7 Handicap Player Gains 30 Yards With This Lesson!

PGA Professional and Fujikura ambassador Matt Fryer makes some incredible distance gains with a club golfer…

Fujikura
(Image credit: Future)

Many people are skeptical about taking golf lessons. Either they have had a bad experience in the past, or they simply don’t believe in their own ability to make the necessary changes and fear going backward. Well, having watched a recent lesson that PGA Professional Matt Fryer gave to 7-handicap Graham Baddeley, I am even more convinced than ever that seeking out a high-quality coach is absolutely the best way to improve your game.

Watch: Matt Fryer finds this 7 handicap golfer 30 yards off the tee!

Graham came to his lesson on the back of a recent custom-fitting session in which he was fitted into a new Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6-X driver shaft. Despite the shaft significantly tightening his dispersion and optimizing his launch and spin, Graham still felt there were a couple of technical flaws within his swing that were resulting in an uncharacteristic and annoying left-to-right ball flight which he wanted to address. Cue Matt Fryer!

Fujikura

The Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6-X shaft that Graham was fitted into

(Image credit: Future)

Before even hitting any shots, Matt took some considerable time to chat with Graham to get a deeper understanding of his overall game. They discussed things such as playing history, desired shot shape, what type of golf courses he normally played, and even if he had any injuries or physical restrictions. At the end of this chat, Matt was very clear on what Graham was looking to achieve from the session and began to observe some initial ball flights.

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Matt observing Graham's setup position

(Image credit: Future)

Using the Foresight Sports GC Quad launch monitor, Matt began to observe exactly what Graham had described, with his driver flights curving excessively off to the right. Further analysis of the data showed a somewhat descending blow with a path traveling approximately 5-6 degrees out-to-in. Knowing that the shaft was optimized for Graham, Matt was sure it was a technical issue causing this delivery and began to observe Graham’s setup more intently.

Matt deemed that Graham was set up with his shoulders too level to the ground, and pointing off to the left of the target, with a spine angle that was tilted towards the target. All of these pre-swing principles were pointing towards the ‘down and left’ delivery that Matt had observed on the launch monitor. After a brief explanation, Matt then demonstrated some more functional positions to his student and finally maneuvered Graham into a better setup. Although it appeared to feel a little alien to Graham, he took his first swing from his upgraded setup position and produced a laser straight bullet that carried more than 20 yards further than his previous efforts causing Matt to step away and ‘drop the mic’!

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As soon as the alterations were made, the ball flight drastically improved

(Image credit: Future)

Several further swings produced comparable results, with the fade entirely eradicated from his game. A further look at the launch monitor confirmed what Matt suspected and the delivery path had changed by 4-5 degrees on average which completely altered the ball flight. 

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The data showed that the club path had been significantly altered

(Image credit: Future)

What struck me observing this was the incredible simplicity this huge result was achieved with. There was not a single ‘swing’ change; it was just a tweak to the setup that did all the in-swing work for the player. As far as Graham was concerned, he was putting the exact same swing on the ball but producing very different results.

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Matt was very pleased with the results of the changes

(Image credit: Future)

Neutralising the delivery, coupled with a well-fit driver shaft that optimized all of Graham’s ball flight numbers has turned what was very much a weakness in his game into a real strength.

Watching this 45-minute session absolutely reaffirmed the benefit of high-quality custom fitting and coaching in my mind. If you are serious about improving your game, I believe it is absolutely essential to do both.

Joe Ferguson
Staff Writer

 Joe has worked in the golf industry for nearly 20 years in a variety of roles. After a successful amateur career being involved in England squads at every age group, Joe completed his PGA degree qualification in 2014 as one of the top ten graduates in his training year and subsequently went on to become Head PGA Professional at Ryder Cup venue The Celtic Manor Resort. Equipment has always been a huge passion of Joe’s, and during his time at Celtic Manor, he headed up the National Fitting Centres for both Titleist and Taylormade.  He’s excited to bring his knowledge of hardware to Golf Monthly in the form of equipment reviews and buying advice. 

Joe lives in North Devon and still plays sporadically on the PGA West region circuit. His best round in recent years came earlier in 2023 where he managed a 9 under par 63 at Trevose GC in a Devon & Cornwall PGA Tournament.

Joe's current What's In The Bag? 

Driver: Switch between Ping G430 Max 10K & TaylorMade Qi10 - both with Fujikura Ventus Black 6-X

Fairway wood 1: TaylorMade BRNR Copper Mini Driver - Fujikura Ventus Black 7-X

Fairway wood 2: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke TD 5 Wood - Fujikura Ventus Black 8-X

Irons: TaylorMade P7CB 3-PW with Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts

Wedges: Callaway Opus 50, 54, and 60 degrees - Project X LS 6.0 shafts

Putter: Odyssey Toe Up #9

Ball: TaylorMade 2024 TP5x 

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 60R

Bag: Vessel Player IV Pro DXR Stand