Working on Distance Control with Adrian Meronk

Distance might be the most sought after attribute in golf, but controlling distance can be just as impactful on scoring for some golfers.  That was the theme of a recent session with two-time Olympian and four-time DP World Tour champ, Adrian Meronk.

Adrian Meronk is one of the most successful Polish golfers of all time with multiple worldwide wins and a ranking of #39 in the OWGR when he joined LIV.

A student of our co-founder, Dave Phillips, Adrian recently came to TPI in search of more consistent contact and distance control, especially with his wedges.   

Tilt vs Turn

Though we believe there are infinite effective swing styles, some mechanics can introduce compensations which inhibit consistency. 

At address, Adrian's favored his lead side, meaning if you dropped a plumb bob from his belt buckle, it would be closer to his front foot than his back foot.  Because of this, in his back swing he tended to shift more laterally with his pelvis and tilt more laterally with his spine than most professional players we evaluate.

Adrian performed extremely well on our physical screen, but one opportunity for improvement that we identified was internal rotation in his trail hip. This could be a factor in him preferring to bump his pelvis laterally and excessively tilt his spine instead of turn.  

As coaches, one of the most important steps in addressing any movement pattern is helping golfer’s differentiate between real and feel.  To do this we’ll use 3D, video or even a mirror, as Greg and Dave did in this video. 

Dave and Greg wanted to help Adrian rotate "deeper" with his pelvis (away from the target line) on the backswing.  Though the change was subtle, the feel was drastically different.

What Adrian thought was radical, was actually almost imperceptible.  Real vs feel.

The hope was that more pelvis rotation and less pelvis shift would create a shallower backswing and require less compensation on the downswing for a better strike.

Removing Variables for Improved Distance Control 

With scoring clubs and wedges, consistency is paramount.  Being able to minimize variables is critical to promoting quality contact.

Adrian’s tilt was accompanied by the pelvis moving away from the target and hiking instead of rotating deep into his hip.  The pattern was lateral, not rotational.  

Additionally, Adrian had more wrist set than we see in most elite wedge players.  The more hinge a player has, the more hinge they have to release. 

This combination creates additional variables which can lead inconsistency of contact and poor distance control with wedges.  

Think of Steve Stricker's wedge swing.  He has very minimal wrist set, allowing him to consistently control the energy he's delivering to the ball.

So what is too much wrist set?  Here's a simple check from an all-time great: