Arm extension key to Bubba's winning power

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Bubba Watson averaged 321 yards per drive in winning last weekend in Hartford.

Congratulations to Bubba Watson on his first win on the PGA TOUR. What a great finish on Sunday with the leaders coming back, the guys chasing made the most of it with some great shots down the stretch. This tournament had a little bit of everything beginning with Justin Rose looking to take another giant step towards becoming one of the elite players in the world, to seasoned veterans like Scott Verplank and Corey Pavin making some noise, to Bubba Watson chasing that all important first victory.

Listen to Travis Fulton

PGA TOUR Golf Academy's Travis Fulton breaks down the keys to Bubba Watson's win in Hartford on the PGA TOUR Network (XM 146, SIRIUS 209). Click to listen

When you look at Bubba Watson's game in some ways it reminds you of John Daly. Of course the most noticeable being his all impressive great power off the tee but also his overlooked touch around the greens with his wedges and the flat stick. With this tremendous combination of power and touch, it was only a matter of time before he got his first win.

I wish I could write an article where all readers would be able to hit the ball as far as Bubba Watson does. It really is amazing just how far he can get it out their when he really wants to. Bubba gets his power from a number of different sources but the one I would like to discuss this week is his great extension with his arms through the hitting area.

At the TOUR Academies, one of the most common errors we see is the lead arm will break down at impact and often times lead to a chicken wing into post impact. This annoying feel and look on video is a loss of power and consistency when it comes to hitting repeatable golf shots. It's widely understood we want the lead arm to be straight through impact but yet often times these efforts when focusing on the lead arm don't work. The reality is in order to have the lead arm straight through impact, a good downswing sequence of "Down and Out" is needed. Let's break down these two key steps that make up the downswing of Bubba Watson.

Down
The first move on the downswing should be exactly that -- down. This is the move where most golfers struggle, starting the downswing by moving the club out towards the target. This move sends the club head to the outside too much leading to a much steeper angle of approach resulting most of the time in a broken down lead arm through impact. When the club head is travelling on this path, it is very difficult to get out of the way with the body to make room for proper extension.

Watson starts the downswing with the lower body moving laterally towards the target. This allows the trail shoulder to lower and the trail elbow to move down towards the trail hip. This is a critical move as it allows the club head to move down and stay behind the hands until the proper moment for the release to occur.

A good check point here is when the club shaft reaches parallel to the ground, the club head should be in-line with the hands or slightly behind the hands. Make sure at this critical point of the swing the club head is not to the outside of the hands.

This delivery position really sets the stage for the next step of the sequence which is referred to as "Out".

Out
The final step is to return the club head to the ball from inside the target line. This will feel as if you are hitting the back inside quadrant of the ball while swinging out towards right field for a right handed golfer (if the clubface were looking from home plate out onto a baseball field at impact). For Bubba of course being left handed, this will feel as if he is swinging the club head towards left field.

Bubba does a great job of driving the club head out by aggressively straightening his trail arm through impact. What's important to understand is in order for the lead arm to full straighten out, the trail arm must do the same. We call this extensor action as the straightening efforts of the trail arm will extend the lead arm through the impact zone. This does not however work the other way so often times amateurs need to learn how to work the trail arm in order to get the extension they need with the lead arm.

Learning to swing the club head more down and out on the downswing like Bubba Watson can only lead to better extension through impact. With the majority of amateurs still swinging the club head too much from the outside on the downswing, this sequence will only help you get the club head on a better plane into impact.

Just Because
Let me extend another congratulation to the USA Men's Soccer Team for their performance at the World Cup. I must admit I am not a big soccer fan but I have watched more soccer in the last week then I have my entire life and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

I have always been a bit bored and frustrated by soccer as you often times watch for 90 minutes with only 1 goal being scored or it would end in a tie. However, I got to thinking this past week as this is really not much different than watching my Seahawks each Sunday for four quarters as they often times only score once as well.

Perhaps I have it all wrong in Seattle with the Mariners bringing up the rear in the AL West and the Seahawks continuing to give new meaning to "rebuilding". Maybe it's time to turn over a new leaf and adopt the Seattle Sounders?

Travis Fulton is PGA TOUR Academy's Director of Instruction. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR. To learn more about the TOUR Academy, click here.