Instruction blog: Radical changes to O'Hair's swing

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Sean O'Hair has emerged as one of the best drivers on TOUR.

You hear it time and time again from PGA TOUR players that all they want to do is get in contention on Sunday and have a chance to win. For some, this means getting back on the horse as quickly as possible after falling off and suffering a bruised ego. For Sean O'Hair, it meant getting up after you've fallen off the horse twice while watching Tiger Woods celebrate.

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Sean O'Hair is a great example of a player who has learned from his tumbles on the PGA TOUR. After holding off the world's No. 1 and others at the Quail Hollow Championship, O'Hair this time was the one doing the celebrating on the final green. This week's win puts O'Hair in a group all by himself as he becomes the only player under 30 to have three PGA TOUR wins. The 26-year-old O'Hair used incredible ballstriking all week and a steady putter to close the deal.

O'Hair has perhaps been the most consistent player on the PGA TOUR this year. After Quail Hollow, O'Hair is ranked 1st in Scoring Average (69.48) and displays the rare combination in today's game of good length off the tee as well as accuracy. Currently, O'Hair is ranked 46th in Driving Distance at 289 yards and 65th in Driving Accuracy at 63.71 percent Furthermore, O'Hair is fifth in Greens in Regulation and 34th in Putting Average. Add all this up and you have a very, very solid player with no significant weaknesses.

What Can We Learn
Last year, O'Hair switched instructors from Steve Dahlby to Sean Foley with the goal to establish a game plan to be more consistent. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, it is not uncommon for PGA TOUR players to switch instructors. Just in the last five years, we have even seen it with the top two players in the game today with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both changing swing coaches to Hank Haney and Butch Harmon respectively.

The reality is that the success of a teacher-player relationship not only lies in the information that is being delivered, but also the communication and the plan set forth by both parties. This year, I believe we are witnessing a player in O'Hair that is not only getting good information, but also is on a plan that is understood clearly by both the player and instructor.

Over the last nine months, Foley and O'Hair have focused on many aspects of Sean's game from his putting to distance control with his wedges to creating a more consistent golf swing. One of the goals with O'Hair's swing was to eliminate the left side of the fairway by getting rid of his occasional hook. When ballstriking becomes inconsistent, shots are missed both right and left.

Often times for PGA TOUR players, they will get the push/hook scenario going, where most amateurs will fall into the pull/fade pattern. For O'Hair, he wanted to eliminate any thought of the ball going left. To do this, Foley made changes in all areas of the swing from the setup, backswing, downswing, impact and follow-through. Foley completely overhauled O'Hair's action to be more consistent.

Here are the two major changes that Foley shared with me after O'Hair's third win:

1. Better lower body action through the hitting area.

One of the things that Foley wants O'Hair to do is to create better leg action on the downswing through the hitting area. With improved leg action, O'Hair is less reliant on creating speed with his arms and hands independently, but rather create speed from the ground up.

On the downswing, Foley has gotten O'Hair's lower body to start the downswing as he describes "'down, out, and then up." An interesting sequence, as it pertains to the lower body, but has really solidified the proper kinematic sequence, resulting in more power and less strain to the lower back.

Let's break it down even further.

Down. From the top of the swing ,the first move is to move the weight down toward the left foot. This solidifies that the downswing has started from the ground up shifting weight from the tail foot to the lead foot.

Out. As the weight goes down towards the lead foot, the knee is also moving out towards the target. This is a critical move as it starts some rotation in the hips and positions the pelvis to move aggressively during the final step.

Up. The final step of the sequence sees the pelvis release while the hips rotate to a complete finish. One of their goals is to push the belt buckle towards the sky, which really ignites the glutes through the hitting area, completing the improved lower body action.

With the lower body ignited and performing more aggressively, the hands can now swing more to the left after impact. When we see the ball curve left excessively, we often subconsciously swing farther out to the right. Strange as it may seem, the more we swing out to the right, the more the ball curves left. Therefore, the fix is opposite of what one may think. With O'Hair swinging his hands more left, it allows him to slow down the clubface rotation and decrease any tendency to hit a hook.

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Veteran caddie Paul Tesori has helped O'Hair's evoution into star status on TOUR.

2. Matching things up at the top of the swing

The second item of concern for Foley was to get O'Hair in a better position at the top of the swing to take advantage of his improved lower body action through impact. To do this, O'Hair needed to learn how to match some key components at the top. These components were his left arm, shoulders, left hand and clubshaft. Seems complicated I know and in some ways it is a significant change for any golfer but one that really represents the modern golf swing today. Let's break down these components a little further:

Left arm/Shoulders. Before Foley, O'Hair worked his left arm very upright, where his left arm and shoulders were on two separate planes. Now, O'Hair works his left arm much flatter so his left arm matches his shoulders, resulting in one plane. This position has really tightened up O'Hair's arm swing to his body, creating a more compact feel and look.

Left hand/Clubshaft: With the left arm matching the shoulder plane, O'Hair then changed the way he used his left hand. The two worked really hard to flatten O'Hair's left wrist at the top rather than cupping it. With a flat left wrist, O'Hair could match the club shaft to the left wrist, left arm and shoulders.

This position at the top is a great example of the modern swing and is something we can all learn from. The great thing about this position is that most amateurs are capable of getting into this position. The closer you get to matching up the lead arm, shoulders, left hand and club shaft to the same plane angle, the easier and more consistent you will be with your ballstriking.

Just Because

Well, the stage is now set for THE PLAYERS Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida at TPC Sawgrass. It is hard to believe it is the first week of May and the PGA TOUR has made it to our backyard here. I can tell you for sure everyone here is very excited for this year's PLAYERS, as locals as well as family and friends from all over are gathering for the PGA TOUR's best field of the year.

Personally, I have a crew of friends flying in for the week from Northern Idaho to take in some golf and enjoy the tournament. This is a yearly trip for some of them and by week's end, it is always an eventful visit. After a long a winter in the Pacific Northwest, this will be their first encounter with the sun and for many, their first introduction to humidity in some time. There is nothing like that look on their face as the humidity takes over their body and sweat is just pouring off of them like they have never felt or seen before.

Here are my predictions for who will be sweating it out on Sunday afternoon with a chance to win this PLAYERS:

1. Brian Gay. TPC Sawgrass is another Pete Dye gem just like Harbour Town, where Brian won by a million shots just a couple of weeks ago.

2. Tiger Woods. At least I put him in the second spot

3. Jeff Klauk. This year's Paul Goydos, as no one understands the Stadium Course better then Jeff. After all, his father Fred was the superintendent at TPC Sawgrass for many years, so there are no surprises on this course for Jeff and quite frankly, he is used to the humidity.

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