Brooke Henderson choking down

Saw the Winning WITB & her woods tend to be much longer than standard (48" Driver). I would assume this is a comfort thing carried over from growing up playing longer clubs? Just wondering if there was any official interview on this topic. With all the tech today and getting the correct length/SW, just seemed interesting to me. She has an amazing swing and puts a serious move on the ball. Good win for her.

I can't give you a reference, but she started off playing with her dad's hand-me-down driver. She had to really choketttt down, and never changed when she got the opportunity.

As one of the best drivers on the LPGA, I hope she never goes the route of getting a proper custom fitting. She's got everything to lose, and very little to gain,

> @texcellence86 said:

> Saw the Winning WITB & her woods tend to be much longer than standard (48" Driver). I would assume this is a comfort thing carried over from growing up playing longer clubs? Just wondering if there was any official interview on this topic. With all the tech today and getting the correct length/SW, just seemed interesting to me. She has an amazing swing and puts a serious move on the ball. