Video summary
The video introduces a simple and effective drill designed to help golfers increase ball speed and distance without altering their fundamental swing mechanics. The presenter explains that many players rely too heavily on their arms while neglecting the power generated by their lower body, particularly the hips and legs. To address this, the drill involves placing a box or head cover directly behind the clubhead at address to physically prevent any backswing. This restriction forces the golfer to generate momentum entirely from impact through to the top of the swing, mimicking the rotational motion used in sports like shot put. By engaging the right leg, hip, and foot during this restricted movement, golfers can learn to utilize energy that is often ignored, creating a more powerful and efficient transfer of force into the ball.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique, the presenter first performs the drill without hitting a ball, noting an immediate increase in enthusiasm and a deliberate feeling of power even before striking anything. Once balls are introduced, the golfer starts with a half-swing using the box, achieving a carry distance of 143 yards with a club head speed of 78 mph. This result is significant because it nearly matches the distance of a full swing (typically 145 to 150 yards for this specific player) while using only half the traditional motion. The data shows that by focusing on driving through the ball and maintaining a smooth backswing, the golfer can achieve realistic carry distances without swinging like a lunatic or losing control of the shot path.
After removing the box, the presenter attempts to replicate the same feeling with a full swing, pushing harder through impact to maximize lower body engagement. This effort results in a dramatic increase in performance metrics, with club head speed rising to nearly 87 mph and ball speed jumping to 115 mph. Consequently, the golfer hits an 181-yard shot with a 7-iron, far exceeding their normal range. The presenter emphasizes that while the yardage gain is impressive, the true lesson lies in re-engaging the lower half of the body; this habit ensures better targeting and power generation even when the box is removed. Although adopting this new movement pattern might feel awkward or cause temporary soreness in the hips and thighs, the long-term benefit is a swing that utilizes the whole body more effectively, leading to greater consistency and distance without compromising the natural flow of the golf swing.
Read the full video transcript
So, you've clicked on this title because
you want to gain more yards, more ball
speed in a very simple and
straightforward way. Well, I reckon we
can do that in about, I don't know,
maybe 8 minutes tops. Right, so this
series is called testing the tips and
it's brought to you in partnership with
Seed Golf. Now, the intention is that I,
as an average golfer like you, I try out
plenty of hints, tips, and drills that I
see from fellow golf YouTubers, PGA
professionals, who come up with drills
to try and help us get better at golf.
And when I stumble across one that uh I
think actually works, then I try and
relay it to my audience. And that's what
I'm going to do today cuz I think that I
found something that's
first of all, yes, it will increase ball
speed and club head speed, but it does a
couple of things as well, which were
hugely important in helping you generate
some power from the lower half, engage
that lower half, and will make use of
energy that sometimes we just ignore.
It's a very simple and straightforward
drill, which is also hugely important to
me because I don't like things that are
complicated. It won't impact on your
swing. It'll literally help you generate
more power.
Engage that whole body a bit easier. The
pause was because I needed a prop and
that prop is a box of balls from Seed
SD-02s.
A shameless plug, I know, but anyway,
we're going to need something to place
behind our ball
because
this drill
takes away the backswing.
And it's about everything that goes on
from impact through to the top of your
swing, which to be honest with you,
let's be honest, most of us we ignore
that. And it'll particularly apply to a
lot of golfers who just swing all with
arms and don't generate the power from
that bottom half, which again is hugely
important.
You also don't need a ball for the
bottom half of the drill.
But you're going to place a box or a T
box, whatever it is that you've got a
head cover,
directly behind your club head at
address.
Adopt all the same principles that you
would. Make sure everything's square,
feet, shoulders, hips.
Get your club in that address position.
But, you're going to take no backswing,
and that's going to feel weird cuz your
automatic
assumption at this point or feeling is
to go that way, and that box is to stop
you doing that.
So, when you get to here, all you're
going to do is flick through
and get to the top of your backswing as
fast as you can.
Now, to do that, you're going to need to
engage other parts of your body other
than your arms, or hopefully you will.
And what you'll see
is that
or you'll feel as well is that your
right leg,
right hip, right foot, everything starts
to generate and turn
just the same way as you would if you
were throwing a shot put.
And that is a video that we did a few
weeks back. Rory McIlroy trains with a
medicine ball, and he looks to produce
that sort of shot put motion, and it's a
way of injecting power from this right
side, turning, facing the target. It's
just good habits.
