Wayne DeFrancesco | Wayne DeFrancesco Golf Instruction

Simpson, Reed and Watney: Cupped Left Wrist at the Top

Lately we have seen a lot of the top players utilize a flat or bowed left wrist at the top of their swings, namely Spieth, D. Johnson, Keopka and Rahm, but here I focus on 3 recently successful players in Patrick Reed, Nick Watney and Webb Simpson, all of whom get to the top with the left wrist definitely cupped. Some of this has to do with grip type, but in general cupping the left wrist keeps the clubface more open, and with the addition of forearm rotation tends to point the club either on plane or left of the plane at the top. Hogan stated that he liked to roll the face open and cup the left wrist right from the start of the swing all the way to the top and being a Hogan fan, I have always taught that it was a good idea to maintain the bend in the back of the left wrist to the top and starting down, which I think is a simple idea for students to understand. The cupping of the wrist helps my own swing by adding wrist cock, which enables me to increase my lag and produce more speed, something I am conscious of since I go 5’8” and 160 lbs. I also throw in here a couple swings of Bryson DeChambeau, who uses an extremely weak, palm grip and seems to be eliminating all forearm rotation in the backswing keeping the clubface constantly closed, the opposite of Hogan. DeChambeau is hitting the ball as well as anyone on Tour, while Reed just won the Masters, Watney finished second at the Wells Fargo, and Simpson is in control of the Players Championship.

Online Lesson: Austin Kendziorski 4- Bracing the Right Foot and Centering Balance

By Wayne | Videos: Online Students

Austin had a great fall season at Marquette but fell into a bit of a slump this winter. Here I spot a loss of brace in Austin’s right foot as a culprit in multiple issues with his swing, and when you produce 185 mph of ball speed with the driver you can’t afford to get too far off. You will find more than a few great ball strikers who appear to have “give” under the right foot where the right loading of the backswing stresses the lower leg and the pressure under the foot shifts from the inside to the outside of the foot, but in their swings (obviously since they are already on Tour) the loss of brace (see Sergio Garcia) does not cause what Austin’s mistake causes. Austin’s swing tweaks slightly across the line at the top as his foot gives way, causing it to steepen slightly in transition. This issue, combined with the fact that Austin is leaning a bit left at address (especially not good with the driver), causes his sequence to be off and his approach to impact to be erratic and the driver to have too wide a dispersion. Austin’s swing has come a long way and he has developed the kind of power that would make him one of the longer hitters were he to make the Tour, but as we know control is everything.

Lesson of the Week: Michael Patz- First Lesson Ever

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

Having done this job for as long as I have I’m usually the most experienced (and expensive) instructor wherever I am working, and thus do not get many beginners in my book or give anyone their first lesson ever, although I certainly don’t avoid the prospect. The general perception is that a beginner would start with a less accomplished teacher, and I have heard the statement more than a few times that “I am not good enough to take a lesson from you”. Of course, if you give that statement a bit of thought it makes no sense, but that’s the way most people feel. Michael did not feel that way and chose to take his first ever series of lessons with me, and this is a revealing video in that regard. Unless the student has never picked up a club or hit a ball before they already have built in tendencies as their mind and body tries to make sense of what it takes to propel the ball straight ahead, up in the air, with enough distance to play the course.

Lesson of the Week: Andrew Kaye- Getting Started

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

Andrew is a newly addicted golfer. He’s young and strong, and his athleticism shows in his high-level tennis. He is pretty much a weekend golfer but likes to get some ball hitting in during the week. He has committed to taking a lesson every week or two this year, and this is our first go-round. I enjoy these lessons, as I must make up my mind as to where I want to start and how much I want to go into in the first lesson. Some people want a bunch of information about what their swings are doing and what needs to be fixed, especially those who are experienced in the game and have been through the taking lessons process. Others have no idea how to get better other than to play and hit balls, haven’t taken any lessons, and once they decide to try to learn about what they are doing it is imperative that they get good information right off the bat.

