I Get an Incredible Driver Lesson From Worlds #1 Coach Pete Cowen

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Transcript Summary- 

’ve just had a lesson with the world’s number one coach, Pete Cowen, and he shared an incredible insight into why so many golfers struggle with consistent contact and direction—especially with their irons and driver. He broke down the best way to rotate in the golf swing, something most golfers get wrong, which leads to inconsistency.

I can’t wait to share this with you because it’s absolutely brilliant. Let’s dive in.

I’ve been working on my swing, and I feel like my iron play is improving—my hands are coming back better, and I’m starting to save shots. But I wanted to check in with Pete to confirm I’m on the right track. If there’s time, I’d also love to take a look at my driver, especially the new Elite model.

While playing yesterday, I felt great, but I want to make sure I’m maximizing my performance. Let’s take a look.

Pete immediately noticed that my body action wasn’t working consistently. He explained that many golfers manipulate their swing using their forearms, wrists, and hands rather than fixing the core issue—the body’s movement.

He compared it to fixing a car: If the engine is broken, changing the oil or wipers won’t help. Similarly, tweaking small swing details won’t lead to consistency if the body action isn’t right.

Pete then introduced the “spiral staircase” movement—a three-dimensional rotation from the ground up. Instead of just turning back and forth, you should be twisting and coiling upwards, creating a natural power source.

To illustrate this, he asked me to stand with my feet together and twist one foot against the other. This resistance builds from the ground up, creating a stable and repeatable movement.

He also introduced a powerful analogy: Does a horse pull a cart or push it? Most people say “pull,” but in reality, the horse pushes against the ground to create the force needed to move forward.

The golf swing works the same way—it’s a combination of pushing and pulling. As you coil up, you push into the ground while pulling with your hips, creating a dynamic and powerful movement.

Pete had me do exercises with an alignment stick behind my knee to feel the correct loading and resistance. The key is to push back while pulling through, doubling the load and generating effortless power.

Once the body is moving correctly, the arms naturally follow, eliminating the need for manipulation. This consistency is what separates elite players from amateurs—they get into the right delivery position relative to the shot they’re playing.

He then had me hit small shots to ingrain the movement. Even in a short chip, I could feel the push-pull motion working, making my ball striking more consistent.

The takeaway? Consistency doesn’t mean perfection—it means having a repeatable motion. By training my body correctly, I’m building a swing that’s powerful, stable, and reliable.

I’ll keep working on these drills, and I’m excited to see the results. Let’s go!

Full Transcript- so I'm just about to share with you a lesson I've just had with ag the world's number one coach Pete Cowen he shared with me something a reason why so many golfers struggle to make consistent contact with theirs and struggle with the contact and the Direction with their driver he talks or gave me basically what he believes is the best way to rotate in the golf s most golfers struggle with this is which is one of the reasons why they struggle with consistency with the irons and the drive I can't wait to share it with you is absolutely brilliant let's come and have a look so I'm back I'm back um to hopefully get some confirmation I've been working on the right things but I feel it um certainly in my iron play the hands are starting to come back a little bit I'm starting to save it a little bit so it' be great to kind of have a little recap on uh improving contact and the consistency of flight and then maybe if you've got time to have a quick look at uh the driver the new Elite driver the new Elite driver yeah yeah I I T Le te L yeah I was out on the course yesterday um with the guys and it it was really really good I really really enjoyed it um but I want to make sure I'm doing it justice right all right well let's have a quick look let's have a

look the hands definitely felt like they were coming in there

mhm that's pretty typical just hit something a little bit longer I just want to have a look at your body action because that doesn't look that great at the moment okay A bit longer iron longer iron yeah so gone to a six

