Cam Smith’s coach Grant Field on what it looks like when his star pupil is swinging his irons well, and what you can learn from it
When Cam is swinging his irons best, his arms and body work in sync. One of the best examples of that was the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews last year. Cam hit 63 of 72 greens in regulation. At 88 per cent, that ranked fifth in the field.
Cam’s all-round game is so solid that nothing ever really needs changing; we have a blueprint for what we need to see in his swing and other facets of his game. What we do monitor is how well we are maintaining that blueprint. With his irons, what that means is sometimes his arms can over-travel and the club gets a little long in the backswing. That leads to his clubface being a little shut, and a flow-on effect is his swing can get a little narrower on the downswing. That usually requires a compensation of backing out of the impact area and hanging onto the club through the ball, rather releasing the club properly. When Cam is shorter and his arms are more in sync with his body, he works through impact beautifully.
So, we constantly ensure he is matching those arms to the body. When we shorten the arm swing or sync it with the body turn, the most important thing is trusting that Cam will still generate the same speed from that position. He will, because he can properly release the club to generate that speed. Even though it may feel a little shorter in the arm swing, he’s not turning any less with the body.
Training tools
Putting a ball between the forearms can train the arms to work together, which promotes a compact backswing and a good body turn. We have been using the ProSENDR [above] –a two-piece device created by Canadian instructors Sean Foley and David Woods and used by a host of tour pros – to help with practising that connection. Cam doesn’t use the wrist guard that comes with it, but the ball encourages the arms and body to move as one unit.
What amateurs can learn
One of the biggest things Cam always works on is ensuring he is really balanced through the swing. It’s fine to want to go faster, or crank up the power on a particular shot, but it has to be in balance. Practising your balance [above] during the swing is a really good starting point for most average golfers. If you’re in balance, you will generally strike the ball better and control your distances much easier.
For The Open
In preparing for the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, where Cam will be the defending champion, we won’t necessarily work on anything different with the irons, other than some pace drills just to get prepared for some knockdown approach shots in the wind that require a smoother action. Cam’s got all the tools, and he won’t have to use anything he doesn’t already have or work on. But knowing your rhythm and how it affects the ball flight and spin when playing in the wind is always an advantage.Â
