Kyle Berkshire smoked the competition in 2019 with unprecedented club and ball speeds. But at the heart of it all is a good solid golf swing that has some people talking about his pro career after long drive.
This wouldn’t be the first time a long driver has tried to convert his power onto the PGA Tour – Jamie Sadlowski, a two time champion, is still out grinding for his tour card.
While it is folly to attempt to swing exactly like Berkshire, especially if we are older golfers, we can still study his swing and borrow a few nuggets to help us hit the ball a few yards longer.
In the video below, I have picked out a good half dozen simple ideas that you can incorporate into your swing:
;
Kyle does some advanced mechanical motions in his swing to net additional clubhead speed as well. He has one of most effective squat jump in golf today.
Watch how, as he starts down, his belt drops several inches as he loads into the ground, and then the belt raises again as he goes into impact – so much so that he actually leaves the ground! While this does create an additional source of torque that whips the club down into the ball, it is not something I would intentionally teach. Nor would I teach it out of someone if they naturally made this move.
So I do not advocate you attempt to incorporate this move into your swing, but instead stick to the simpler ideas put forward in the video.
For example, Kyle uses a glorified forward press by rocking back and forth from foot to foot before drawing the club back. While I don’t think it is necessary for most golfers to copy this, we should steal the principle of a subtle forward press in order to initiate a powerful swing smoothly.
The worst thing a golfer can do when going for their long drive is to stand stationary over the ball for over 1 second. This makes our muscles start to tighten up and tends to make the start of the swing more jerky. We also tend to visit the part of the brain where mechanical thoughts are stored, slowing us down.
I recommend starting the takeaway by staying very supple and continuing to move, culminating in a small forward press motion of the left hand, left hip, and right knee.
For the other ideas in Kyle’s swing that you should emulate, check out the video!