decent there but you can see straight away when I'm watching that I've only watched four shots but you can see straight away that the Body Action isn't working consistently enough no definitely you see that's why you'll get manipulation but the manipulation you'll see is really your forearm and your right wrist and your hand chasing through impact absolutely there's got to be a reason for that yeah so I always say to the kids I said right if a car breaks down on the motorway do you just change the oil change the wind screen wipers and change the tires no you don't there's a problem at in the engine basically that's why it's broken down yeah so you've got to sort that out so when everybody has a lesson these days a lot of the time it's changing the oil changing the windscreen they're not really getting to the root of the problem and the Body Action is obviously the key to it because it's the engine yeah so you want your engine to work consistently yeah doesn't have to be perfect because we see a lot of different body actions in the top players and and they say well they still hit it you know perfectly yeah but you've got to remember they are the best manipulators in the world and their body action is more consistent yeah so what do we mean about you know getting the Body Action right well it's a power source as well so that's why we talk about the spiral staircase yeah the movement from the ground up to the top is really really important show obviously when we're looking at a goal swing we want the Body Action to be as consistent as possible don't we yeah so one of the ways for you know the average player to understand how we want consistent Body Action is to stand there with your feet together and create the movement into the feet where your feet are twisting one against the other so your feet are doing that yeah you're creating resistance in different directions so my left foot's doing that my right foot's doing that yeah yeah as I'm and then my ankles are twisting my knees are twisting my hips are twisting my abs are twisting but I'm twisting up yeah and I'm trying to go up at the same time as opposed to just turning just turning round and around yeah and pulling up yeah so at the same time I've got the three dimension I've got it around around and up yeah and my arms are spiring up with me and then from there I can slam my arms down and move and stay in balance and my scent is always going to be more consistent yeah yeah yeah so what we're trying to do is create that consistency yeah for everybody yeah yeah yeah so obviously then we look at the body action and people talking about Ground Force reaction things like that at the moment yeah and I say okay right to the kids I said does a horse pull a cart or does it push it what do the kids answer i' said pull yeah it doesn't it pushes it yeah and they go no no it doesn't it pulls it I said well where does it get its power from to pull the cart it stood stationary here with a harness on it yeah so how does it get the power to pull the car it pushes the ground to push the chest against the harness to pull the car yes so it's almost an instantaneous movement to push to pull yes yeah so by push immediate pull theand against the wall in the gym and I've got the theand around my hand yeah am I pushing or am I pulling pushing but I'm pulling at the same time yeah yeah yeah yeah so it's a it's a push pull yeah so in the P push to create the pull yeah to create the power and it's almost you can't almost see it yeah yeah so in the golf swing what we're trying to create is we're trying to create a push and a pull to get the body working in this direction not in the this cuz if I just turn I lose the connection with the ground and that's why we call it the spiral and you you push and you pull and you're working around your Center and your abs are working your chest as work this way all the time and then that's how you get behind the ball properly you get the behind the ball in this way not this way yes yeah so you get behind the ball and everybody can do it to their own ability yeah yeah some people can't do it as much as others because not as mobile or they're not they can't stretch as much but obviously what we're trying to a achieve is a push and a pull which is going to like martial arts push and pull push and pull push and pull yeah so I'm pushing at the same time you can't see it but I'm pushing that way and I'm pulling with the hip right I'm pushing and pulling yeah yeah I've got that yeah and I'm coiling up at the same time Y and then from there what I'm happening now is I'm pushing that back as I'm holding this millisecond these are all exercises you do you can't think about it in the golf no no no no so you push and then you pull with the glute and you hit yeah and then what you'll see is you'll always be planted in that left foot and that left foot I need it to be at least 10 15° out with the knee pointing in the same direction to give you the feeling that you're pushing against and pull it yeah so you get that and then from there you'll get what what we what Sneed used to call his squat so from here I resist here I push I get the squat yeah but everybody tries to get the squat by yeah yeah yeah I've seen that so many times yeah yeah yeah yeah so how would one go about working on this well there's exercises you do and I like to see these aiming sticks are quite useful right yeah but they're useful not only for aiming but to give you the feeling of resistance in your legs so what I do is I put the spiral in behind the knee up the thigh and then from there I'm pushing as I'm pulling so I'm loading this stick can you see how it's loaded yeah yeah and then from there I'm holding this as I'm pushing back so I'm doubling doubling the load I'm doubling the so if you push back here you've left that alone that's created even more Flex in that stick which is obviously going to create more snap and then from there I do all the work with the pull yeah the glute and the quad so you're pushing this and then and you have you got the pull here yeah absolutely now I'm pulling it it's almost identic pulling it through to the finish so you've got the push here yeah but I'm you're you're pushing you're pushing again down so your body action isn't as good as it should be right that's you need these you need these exercises to get that yeah yeah and what that does is as you're pushing back and holding your arms have got a room for them to get in position yeah yeah you're not pulling all the way through with just the hip area which your arms are then going to go away from you as your arms are going to go away from you club's going to drop behind and you're going to have to manipulate FP it yeah and that's kind of what it feels like and then when you when we see players manipulating we know that the Chase has happened from the arm and the shoulder and that's why I talked about you know spiraling the arm down yeah yeah turning the arm down properly then we get that movement but it obviously helps enormously if you've got good body action yeah because if the body's up moving all over you almost the hands are doing you're a fav in trouble you're in trouble but you got to remember most people are practicing that all the time yeah manipulation so they have a great session manipulating and I know when it com to my range here in in Dubai and at home in rham Sheffield where they come I've got it great facility new new facility great so when they come they'll say all right today yeah I found it today I said you'll have lost it by tomorrow and they come back he right I lost it I lost it so there's no consistency so that's what I'm saying about the Body Action it doesn't have to be perfect y it has to be consistent okay and you can then match whatever you want because there's only one common denominator I've seen with all great players when they're playing well yeah and they all do it slightly differently the one common denominator is they all get it in the correct delivery position relative to the shot they're trying to so I'm moving this club into the position where I want to play the shot I'm moving it into position and holding position you can see here just you how you've just beautifully looked after that Cent it's still working behind in this yeah so that's where you get a lot of the power and then we we start understanding Ground Force reaction because I know when P py Harrington actually he does his you know speed drills he runs and stamps his ground so he pushes to pull as hard as he can yeah yeah yeah he doesn't yeah he's getting out of the way he's pushing to a pull and he doesn't push with that foot square because he's going to hurt his knee and his hip so he pushes down with that foot open so the knee can open the hip can open and then fire through so we've got to get the Body Action right so you get this and let I'll show you whether you're getting the leg action right which is the main part of the body action yeah right so you get it you stand set up that that's it now so I want you to go push and pull so push this way that's it and pull up that's it pull up but hold hold this position that's it got it now you're loading can you feel load now hold that push push that's it that's it now you pull with your left and then you stretch rotate that's it so you stretch rotate from the hip and depending on what shot you want you can stretch and obviously spiral up which will give you a much higher flight particularly with the driver or you can just pull and just get your body covering it which is going to control your B fight so this is the fits almost just there that's it that's it and then from there leave that alone leave it alone push this back where it came no no you're you're locking me out and I'm saying no you you push into the actually push into the foot that's you feel it got it now that's better so starts working yeah I've really feel my foot then and is rather than just doing this really feels like it's pushing and the stretch happens later push back and hold and then now you stretch I really feel stretch there and then you don't start working that's it that's a lovely feeling well it's you can't think about it during a golf no no no so you've got to have done a lot of little work and people said to me well you just look as though you could do it stood on your head and I said well practiced it so here got my setup here in position so I'm pushing and pulling you see how I'm loading that yeah I'm really loading I'm doubling load doubling the load and that's where you get the old Sam C stretch yes yeah yeah yeah and then from there I'm pulling through as hard as I can so it's almost instantaneous pull and push yeah yeah yeah so I'm pushing to pull yeah such a great Visual and again something that anybody can do as I said you know if you stand here and do this just you know twist one that foot that way and that foot that way as you're starting and then twist against it you can feel the resistance in your feet yeah you feel that and you're pulling up at the same time you're pulling up and you get your arms arms up that's it try to stay level while you're doing this exercise and then slam them down and move to the fin then go to the Finish balance that's it that's it you've done it yeah so you've got that pull push yeah in