Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf.
Although Miles Russell has yet to graduate high school, he’s a more accomplished golfer than most. Two years ago, he became the youngest player (15) to make a cut in a KFT event, eventually finishing in the top 20 of the event. Later in the year, he made a couple starts on the PGA Tour to boot. Since then, he’s only raised his profile, including a made cut in his first major start earlier this summer at the U.S. Open. Now when the Florida State commit shows up to amateur events, the 17-year-old is one of the biggest names in the field.
Such was the case this week at Merion as Russell arrived to the U.S. Amatuer on the short list of favorites. And although his championship came to a premature end with a loss to University of Oklahoma rising senior Ryder Cowan, he still made his presence known on the biggest stage.
“Miles is a great player,” Cowan said after dispatching Russell 2 and 1. “He’s a guy that you want to beat because he’s so good.”
High praise from one of the top collegiate players in the game. But the results speak for themselves — Russell has some serious game.
Ahead of Russell’s Round of 64 match with Cowan, I spotted him using a simple — yet highly effective — drill to dial in his ball striking. Check it out below.
Russell’s go-to drill
It’s not unusual to see players using alignment sticks when they work on their swings. But during Russell’s warmup routine, he used one a little differently than most.
After hitting short wedges for a while, Russell pulled a small alignment stick out of his bag and gripped it between his hands and the club, with the butt end sticking out just in front of his lead hip. Then, he made swings as normal.
This serves a few purposes. One, it helps keep his hands ahead of the ball through impact, and keeps him from flipping at the bottom of the swing. Two, it forces him to keep rotating his body hard through impact, because if he stalls out, the alignment stick will hit his lead hip. And three, it helps him get to his lead side through impact and not hang back.
All three of these checkpoints are crucial for solid ball striking, and something that Russell clearly values. If you find yourself struggling with any of the above in your swing, it may be worth it to give this drill a shot.
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