Are There Any Downsides to the 'Fleetwood Finish'?

[FlyingSpaniard]

I really like Tommy Fleetwood's three-quarter finish, both aesthetically and in terms of the feeling of control it provides.

I haven't found any good technical discussions on potential trade-offs and risks.

My current instructor is not against it, but he hasn't elaborated on the topic. 

I plan to do a little statistical experiment where I try a three-quarter vs. a full finish at the range.

In the meantime, what are your thoughts?

[woodzie264]

29 minutes ago, FlyingSpaniard said:

I really like Tommy Fleetwood's three-quarter finish, both aesthetically and in terms of the feeling of control it provides.

I haven't found any good technical discussions on potential trade-offs and risks.

My current instructor is not against it, but he hasn't elaborated on the topic. 

I plan to do a little statistical experiment where I try a three-quarter vs. a full finish at the range.

In the meantime, what are your thoughts?

Looks good to me too. It obviously works well for him. I suppose it keeps the ball under the wind better for those European courses?  I happen to like his putting grip as well….I’ve adapted it lately

[FlyingSpaniard]

6 minutes ago, woodzie264 said:

Looks good to me too. It obviously works well for him. I suppose it keeps the ball under the wind better for those European courses?  I happen to like his putting grip as well….I’ve adapted it lately

From what I've heard him say in interviews, it comes from the fact that he drills loads of punch shots, and it just kind of stuck in the full swing...

It does work for him and I assume his coaching staff are cool with it, but I'm fully invested in the idea that what works for pros might not be a good idea for the rest of us mortals.

I've seen some coaches say that working on post-impact positions (such as "straighten your arms in the follow-through") can lead to tension, which can be harmful.

I certainly notice some tension when doing this finish in a full swing (it feels as if I need to decelerate the club more consciously),  but at first glance it hasn't had any negative effect on my shots, but rather the opposite...

[Double Mocha Man]

The guy pretty much knows what he's doing.  But as you said, possibly not for us mere mortals.  Though I do use this swing sometimes in the wind.  And I'm as mortal as anyone...

[Zippo]

I've seen that kind of finish on many pros on the tour though maybe not always that pronounced. I'm no Tommy Fleetwood either (maybe two Tommys worth) but I've worked a bit on finishing more like that (no, I'm not always there) as for me it's one of the things that helps with avoiding my tendency to chicken wing.

[iacas]

If you slam on the brakes, you can actually hit the ball a bit harder.

I can hit the ball like 240 with a 3W finishing a bit past hip height. Just ask @Slice of Life. 🙂

[boogielicious]

9 hours ago, iacas said:

If you slam on the brakes, you can actually hit the ball a bit harder.

I can hit the ball like 240 with a 3W finishing a bit past hip height. Just ask @Slice of Life. 🙂

I noticed that with the long arc drill. 

[woodzie264]

10 hours ago, iacas said:

If you slam on the brakes, you can actually hit the ball a bit harder.

I can hit the ball like 240 with a 3W finishing a bit past hip height. Just ask @Slice of Life. 🙂

is that because of less wind resistance? what's the physics behind that? 

[ChetlovesMer]

14 hours ago, FlyingSpaniard said:

I really like Tommy Fleetwood's three-quarter finish, both aesthetically and in terms of the feeling of control it provides.

I haven't found any good technical discussions on potential trade-offs and risks.

My current instructor is not against it, but he hasn't elaborated on the topic. 

I plan to do a little statistical experiment where I try a three-quarter vs. a full finish at the range.

In the meantime, what are your thoughts?

I'm no expert on this. But I'm pretty sure this only works if you sport "hockey hair". 

[Vinsk]

27 minutes ago, woodzie264 said:

is that because of less wind resistance? what's the physics behind that? 

I would say momentum? If you were sitting on the hood of a car going 50mph and the car hit a wall you’d hit the wall at 50mph. But if the car slammed it’s brakes ( assuming almost complete stoppage) you’d actually accelerate a bit and hit the wall faster?

[woodzie264]

10 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

I would say momentum? If you were sitting on the hood of a car going 50mph and the car hit a wall you’d hit the wall at 50mph. But if the car slammed it’s brakes ( assuming almost complete stoppage) you’d actually accelerate a bit and hit the wall faster?