the simplest way so from here you're pushing down now as you're pulling through correct real so I've done this before but not like that that was that was completely different that really felt as I was using the ground everything's coming correct down correct yeah see that's more important with the driver really why because from there you can then open up this area where you're stretching up as you are turning yeah you're stretching up as you're turning so you're not clubs not behind you stretching yeah yeah yeah you're stretching up with a turn so now the right arm is much more stable to the finish so how would I if I was going to start hit some shots now how would I how would I start hitting shots You' do it as a mini shot you do like this here and we're still using the equal and opposite in the grip yeah so you're squeezing the grip okay so from here I'm equal and opposite y so I've still got that left foot out that left knee so I can actually feel now even the mini shot I've got the push and the pull so as I'm hitting this I'm pushing and pulling at the same time so the club's going back on perfect plane and so when you said pushing and pulling and pushing P I'm pulling with a hip so you're pushing you're pushing here and you're pulling with this hip yeah yeah yeah but I'm pulling not up I'm pulling it behind me yeah that's what it feels I get behind me yeah that's it yeah so now as I'm here I'm push and then I'm pushing and pulling so from here I can keep the stability so even a mil shot I've got a mini shot I've got the I'm here you can't see it but my feet are working hard and pull push so the one feeling that I'm struggling a little bit this I find really simple I feel I feel i' really I can feel that this is the one I'm not I can't quite feel yet well oh have a look where it came from okay when you set up y have a look where the knee is yep so now you're trying to create a pressure in your in between your legs now on the back swing on on the back swing so you push you push in this foot this way almost as you pull in again that way that's it it will still come in yes but it won't actually collapse in you can still feel the power in the foot so then from there then you no you just turn turn it back no you're still working your hips too hard so everybody works the hips to just push it back got it yes push it back as you're pulling through that's it there there that's it now you've got it there that's it now then you pull through with a hip and the that's it now you've got it now you can you can decide what your upper body wants to do to hit your shot cuz you're behind the ball turning feels like that okay there that's it so you training it you're training it you've trained it to do the wrong thing you might as well turn train it to do the right thing correct yeah correct feels it's actually quite a simple Mo and it's actually quite natural but what you will notice is you glute and your quad will be aching whereas more I could have said to you hit me a 100 Balls there Danny and you wouldn't tomorrow you wouldn't feel the quad or or your glute yeah but if you do this 100 Balls and really work it tomorrow your glute will be burning and you B so you've actually trained yeah the muscle structure in the correct way yeah so you'd start off here hitting a few just how long distance wise would you say well you know you just building up yeah aren't you so one once you built up to that you know this pitch you're going right from here I'm just going push and I'm going Push Pull Y and then I'm going push pull through yeah and you can see how that arm now is going left yeah correctly naturally yeah yeah with the body turn y so I'm going push and pull and I'm going so you can see they've started on exactly the same line those two top of each other yeah yeah yeah then I've got the three most important things in golf start the ball online with the correct flight and correct spin when you can do that go and Chip and put yeah and those two there were absolutely like almost identical yeah because I've got a consistent body movement which gives me a more consistent arm hand and Club movement okay if I've got an inconsistent body movement I'm going to have you've got to manipul got no option we got no option and what's interesting with me going through that motion there I realized that it's going to you've almost got to do it so slowly to start with haven't you but when I teach some players they I'll get them to stand like this and I'll say understand that's pushing there this is pulling here and then push it back but they all go this way like I did yeah yeah yeah they all go that way yeah and I said no you push it back where it came from now fire it yes and then you can start getting some real speed yeah yeah yeah just using the ground better yeah if you were on ice you won't be able to do that no no no it's the same with the horse and cart if the if the horse was on ice it would the cart wouldn't move no no no no no matter how we tried to pull it yeah yeah yeah yeah great cool so it's all pretty simple stuff so I just like to see you hit a little chip like that and feel exactly the same so set up yeah right from here yep okay feel feel the feet get ready with the feet yeah I really feel like I'm kind of yeah you're ready so that foot's grabbing that toes are just grabbing it's anise you're practicing so you go push and pull go with me and then from there push and pull through that's it that's it got it yep so it's like yeah it a lot look a lot more natural after you've done it it looks unnatural at the moment but it'll look a lot more natural when you've done it you know for a month or two

