Inside A Rickie Fowler-Butch Harmon Range Sesson | Undercover Lesson | Golf Digest

Be a fly on the wall during a range session between six-time PGA Tour winner Rickie Fowler and his coach, Butch Harmon. The pair have worked together on Rickie’s swing dating back to 2013 and discuss the keys to Fowler’s recent success and stories they’ve shared along the way.

Filmed in October 2023.

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All right you’ve already loosened up with some iron shots let’s work on some driver swings here all right I want to uh let you hit a couple just your stock way and then we’ll talk about moving the ball around a little bit I think one of the big improvements

You’ve made golf swing wise has really showed up in a driver a little more consistent yeah a lot more consistent some days I think one of the things I’ve noticed since you’ve changed your swing and got yourself in a better position at the top as your consistency of your

Trajectory is much better yeah a little better control able to move it up and down and both directions primarily most times primarily straight to a cut would you say your bread and butter on your Fairway finders the cut yeah I would say you know unless I get wind off the left

Trying to just get a ball in play it’s going to be kind of a squeeze cut out there isn’t it funny how wind off the left is every good player’s nightmare we hate the wind outs left cuz you feel like you got to turn it into it although on if you can you’ll

Ride it but when you have to turn it into it it’s no fun and it’s true with everybody a lot of times if I have the option I’ll I’ll hit Three Wood because I can hold it a little bit better that’s beautiful ball flight there you switched balls a couple years

Ago and I remember you saying when you did it you like it the way you could flight this ball a little better than what you used to use you say that’s still the case I mean today today’s day and age I feel like there’s so many companies that make

Good golf balls yeah I agree with that and you know within each there’s you have your option so it’s really just finding the one that has the characteristics that you’re looking for you know I like having spin I like being able to flight it as well so control I think that’s that’s the

Biggest thing is having the control so you use a ball that’s a little more spinning than some guys do yeah the ball that I use with Taylor Made would be the the Spiner of the kind of couple options because of that do you feel like you get more

Control with a ball that spins a little more through the air yeah yeah CU I feel like once you start getting a little bit towards the knuckly side you can kind of the two-way misses are a lot easier to happen let’s not talk about a two-way Miss we don’t like

This we don’t even want to bring that up sometimes those draws don’t end up having enough spin on them yeah I wish I wish I had that problem but I don’t when you’re hitting your stock Drive you’re not necessarily Fairway finder or not trying to Nuke it just a

Stock Drive what do you figure you carry it for me a 290 bunker is no worry a 300 bunker is where I know I have to put a little more speed in it yeah so I think if I if I really get into one in normal conditions at sea level I

Can maybe fly at about 310 but that takes a little effort so when you’re when you’re playing in competition In the Heat of the battle you figure you’re swinging what 85% 90% it’s a I mean a controlled controlled 100% but whatever’s there I mean you can

There’s always a few more M hour that you can squeeze out so it’s not holding a whole lot back but it’s it’s in control other the things I like about the the new swing that you’ve been using is the way you can get full release through the ball not only with the club

Head but the path of the arms the sequencing of the arms and body Now is really in sync you just kind of set up from being in a cleaner higher position with more room to go ahead and let it go and that was what we worked on to try

And get you in a position where you can go cuz you know as we talked about in the past if you’re in the wrong position up here you got to do something wrong that had a good shot yeah when you get in a good position the rest of this kind

Of falls into place and it it makes it easier it doesn’t mean you can’t hit a bad shot cuz bad shots the bad shots are still possible they’re they’re part of golf but I’d say in general your driving’s been a lot better would that be what you’d call a

Miss a little just a little push fade yeah that was one that was maybe I squeezed a little too much but that was it was not going left maybe one that you’re aiming up the left side and just trying to take that out of Play It it

Probably catch the right side of the Fairway that’s fine yeah that would have not missed the Fairway I like it all right let’s hit your stock drive here stock should be first te where you’re not trying to really do much you’re just trying to hit your stock driver here should be pretty straight

Oops well we got a pretty good wind just came up into us now too so that’s going to multiply any kind of side spin we have on it better yeah I like that I really like that slight pull with a little fall right and then it works its way back to

The right yeah I think the other thing with the the average golfer doesn’t understand when they listen to you guys talk and I’d say the majority of the tour quires will hit predominately Fades straight to Fades off the te there are guys that are normal shape Rory and some

Of the other guys that are the draw your normal your consistent shape is a ball that really isn’t a slice because it doesn’t have a big curve until it it just kind of falls out of the air to the right that’s what we’re looking for yeah it really it’s never moving left unless

We’re really trying to you know a good one is pretty straight and then if anything they have a little Right Movement yeah all let’s see one of those you wanted the little right movement in it yeah just just let it fall out of the air to the right a that’s

Perfect what trino used to say you could talk to a fade in the hook wall listen at least the the cuts will come down softer although I’ll say this about your your Cuts because of the flight of it it still gets some run out yeah depending

On course conditions I mean we can hit a flat straighter one or see if we can get one working a little left let’s see if we let’s take it out of the air a little let’s bring it see we got a pretty good win into us so let’s take one down a

Little bit what would you do different to try and take this down a little good chest and Head release and I feel like that emblem of the glove or kind of you talk about the guys that are kind of of I feel like that gets just a little more

Down that actually lets the club just release just a little I like that and it takes the wall flight down a little too nice little tight draw lower ball flight now when you hit your do you try and hit occasionally it’ll required to try and hit a fade even though we’re into

The wi yep do you feel that on the end of the wind shots it’s easier to draw it or do you feel you still have confidence with your little fade even though it’s not as high a trajectory no I like I like being able to work it both ways and um a big

Thing with that is making sure when you do go to hit the cut not sliding right and then you get that kind of spinny one so a lot of that is staying behind behind it but really turning so you can still release it do you change your