I’ll defer to you…, but it seems in that scenario you’re riding the car and relatively still until the car stops; in the golf swing the moment of contact is the only time the ball is “riding” the club and it doesn’t seem that changes with just because there is an abbreviated follow through.  Excuse my ignorance! I’m not being argumentative or contrary, just trying to understand 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, woodzie264 said:

is that because of less wind resistance? what's the physics behind that? 

No.

40 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

I would say momentum? If you were sitting on the hood of a car going 50mph and the car hit a wall you’d hit the wall at 50mph. But if the car slammed it’s brakes ( assuming almost complete stoppage) you’d actually accelerate a bit and hit the wall faster?

No.

Your body will generally resist doing things to not injure itself, so if your body knows it’s going to slam on the brakes it will let you swing harder.

You can throw a harder punch slamming on the brakes than you can with no end point in mind.

[woodzie264]

29 minutes ago, iacas said:

Your body will generally resist doing things to not injure itself, so if your body knows it’s going to slam on the brakes it will let you swing harder.

You can throw a harder punch slamming on the brakes than you can with no end point in mind.

that said, if distance is a huge deal (longer drives), why would not more coaches teach a 3/4 finish? Is it because consistency becomes less predictable? Even so, even if that were true, just like learning the full swing, it could be ingrained, right?

[iacas]

13 minutes ago, woodzie264 said:

that said, if distance is a huge deal (longer drives), why would not more coaches teach a 3/4 finish? Is it because consistency becomes less predictable? Even so, even if that were true, just like learning the full swing, it could be ingrained, right?

It's not like people are carrying a ton of speed through to a long finish. It's generally very low speed. Most people just have a long finish because they don't actively "brake" — actively breaking can add a MPH or two or three, though… but you can also learn that you can add that extra speed and still kinda coast to a finish. It's not like you slam on the brakes doing overspeed training. (Though nor should you just let the finish spin you around.)

[The Flush]

It seems like a lot of stack and tilt YouTube guys like this drill that leads towards the Fleetwood finish. I don't know think that it is exclusive to SnT.  I am not trying to SnT, but I have tried this drill and in one range session started hitting it great and it carried over to the course. I don't know why it works, but it feels like it just forces me to sequence my swing better and results in cleaner, harder strikes. For me it feels like I have to start slamming on the brakes as soon as I start my downswing. While it can work great for me at times, I think my problem is that I don't practice any part of my game correctly (the 5 Ss), get impatient and then end up moving to something else and then when I get over the ball on the course I just don't do it.

 

 

 

[woodzie264]

43 minutes ago, The Flush said:

It seems like a lot of stack and tilt YouTube guys like this drill that leads towards the Fleetwood finish. I don't know think that it is exclusive to SnT.  I am not trying to SnT, but I have tried this drill and in one range session started hitting it great and it carried over to the course. I don't know why it works, but it feels like it just forces me to sequence my swing better and results in cleaner, harder strikes. For me it feels like I have to start slamming on the brakes as soon as I start my downswing. While it can work great for me at times, I think my problem is that I don't practice any part of my game correctly (the 5 Ss), get impatient and then end up moving to something else and then when I get over the ball on the course I just don't do it.

 

 

 

similar idea to COVID challenge drill Day 5

[boogielicious]

55 minutes ago, The Flush said:

It seems like a lot of stack and tilt YouTube guys like this drill that leads towards the Fleetwood finish. I don't know think that it is exclusive to SnT.  I am not trying to SnT, but I have tried this drill and in one range session started hitting it great and it carried over to the course. I don't know why it works, but it feels like it just forces me to sequence my swing better and results in cleaner, harder strikes. For me it feels like I have to start slamming on the brakes as soon as I start my downswing. While it can work great for me at times, I think my problem is that I don't practice any part of my game correctly (the 5 Ss), get impatient and then end up moving to something else and then when I get over the ball on the course I just don't do it.

 

 

 

It’s basically the long arc drill. He starts shorter, but the same concept.

[Bob M]

Resurrecting a year old thread. I recently started paying attention to Tommy Fleetwood and came across this YouTube video on meandmygolf about his ball striking with irons. 

He is considered one of the better iron players in the game today and from this video, I understand why. Both the "Fleetwood finish" and frequently choking down a bit on irons and woods strikes me as a good way to build control into ball striking. 

In order to get more control in my iron play I plan to incorporate both for 2023 (already sort of do this with full-ish wedge shots) as improving GIR is a one of my main goals for the upcoming season.