Swing Analysis: Andrew Landry- Making the Strong Grip Work with Great Pivot Motion and Right Arm Movement

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

Chalk this one up to the “little guys” on Tour, as 5’7” Andrew Landry plays solid golf down the stretch to win the Texas Open. The most distinctive things about Landry’s swing are his strong grip (a la Zach Johnson) and his extremely left exit. Landry’s right arm stays bent well past impact, even with his driver, and when his body is as open as it is by the time he gets to impact you know the hands, arms, and club are going to exit well to the left and come out under the left shoulder. Landry uses an early wrist set to make sure the left wrist stays cupped, and if he had a neutral grip the face would probably be almost toe up. With the grip being so strong, however, the face still appears closed, and it becomes imperative that he keep his wrist cupped and his right arm in front of his chest. He does have a habit of leaning back away from the ball in the backswing, but balances things out perfectly by leaning back toward the ball in the forward swing, the opposite of what so many struggling golfers do. It is notable how open his gets his entire body at impact while keeping the right arm bent and against him through impact, as this allows him to achieve minimal face rotation through the strike. Another thing of interest is the difference between the driver swing face on and the 5 -wood swing. He is way more behind the ball with his driver to hit up on it and moves everything more forward and the ball more back to hit the 5 wood off the ground. Another item of interest is the slow tempo of the backswing and the extreme acceleration of the downswing, not the standard 3:1 ratio that you see in most Tour players.

Swing Analysis: Joaquin Niemann

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

This 19-year-old was the #1 amateur in the world before he turned pro last week at the Texas Open, where he finished 6th, shooting 12 under and birdieing the last 3 holes. I find his set up and backswing pretty standard for a Tour caliber player, but his swing really gets interesting in the downswing and into impact. He demonstrates a lot of what I like to teach, compressing hard into the ground by adding hip flexion in transition and radically flattening the shaft from P4 to P5. He keeps his right arm bent well past impact (I compare him to the great Byron Nelson) and produces and extreme amount of right side bend in the follow through. I guess 19-year-old bodies can handle this, and since he has gotten so good so quickly I wouldn’t expect him to change anything until something starts to hurt. Whatever the case, it will be fun to watch him as he tries to secure a Tour card without going through Q-School.

Lesson of the Week: Mark Armstrong 2 – Posture, Width, and Impact

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

Mark was referred to me by his friend Derek Gillespie, the Latin Tour Professional from Canada. Mark is a good player but seeing the improvement in Derek’s swing he was inspired to first send in his swing for an online lesson, then come down to see me at the club in Boca. Mark feels that it is his ball striking that is holding him back from reaching his next level, and he is looking for advice on how to improve it. When I saw his first swings I immediately focused on his posture. I think it is a huge deal to have a stance that promotes the things you would like to do with your swing, which is why I’m so against heel-oriented set ups. I don’t ever want to feel like I’m moving forward in the direction of the ball, and if I set up with my weight in my heels and I’m a normal person I’m going to gravitate toward my toes during the swing.

Lesson of the Week: Chuck Winograd 3-Seeing Nice Improvement

By Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week

Chuck lives in Canada and I won’t see him again probably until December, so this video is a summary of our work over the 3- month period at Boca Rio in Florida from Jan.1 to April 1, with reminders for things Chuck needs to focus on when he practices and plays this summer and fall. Chuck wasn’t doing so well when we started, and it was a real struggle at first, but he really started showing signs of coming around by the end of our time together.

Wayne D Working on Bunker Technique

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

I hadn’t been in the bunker with the camera for a while and since I am changing my technique a bit from an out to in path with an open stance and open face to a more square stance and a shallower approach I thought it would be a good idea to see if I were really doing what I was thinking about. As you will see in the first attempt I am still keeping the shaft in front of me and coming from quite a bit out to in.

Set Up Routine: Rose, DeChambeau and Woods

By Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis

I didn’t pick these players for any particular reason other than the TV coverage caught their entire set up routine, and I like to look at and time what they do before each shot. Routine is an especially important concept for young players to learn, but it can help anyone who is serious about the game by standardizing their movements prior to starting the swing. Having a routine helps in several ways, the most important of which is having a way to quickly go through a checklist (grip, alignment, distance from the ball, balance front to back and side to side, ball position, foot placement, etc.), making sure that you are not dooming yourself before the hard part starts.

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