If you’re looking for current players with a combination of elite ball-striking with a claret jug on their shelf, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better fit than Collin Morikawa.

The 2021 Open champion won The Open in his first attempt, and comes into this year’s championship as one of the most in-form players in golf, after an uptick in his iron play. That’s going to be important at Royal Troon, with pot bunkers lurking around every corner.

So ahead of Open week, we thought it’d be fun and helpful to look at his crispy-contact golf swing feel that he shared with us.

The problem: Too much weight on trail leg https://www.golfdigest.com/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2022/1699024154628.jpg

The issue Morikawa identifies is a common one: most amateurs don’t tend to get far enough into their lead leg. They slide their hips too much away on the backswing, then never make it back in time.

“I see so many amateurs stay back and flip their hands,” Morikawa says.

Hanging out too long on their trail leg and flipping (or scooping) results in all sorts of bad things:

  • Chunks
  • Thins
  • Hooks
  • Slices

Which brings us to Morikawa’s key feel to help with this…

Morikawa’s fix: Feel chest over lead leg https://www.golfdigest.com/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2022/Screenshot 2024-07-11 at 10.33.26 AM.png

Pros, through a process called “re-centring”, get their weight hard into their left side early in their swing. Morikawa accomplishes this move with a feel:

  • “Feeling my chest turn into my lead leg, ahead of the club, helps me compress the ball.”

Feeling your chest over your lead leg, and turning, helps bring the low point of your swing forward. That means more weight forward, and crispy ball-first contact with your irons, Morikawa says.

Give his feel a try – and check out more tips in our in ever-expanding Australian Golf Digest instruction archive.