Stroke Sequence - Fred Couples
 

After seeing him practice for the third round of the open - I decided to make a stroke sequence of him - made from the golf digest flash videos....

The pictures on the bottom row seem (to me) to clearly show Angled Hinging. Would that make Mr. Couples a Hitter, a 4 Barrelled Swinger, or just a Swinger who chooses not to use his natural Hinging Action?

He's a swinger that angle hinges, he has too because of his super strong grip. Pretty sound swing too:

setup left
aim right
push it towards your target
angle hinge it

Would the real Magic of the Right Forearm please stand up?

A couple of things Fred does that works well for him, but I would not normally teach:

1) Shaft leaning well back at address.

2) Double Wrist Action- the cocking and bending of the left wrist. Does anyone have any comments about this? Can Fred get away with this (end of with a flat left wrist at Impact) because he's a Swinger?

I think that freddy's shaft should be with midbody hands per standard address.

It isn't nessesarily a double wrist cock.... Remember cocking is a perpendicular movement not a horizontal one - and looking where his hands are at impact - what do you think is "his" flat left wrist based on how much it is turned ?

Thanks for the sequence
 

Matthew, thanks for posting this sequence as well as the other ones. Freddy has always been one of my favorite touring pros. He has been playing well this year.

One thing that strikes me from last weekend at the Open is that Fred would have been right there with Tiger (especially with his Sunday score) if he could just sink more 5-10 feet putts. He is hitting his drives as well as I have ever seen him (as well as his irons), but his putting is just so so. I think it was Saturday he was on the green in 2 on 1 of the par 5's and 3 putted for par. I also saw him miss several par putts from that 5-10 feet range...a range you don't see Tiger miss many from.

Keith

He does not double cock.
Freddie's left hand grip is turned to the left. Therefore his normal wrist cock at the top will appear to be a double wrist cock.

Always solid
 

Did you guys see the tournament a couple of weeks ago where Freddie contended? The were talking about his action. He says he ALWAYS hits it solid. EVERYTIME. They were saying that he hits it flush more than anyone.

An old Yoda post
 

I went to the TGM archives because I remember a post from Lynn which was all about Freddy :)

Re: Always solid
 

When watching him at the practice ground, he hits it extremely pure and everyone had their eyes poised on him. They weren't concentrating on anyone else, just him putting the ball into orbit with a motion that can only be described as Honey.....

300 yards was easy ! !