The step drill that will help you launch your driver

Instruction
The step drill

At the Challenge Tour Grand Final we witnessed Ireland’s Gary Hurley put the ‘step drill’ into play as he looked to lock up a DP World Tour card.

The former Walker Cup star experimented with the move in practice and found that it was so beneficial that he used it in the Challenge Tour’s season ender in Spain.

“It’s just a step drill I started doing last week and especially with the longer clubs the dispersion comes in quite a lot so as long as I am comfortable doing it I said I would try it.

“Did it in the practice rounds and it was OK, Thursday it was fine and did it again on Friday,” said Hurley, who would come up short of a card after rounds of 70-69-75-68 for a tie for 31st.

“(Harrington) does it slightly different, mine is a bit of an extreme version. I step back and step in, he does it for power I think, I’m doing it for my sequence in my swing.

“It’s helping but these things come and go all the time but I’m sticking with it.”

Hurley’s countryman Padraig Harrington has been an advocate of this move for the past few years and, as is often the case with the three-time Major winner, we can all learn plenty from him.

“A lot of times when people are practise swinging, you’ll see pros, they’ll start forward and they’ll have a little step. It’s much more natural to step. If we were going to throw a ball, we’d step, OK? Always you’d be stepping. So essentially it’s a good practice still. So I would say to all amateurs, to step and hit shots,” explains Harrington.

“You should be able to do that and not feel like it’s really alien or uncomfortable. So you’ve got to practise it until that feels pretty normal.

“What you will find, especially if you were an athlete as a kid and if played sports, you will find that that movement will free you up, will give you a lot more of the separation that we talk about, will get you left like they all talk about, and you’ll probably end up playing with it.

“Just because it’s unconventional doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it but most people will just hit the ball far better by having that little step, and remember it’s the natural step.

“If I was going to skim a stone over water, as I draw back I’d step forward. If you’re just a regular golfer who maybe has not been an athlete, you should practise it until it becomes comfortable, because even with your feet on the ground you need that press.

“This is really all you need for most amateur golfers. Just get that motion, step, step, and it really feels much more comfortable, much more athletic, much more normal, and if it doesn’t feel right to you, it means you’re swinging the club wrong, because that should be in your golf swing.”

(Feature photo: DP World Tour)

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