So, at this point, all we're doing and
we're repping
and we're getting there as quick as we
can. Build it up because if you do this
is the first thing in the morning, it's
a great warm-up drill as well.
You'll be a little bit stiff at first,
and then hopefully you'll start to see a
little bit of more energy coming
through.
Okay?
Yeah, stupid, I know. I get it. What the
heck is this fellow going on about?
Bear with me. The box gets removed.
We're now going to take a bit of a, I
don't know, half half swing.
We're going to do exactly the same.
We're going to go half swing
and then we're going to get that feeling
that we've just generated and we're
going to whip through and we're going to
get to the top of the swing by
encouraging some engagement from this
lower half. So, back
up.
Now, I know straight away
I haven't hit a golf ball yet this
morning, but I know that I'm already
feeling more power
and more uh
enthusiasm
and being more deliberate about getting
through that ball and making sure I'm
facing target.
Now, if we quit the video right here,
that in itself to me is enough
because too many golfers finish like,
you know,
arms only. They're not turning. They're
generating no club head speed whatsoever
by not engaging this. So, that would be
it for me. But, obviously we need to hit
some balls and we need to see does this
actually make any difference in terms of
club head speed, ball speed, and then
distance. So, flightscope is on. We need
to see if this thing works or not.
Now, I would suggest that what you do is
you get a ball in place and you start to
hit that
that half swing. So, back
and that's what we'll do to start with.
So,
let's see what we generate with half
and then bit of a
bit of effort going through that bottom
half.
Down the fairway slightly right. We get
143 yd.
Now, we've got
78 mph club head speed and a 104
ball speed.
Now, it's important to mention that if
you ask me how far I hit my 7-iron
full swing, it's probably around 145 to
150 tops.
>> [snorts]
>> We've just achieved that with pretty
much half a swing.
And that's because of the effort that
I've put in through impact.
Which for me,
lots of people talk about what your
swing does, and this ain't going to
change your swing. It ain't going to
switch change the path.
What's important for me is if you get
that club head square through impact, in
theory, the ball's going to go fairly
straight. It's also where you generate
some where club head speed really
matters.
So, that's our first ball away,
controlled, pretty normal, half a swing,
3/4 of a swing,
but not a huge amount of energy from
that back swing, and we've produced a
realistic carry.
But, like I said, how much further can
we go? So, let's see what FlightScope
tells us when we try and generate a
little bit more club head speed
by making some effort down in that
bottom half when I'm pushing through
impact.
It's important to note
that if you do attempt this, don't let
everything else go out the window, and
all of a sudden swing like a lunatic.
It's important that that back swing
remains nice and smooth as you normally
would, hopefully, and the effort comes
in when we're driving through the ball.
Otherwise, you're going to be swinging
like a lunatic and talking to me back in
the comments below and saying, "What the
heck, Andy? You've taught me nothing."
So, here we go. So, ball back.
That sound felt good.
Let's see what we can do when we hit the
golf ball.
Well, the first thing is, that's right
down in the middle. I also felt like I
generated a huge amount of club head
speed.
So, we're looking down, we've gone to
86, almost 87 mph. So, yeah, we've
increased club head speed,
but what about that ball speed? 115 now
we've jumped up to in terms of ball
speed.
And in terms of yardage gains, it's
fairly significant, to say the least. A
yd 7-iron is way beyond what I would
normally generate. Now, I'm not
suggesting I want to go out and hit 180
yd 7-irons either. What I am hoping to
find is somewhere in between the two
that I've got enough encouragement to
generate that power and understand how
that bottom half engaging is going to
help me not only hit the ball further,
not only get faster ball speed, but also
get me
facing target and engaging this bottom
half because I think for me, the yardage
gain is is not irrelevant. It's nice,
but maybe more importantly, it's
engaging this bottom half, which is the
real kind of
the the real lesson from this video. No
backswing. No backswing drill at least.
We certainly have to have one when we
want to hit the ball. That's simple. Get
that box behind you. Get to the driving
range and get whipping through. You
might look a little bit silly. You might
feel a little bit silly, but then when
you start adopting that into the full
swing, I think you'll feel very
different. Chances are you'll feel
different the following morning as well
when you wake up and you realize hang on
a minute, I haven't been using that hip,
that thigh, that right foot for quite
some time. So, you might have a little
bit of pain, but you know what they say,
no pain, no gain.
181 yd 7-iron. Ooh. Thanks for watching.
See you soon.