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Jordan Spieth’s a three-time major champion and the current 12th-ranked player in the world, so he knows a thing or two about how to expertly strike the golf ball.
While it’s typically difficult to pick the brain of a pro golfer, especially one of Spieth’s stature, the beauty of the Internet is that it gives us unlimited amounts of access. And, in this case, Titleist decided to film Spieth giving some A+ golf instruction to help amateurs improve their games.
In the video, the 29-year-old grabs a few different shot types from a hat, which he then needs to go execute.
He first hits a fairway finder with a 3-iron, then demonstrates a high draw from 160 yards out, and ends with one of his favorite shots (a 9-iron from about 150 yards from the green).
For this specific lesson, we’re going to focus on Spieth’s advice for hitting that high draw into the green, which can be seen below.
Jordan Spieth’s tips for hitting a high draw
Use a three-quarter swing
With the shot sitting about 160 yards from the hole, Spieth says that hitting a high draw requires a dip in swing motion. This means avoiding a full swing and only using about a three-quarter motion — which will impact your swing speed.
“I’ve got to take a little bit off, so I’m going to do that by using a three-quarter motion,” he says. “Then I’m going to try to be just as aggressive into the ball as I would be on a full one [swing].
“Swing speed will drop down because my range of motion is shorter.”
Deloft the club
Now that you’ve zeroed in on the swing motion, Spieth says that delofting the club will help get the ball high into the air. This allows him to maintain his aggressiveness on the shot.
“What I’ll be doing to hit it high then is, I’m actually letting a little bit of this deloft out. But I’m doing it late,” Spieth says.
“I’m not trying to throw it out of here, which is a big left thing. I’m bringing it in still lean, and then I’m just letting that loft to catch up ever so slightly.”
While Spieth is delofting the club, his face still remains square at impact.
“That face stability will still be there, because it’s already done ahead of time,” he adds.
Miss to the fat parts of the greens
Using a shorter range of motion to take a little off the shot, and then turning the clubface down as he makes impact, Spieth’s shot actually carries the green just slightly, as it rolls to the back edge — where he’d still be putting.
While he didn’t stick the shot perfectly, that’s still the right place to miss it.
“You know, it hung about five yards right; which is, honestly, what I was explaining,” he says. “If anything, it has draw spin, it’s working towards the hole, and it never crosses over the hole.
“If you start training that way, it’s so much easier to play the game, because you’re missing on the fat parts of the greens.”
So if you’re looking to hit high draws onto the putting surface — which allows for a more pure ball strike — use the tips form Spieth and start impressing your playing partners.