BMW Championship - Lessons of the Leaders

LEADERBOARD (after 3rd Round)

Camilo Villegas

I know we have spoken about him a few times this summer, but that just shows what kind of year this guy is having. He may not have won yet, but he has been in contention a lot this year. Most of the time players have to learn how to win. I have a feeling that once he does get that first victory the floodgates will open and he will win many times on the PGA Tour.

We have spoken about his great turn, and how his backswing is quite short. We also talked about how he creates tremendous power.

He is also a consistent ball strike. That is why he has been a top of the leader board so often. The reason he strikes it so solidly is that he has great rhythm. His great rhythm comes from a great transition from his backswing to his downswing. Watch the video above and you will see how he pauses at the top to make sure his swing comes down smoothly. He does not come to a full stop, but his club seems to get suspended in mid-air before it comes back down to the golf ball. It's like Jordan soaring in for a dunk (during his days with Chicago). He floated.

Often players get too quick going from the backswing to the downswing. This is where Villegas gets himself into trouble when the pressure is on. His swing gets a little quicker and out of rhythm. If he can keep his natural pause that will be very effective today. Try to copy that pause to give your swing better timing and contact.

Jim Furyk

Jim Furyk...well...is Jim Furyk. The best thing I can say about this motion is that he believes in his swing and his motion. That is a huge advantage over a lot of players.

If you can trust your swing then you can forget about the mechanics and just go out and play. I know this is not an easy thing to do, but here is a trick for when you are warming up for your next round. When you are on the range, pay attention to your ball flight. If you are consistently hitting the ball left to right; don't try to change it. Take note of how much it is curving and play that shot for your round. When the round is finished then go and practice to get the ball flight you want.

This helped me a lot for a tournament. I typically hit the ball right to left, but I showed up that morning and hit everything left to right. I even hit my pitching wedge with a fade that day. The key thing is that I played that shot and still put up a good score.

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