Setup at all or is the setup pretty similar aim a little square to the left or I’ll be I’ll aim a little more left just to be able to get that you know left to right kind of path through the ball um but a big thing is more just for

Me is thinking cut not actually trying to wipe it what’s the line that Tom Cruz had in Top Gun Maverick don’t think think just do yeah I like that I like that a lot you’ve already gone through you know you have your start line and what you’re trying to do so it’s you

Know just just let the cut happen oh that was perfect absolutely perfect started just left fell out of the air to the right with a lower ball flight you and I have work together off and on start away back in 13 yep but we’ve known each other for quite a while

I really like the way you drive the ball now I like the fact you’ve always tried to hit shots even when you were younger but I think you have more control of the shots the other thing that I like that you’ve done is in the past when you were

Hitting shots your sight lines were a little wide cuz the ball was moving more now your sight lines are in a little CU your ball’s not moving as much which makes it easier to control yeah there’s a I mean I can still move it a lot if

Needed but for the most part it’s not trying to do too much keep it keep it fairly tight yep I like it all right what do you want to hit here let’s uh even though we’re into the wind let’s let’s say we’re going to hit a high one

To try and get that 300 cover over a bunker see obviously you tee it a little higher yeah we’ll Tee It Up A little I like the way you lean your your tee forward a little I notice you you do that what what what do you think that helps you

With just always how I’ve teed it up just little forward nudge get it headed the right direction I love it when I asked you guys questions about why you do this is there a reason for it no I’ve just always thought it that way I like that I like

That um yeah a little higher T I’ll feel like I’ll sit behind it a little bit more just to get a little bit more of the um you know attack angle going up on it you do it more with a little more spine tilt a little more weight back a

Little okay um and the higher I mean I I use a short te to begin with so it’s never never teed up that high you do use you use the shortest tea of anybody on the tour most of these guys you got it jacked up like this and you you got it

Down where you could control it so high for me is probably fairly standard for a lot of people um yeah big thing one is not getting too quick but staying behind it but then continuing to release it once you start getting more up on it that’s going to be a little more right

Byas you know that seems to have been it seems like in in teaching we hear kind of a catch phrase through the different years people start talking about the same thing you know we’ve had Ground Force we have trying to hit up on it I’ve never like that for trying to put

The ball in Fairway that’s great for long drivers that are trying to hit it in a 50 yard grid where they only got one out of 10 out of there you got to get every one of yours in the Fairway so I agree with that I I’m not a big hit up

On it I think we can do like you do set it up at a dress with the spine back put your head a little back and then you can just go ahead and rip it yeah cuz I want to say my normal or where I live on a

Standard uh Drive kind of attack angle is in the maybe two to three up yeah um and the lower ones are going to be closer to zero yeah and then I mean yeah I can get up pretty good but four and five is about as much as I I want up I

Don’t even like to see you that high because that brings in that High floater to the right no that’s that’s only like if if you wanted it up and going so sit back and release it wow how about the difference in the flight of that one and the the one you hit before

It I’ve I’ve never had an issue of hitting it up in the air I think the interesting thing that you say about that CU to hit a ball in the the air it has to spin more and yet you like a ball that spins more so you would think if

You were talking to a normal person they say they hit it too high you’d put them in a ball that doesn’t spin as much but that wouldn’t work for you because you like the consistency of the spin you get with your ball yeah I I like a ball that

That’s going to spin but I also like it kind of in a lower launch window like I said I’ve always been able to launch it up in the air if I need to Y I like knowing that it’s going to have the flight on all right let’s hit a couple draws just

A stock trajectory draw say uh let’s visualize a ho well the new tea at Augusta you don’t have to draw it as much because you can just hit it straight out kind of go that left center of the club house of the bunkers and then try and yeah I like

That work it back off I like that if i’ say if anything the breeze is a little off the left right now straight ball it’s trying to turn that again yep yeah we don’t uh we don’t try and hit very many draws no with driver no I

Don’t blame you and I like what you said earlier if you have to really draw it you’re going to hit the three-wood cuz with the more Loft it’s easier to do do it oh that’s a good one there that’s working back to the left and then the wind straighten it out that was

Nice yeah if I need to really turn it I mean I can I can force the issue with driver but I don’t think it’s worth it exactly I think it’s because then you bring in the chance of a double cross yep I I I don’t think it’s worth it I

Like what you did right there just to light because we’ve got a wind that’s it’s kind of into us at this angle and so you’ve actually turned it back into it and then the wind just straightened it out I like that just got to let the club head pass

Your arms past your body I don’t have the draw today that’s draw and it’s just not much you one that’s all right so I stick to straight and cut let’s go to uh let’s go to a little more of a slider left or right one you got to kind of

Just turn around the corner of a dog leg oh that was beautiful beautiful got all the shots dude well like I said the Cut’s working today it’s why we stay away from the is that your plane coming in to pick you up it’s one of those good days

H all right let’s end with a good one here this one we’re going to uh I’ll put you under a little heat here we got to hit we we got a bun 300 into the wind so you got to feel like you carry this 305 307 what do you do different setup wise

When you really want to go after one I just try and be a little more um controlled or slightly slower just to make sure I don’t get too quick uh let everything gather and and go from there I think that’s a perfect key for the average person when they try and hit

One hard they’re too fast with a back swing too slow with a through swing nice deliberate back swing and then you can just let it go there I got you a draw there was that hook we were looking for I just needed to swing harder all right good

Work do me a favor will you loow me a few miles per hour I I’m playing against guys that hit it pretty far I got to keep all all have I I need help though although I played with you yesterday you gave me some good

Tips I like that you’ll be all right I like the fact I help you and you help me that works good two-way street that’s what I’m talking about