“Brian Harman isn’t a player that has negative thoughts, he is just waiting for the positive thought before he pulls the trigger.”
I’ve been working with Brian at Sea Island Resort in Georgia now since the spring of 2019, under the guidance of the late great Jack Lumpkin. Jack was actually Claude Harmon’s assistant and he used to babysit for Butch Harmon when he was a kid.
So Jack was the one who actually started coaching Brian when he was only 11-years-old, and since Jack’s passing two years ago. I have taken over the reins with Brian.
These days, it’s a very standard tournament warm-up now for Brian.
Brian always loosens up with a few wedge shots and then he moves into a Delayed Strike Trainer (DST) club which is a bendy golf club.
For those of you which haven’t used that, if you are a right-handed golf for example who would draw the golf ball a lot – the DST would make you feel like you are getting on top of the golf ball a little bit more.
Which for Brian, really helps him get into a more powerful set up position with his lead hand and lead shoulder, which we are working on. It really helps him with his movement, and helps him with a couple of fundamental things.
Then he progresses to the ball between his arms, The Tour Striker Smart Ball. Brian has always had an early set in his takeaway, and this ball really tends to soften it out a little bit.
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We aren’t trying to change his early set completely, just soften it a little bit so then he can make some more of a body orientated golf swing.
He then will progresses to aligning his ball position, making sure that he is exactly where he needs to be in relation to the target and where the ball would be in his stance.
As you can see, he will still flick back and forth between a few of the drills until he feels comfortable.
It’s then he would head into hitting shots with his pre full shot routine, which is something he is working on as we have seen him take his time while he is over the golf ball. He isn’t a player that has negative thoughts, he is just waiting for the positive thought before he pulls the trigger.
The more he can get into those processes, the more he has noticed that transfer onto the golf course.
Even on the Friday afternoon of the Open Championship last year he said to me, “It strikes me that if I just keep to my process, maybe I will be ok this weekend.” I said to him “Yeah, I’m pretty sure you will be ok.”
Thankfully he was!
Main image: Francois Nel/Gatty Images
