Matt Fitzpatrick reveals the ‘unbelievable change’ his coach made to his swing 12 months ago

Photo by Kieran Cleeves/Augusta National/Getty Images

*“*He kind of looked at the way my — it wasn’t a full screening, but he looked at the way body was, strengths, weaknesses of movement, and sort of tied everything back to that.

*“*The biggest thing for me was the retraction of my arms, making sure they don’t get long and get away from me, and that’s been the biggest difference.

*“*Certainly in terms of my approach play, it’s been an unbelievable change, and just felt so good and just so much more controlled.

“Yeah, it’s just been a real positive.“

Explaining Matt Fitzpatrick’s ‘retracting arms’ pre-shot routine

The ‘retraction’ of Fitzpatrick’s arms that he talks about is something he does during his quirky pre-shot routine.

Fitzpatrick retracts his shoulder blades before setting up to the ball.

This essentially gives him a shorter wingspan, with his arms tucked in closer to his body.

As a result, he is able to get the golf club on a steeper plane on his backswing with his irons, enabling him to hit soft cuts, rather than ropey draws.

Fitzpatrick’s slight swing change, helped by his extremely unorthodox pre-shot routine, has made a huge difference to his game.

He has won twice already this year on the PGA Tour and has a runner-up finish to his name as well.

Matt Fitzpatrick’s win at the RBC Heritage on Sunday capped off what has been an incredible first three months of the season for him.

And he clearly has Mark Blackburn to thank for his turnaround in form.