Kevin Kisner's Move for a Draw

Kevin Kisner's swing coach John Tillery has a brief article over at Golf Digest about a move Kisner uses to create a draw.



The article interested me because I suspect it may sound a bit misleading to some of you. Tillery describes the move this way:

Instead of doing something dramatic to re-route your swing, try a simpler maneuver to get started off on the right track. "Take a page out of Kevin's book," says Tillery, who also works with Scott Brown, William McGirt and Brandt Snedeker, among other tour players. "Keep your arms closer together and your right palm facing down in the takeaway. Now you're ready--and incentivized--to get onto your front foot, and on your way to hitting draws."

If you look at the picture, you'll see it looks conspicuously like my oft-recommended one-piece takeaway drill. Consider the key points of the move:

• Keep your arms closer together. If you do this, you'll be forced to keep your arms straighter on the way back, which prevents you from swinging too much to the inside during your backswing.
• Keep your trailing palm facing down (toward the ground) in the takeaway. Think about this, folks. If you actually do this, you'll be seriously weakening your grip on the way back. If you successfully maintain this position, you'll cup your wrist at the top of your backswing and perhaps hit the ground with the toe of the club.

I suspect what Tillery is after here is the SENSATION of closing the clubface. If you've been opening the clubface during your backswing, which Tillery talks about elsewhere in the article, he's asking you to FEEL as if you were turning your palm down. Keeping your arms together aids in this; keeping your elbows closer together during your backswing will do a lot to stop that "opening" as well.

In my drill, I designed it to keep your arms closer together as well, and to feel as if your wrists were cocking straight up. They don't really do that during your backswing, but I want you to FEEL as if they are. For most of you, that will be enough to get the feel Tillery is trying to create.

And both drills -- if you try to keep your elbows closer together throughout the swing, as shown in the photo above -- it will force you to keep turning your shoulders all the way to your finish, which will also help you square the clubface at impact.

The difference between our drills is just a matter of degree. Both of our drills exaggerate the feeling of a squared clubface. If you're having trouble squaring your clubface, just choose the drill that provides the amount of exaggeration you need to get the results you want.