He hits a lot of drivers- sometimes fairway woods when a fairway bunker is a must avoid and he can’t carry it… however most guys just bomb driver everywhere nowadays. Bunkers and doglegs mean little to their game plan- just flog it 290 in the air and go over everything
More interesting stuff…
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Very interesting discussion. I usually try to hit my driver pretty straight. Sometimes it fades, sometimes it draws. I will try to hit some cuts if a hole calls for it. I almost never try to hit big draws with a driver… Nothing worse than a snap hook with a driver, and I’ve hit many of those. Few snap hooks anymore with the way my gear is set up, but the scar tissue is still there.
From a punting perspective, proximity to hole is the one I focus on, every week. I have several other parameters to be successful in betting, but that and putting is absolutely essential.
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I try to hit it straight and end up with a more or less straight cut, eliminate left (when I hit a good shot haha). If I ever play to try and shape it, plan to avoid left, unless it’s a big old slinging curve I’m inconsistent. Funny old game golf…
Interesting you work or worked with Luke Donald, Bradley. He obviously worked with Chuck Cook for a while, now yourself, obviously wants a pivot driven swing. If he can improve his ball striking and retain his short game he would be some player. Don’t think I’m Einstein saying that but there it is.
From a betting perspective, Olly Wilson is someone I’m looking out to back heavily now. Previously you had to pick when he was hot and ride him for a top 25 finish, as long as he is in contention he was a good pick. Hearing he’s working with you and just the change in his club exit tells me he now gets it. He can be a absolute scoring machine.
Hogan believed the tee shot was the most important shot…seems today he is more correct than we realized.
I think putting is equal to driving importance, but nowadays we can make the argument that the driver may be slightly more important. I cracked my driver before the season this year. I couldn’t believe the difference in scoring…and you see that on tour when guys take on newer model club changes. Even with superior fittings, it still takes time to trust.
We probably aren’t discovering the atom with these thoughts, but I’d say this really clarifies the muddy water of stat keeping and where the game is.
Luke Donald was an interesting experience.
He had kind of touched base a few times over the past few years - when he had played with Todd and seen his game turn around- but never done anything about it except for a brief 2 hour session as a feeler in Oct 2020 at Sea Island.
Eventually a few months later in Feb 2021 he called me and said he was ready to try as whatever he had been doing with someone just wasn’t working.
We started out with some online work until I was able to go down to his place in early March - when I was at Players Champ with Todd & HV3
Spent a full day there. Did more online and then went with him to Hilton Head for the tournament
We did a bunch of mod4/drill6 when hitting balls and then a lot of the first three drills for training. Also incorporated a backswing solution that would keep him taller. His tendency was to drop a lot in the backswing and turn too deep with his shoulders, which made him slide and underneath it all the timeA hence his big arm and hand roll through impact.
Things started to improve to the point that in the Byron Nelson event in early May he hit 100% of greens in the second round which was something he had never done in all his years on tour.
He also came 12th in the event which was his best finish for four years.
Paul Tesori - who caddies for Webb Simpson- came up to me and said “ you did amazing work with Todd but if you get Donald out of his slump you are the guru of all gurus”
Three days later Luke called and said he was going to head in another direction as what we were doing didn’t suit his feels!!!
Well of course it didn’t !! It was total opposite release- something he wanted to fix in the first place and the reason for coming to see me.
I told him you do know you just had your best finish for 4 years and hit all the greens in a round - something you had never done before- he said yes, but had no response.
So that was that. Off he went to try something else and really hasn’t played well since.
That’s the life of pros and the work we do with them sometimes.
I am sure someone got in his head about it all and he got suckered in to going with them instead- it was his choice but as time has rolled on the past 18 months he is back struggling and it would’ve been nice to see just what may have happened if he had continued doing the plan we had started and the plan that was already beginning to see benefits
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I wish now I had someone like yourself as a swing coach back in the day.
I did everything myself, probably like you. Just a little bit of coaching during the junior days. The problem, for me anyway, is it was easy to veer off course when you’re not hitting it well, go down some new theory rabbit hole on your own without really understanding it.
Hard to believe Luke kept searching even with positive results working with you. Seems like he’s still searching, maybe he’ll call you back 
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If he does he will be paying me more LOL
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The Luke Donald situation is very interesting. A change to release pattern is tough, but not impossible…however, losing your status is probably equivalent to living a nightmare for someone with his golf background.
I’m not sure if he’s running out of rope (unlikely), but those actions seem a bit desperate. Not to disrespect his choices, just an observation.
Also, great to see Oliver Wilson getting in the mix at the BMW!!! Go get it… 
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I believe Luke has used both his career money list exemptions- so his status would now be past champion category or invites. He missed the 126-150 category last year
Golf is a humbling game. I don’t think anyone is exempt, not even Tiger. With so many aspects, trying to get the driver in the fairway, crisp iron shots, chipping, putting, all coming together at the same time is like juggling 4 bowling pins.
I suppose the ride up is a lot more exciting than the ride down. I feel for a guy like David Duval who was the top player along with Tiger for a few years, but somehow loses his game and spends decades trying to figure out what happened or how to get it back.
Most pros that I know… often don’t have a deep enough understanding of things to properly fix themselves. Some are fortunate enough to just know what works for them and don’t tinker too much. It takes a lot of confidence to be like that… to really accept your limitations but at the same time know that it will be good enough to carve out a career doing it.
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10% of 10,000,000 = 1,000,000 = 500,000 aft taxes.
Maybe bump that up 5% 
Some of the best golf to watch is when the best are struggling and find a way to score imo. Tiger in the Woods . When I was first starting after college 85’ I went to Heritage to watch Mark Omeara. He hit it all over the place when he started working w Haney. I mean sideways seriously. I thought hell I hit it better than this US Amateur. I left him to watch Dan Pohl who hit this bullet fade and all par 5s beautiful shots. Pohl shoots 76 Omeara 72 end of day. I thiught WTF
The best of them was Seve in the either Ryder Cup or Presidents cup in his later year. Tak about sideways! But he would make these pars from under bushes. Incredible to watch.
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Best example I know is Colin Montgomerie. Swings it exactly the same as he did when he was in college. I know, I was his team mate for a year. I guarantee I hit more range balls in a weekend than he did that entire year of college, but he has about a hundred million reasons why he didn’t need to. Hell of a player!
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I always felt like the guys who don’t need to practice so much have the best technique. Ball beaters can make a lot of things work…
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Monty played the best round of golf I have seen up close. We were paired together in the 3rd round of European Masters at Crans Sur Sierre (1996?) and he shot 61, parred the last 3 holes and never made a putt over 6 feet.
He would literally stuff it in close and finish out before I even had my ball marked and cleaned.
Was impressive.
That’s funny that you went to college with him. Houston Baptist was one of the three schools chasing me to come over. Plus Houston and Ole Miss
Once I was told I had to do an S.A.T test that was me out!!! Didn’t even know what it was. Would have been fun to get over to America then. I was worried I wouldn’t last being overseas for that length of time- yet here I am now and have been living in America for 27 years!!
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I came over in 86, Monty was a senior along with Glenn Joyner. Jeff Wagner transferred from Oklahoma that same year. Our 5 man team was a Scot, a Mexican, 2 Aussies and a Kiwi. We also had a Danish guy that made the team at times. The only American’s on our squad couldn’t make the team or keep a C grade average in school to be able to play, lol.
I don’t think I ever beat Monty in a practice round, at least if it was for money. If I shot 72, he’d shoot a couple better. If I shot 66, he’d shoot 65. Butter fade it everywhere all day. He’d hit about 10 balls on the range when we got to the course, then wait for the rest of us. We’d go play 18, then he was off home while the rest of us practiced more. A natural!
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I had to do the SAT as well. Didn’t know what it was either. I’d been out of school for 3 years at that point, so it wasn’t like I was too sharp with the academic stuff. I got through it somehow, lol. I wasn’t good enough to turn pro at that point of my life, but amatuer golf in NZ wasn’t preparing me for much back then, so off I went.