Thomas Pieters Inverted Pre shot

[constantine]

Morning fellow nuts!!

Was watching some of the WGC this weekend and noticed that Thomas was taking practice swings with the back of the club facing the target. Any ideas what this is in aid of?

Thanks for the help!

[nygolfer]

Re: Thomas Pieters Inverted Pre shot

Helps develop a feeling of the club swinging to the left.
On the telecast, they mentioned that a lot of Pete Cowen's students use this drill. If it gives me the same results as TP, may have to give it a try

[multimut]

Re: Thomas Pieters Inverted Pre shot

I didn't see the WGC so I didn't see his pre-shot routine.

But it sounds like Pete Cowan's Axe Drill.

He uses the analogy of an axe, and toe of the club looks like an Axe blade. Using this analogy, it is easier to think of how the body should move to generate power if you wanted to chop with the Axe (toe of club). But the very last step, to get the feel of release of the club/rotating the forearms so that it is the back of the club, not the toe that hits the bucket or block of wood.

I suppose he could have said think of the heel as the blade of the axe, and then you would rotate so that the front of the club pressured the bucket/wood (instead of the back). But I guess the analogy is more effective with the toe of the club looking more like an Axe blade (and thus you rotate so back of club pressures the bucket/wood). I'm not sure there is any reason other than the toe of the club looking more like an Axe to make a better analogy.

[multimut]

Re: Thomas Pieters Inverted Pre shot

I'm not sure there is any reason other than the toe of the club looking more like an Axe to make a better analogy.

Having tried it a just few times now, I think there is more to this than the Toe looking more like an Axe blade.

I tried the analogy with the Toe as the Axe blade, and with the analogy that the Heel is the blade of the Axe.

There is difference in feel. It's more than the visual cue that the Toe looks more like an Axe, but with the toe down, the weight distribution of the club changes, and it seems much easier to feel the natural release of the clubhead and the natural rotation of the forearms if you do the drill with the Toe down and thus with the back of the club facing the target.