yeah push pull correct now you're arms felt folded differently to those first dozen shots you've hit yeah because there was no need and I and that's the first shot where I didn't feel was that but you're doing it through your body motion not through stopping your hands working everybody says stop your hands rotating well you'll miss the ball yeah my hands are actually helping me out they're helping you out and that's what I say about the best players in the world they're the best manipulators as well as being the best players they're the best manipulators plus the fact that they've got probably a more consistent body action than you know the average player yeah consistency the key doesn't have to be perfect has to be

consistent that's it push pull and then push pull to finish correct are you finish left foot planted yeah very stable yeah yeah yeah it feels actually that what's the divot like shallow steep to shallow steep to shallow like I said get the right delivery position if You' have seen me over there I'm I'm taking like wedges out yeah because if if you move this way yeah what you going to do with your low Point well ahead forward yeah yeah yeah yeah whereas this one um it's like I'm in position and it's you're bringing the club out of the ground almost

yeah and like you said um pet I think it's unbelievably simple actually I mean I don't get me WR all the all the best things are simple and not and unfortunately with what's happening now especially on the internet the people talking about Ground Force reaction and doing this and doing that and if you don't understand what Ground Force reaction means in its simplest form yeah you're going to get lost definitely yeah CU you can go on all the machines that we've got in the academy there yeah and they'll tell you what's happening but they won't tell you how to do it no I'm telling you how to do it yeah and then you go on there and you'll get the right numbers yeah I mean I think the the thing about this is I think although incredibly simple and it really really simple I think one thing I'd love to encourage people to do is realize that it's very simple yes but you're still going to have to practice we've got to practice develop this field but well but the practice is if you're not prepared to do 10 minutes a day just standing there while you're doing nothing and going get a get an Aiming stick put it down or even a shaft I've I do it with shafts I mean if you watch me do it now with this shaft yeah I actually feel as I can snap the shaft right okay so from here as I'm doing this yeah yeah so now I'm pushing and pulling and that shaft can you see it bending yes yeah yes yeah I feel as like if I worked harder I could snap that sh right so I know I'm getting the you know that you're getting that kind of force into the ground there it's not just kind of stretch up like I was doing earlier just it's not this exactly it's not that exactly you're not in control no exactly yeah you're not yeah yeah so driver so yeah ball position left heel yeah well as I said you know it depends if you want it to go a little B bit higher maybe on the inep yeah so there yeah so just move it a little bit I mean you know when you flatten the flight I like it just inside the heel yeah flatten it so yeah as I'm pulling through with my glute and my hip I can flatten it so much easier yeah when the ball's back a little bit okay yeah yeah yeah so rather than have it up here where potentially you might be doing this way you're more on it yeah we see I would because because when I do that pull push so from here I'm going hey Push Pull so now because I've done the exercise as I wind it up here and I push it back and I pull through now my spine's in the right place to get it yes yes or I can go wind it up and I pull and I let this left shoulder flatten a little bit and I'm going through the ball a lot flatter and dve the ball just for those watching flattening you're basically keeping it lower yeah and the distance between between here and here yeah is what dictates whether the body so if I get the distance between here and here more consistent as I'm turning yeah there yep that's a flat flight that's a flatter flight if I get it more stretched stretch up stretched up that gives me the deceleration acceleration so I'm positioning my body through and the club through my proper leg movement yeah and we with Xander um in California a couple months ago and he was saying that one of the things that he did when he wants to launch it up is is exactly what you just said actually just he said he right he doesn't like to have this no he likes to just go yeah well the distance there there is wider wider which gives him that correct yeah mhm come on I a couple of shots with this go on the elite go on work that body a little bit better feel that you've got control of that lower body and then push and then pull through as hard as you can and give it the

works that's good cuz it was driven yeah so much flatter y through the impact area which is why you've took it off the top of the tea yeah and which is a more Norman leave the tea in the ground for 100 shots I've never been compared to more noral leave the tea in the ground leave the tea in the ground work

it wind it up with a push and a pull and push back not that time so you've spun the hip so your hip mve then from here it didn't go back to position it just spun out of it felt it left so you know it's all right saying your club was behind you but why was it behind you exactly yeah so your your body action is poor poor and and it's and then and then you get to that stage where you go oh I need to wait for it to you know yeah stop the body working so hard well if you stop the body working hard all you've got to do all you got is a slow po swing yeah so that's where you're going to lose distance from there yeah strong in the setup and really feel that wind up now and then just pull through once you've pushed back to the left knee pull through and go that's it proper hit left the tea in the ground as well he more cons so there's more consistency already yeah just feels like I'm I just feels like I'm not even it feels like I've got more movement yeah I'm I'm right over well you feel as though you're on top of the yeah it's a lovely feeling actually feels like a could more if you shift off it ah screwed well that's what everybody oh you need to transfer your weight yeah what am I doing here yeah I'm transferring my weight as hard as I can transferring it back true so I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did huge thanks for Pete for hosting me at his brand new state ofth app facility in at the Emirates Club in Dubai if you enjoy this video share it with a friend and look if you want to see more videos with me and Pete check these two videos out right here I've also put a free practice plan I'll pin that in the top comments so that it's going to help you implement everything we've done in this video and of course look if you're new to the channel press that subscribe button right here but until next week have a wonderful golfing week.