even Adam Scott.
2. He starts his downswing by pulling his trailing elbow down to his side, seriously flattening his swing plane. This gets his arms down into a strong position where he can really unleash one!
3. He has the ball pretty far forward in his stance so the shaft is almost vertical when he hits the ball. This gives him the maximum loft from his driver.

This would take some practice to get where you can hit a ball off the ground with your other clubs, but it might be interesting to try it off the tee. However, you should bear in mind that Brian is exaggerating the move a bit. Here's a segment with J.B. from an older GC show for comparison:



As you can see, you don't have to make the moves quite as big as Manzella does... but it might be fun to try it with your driver.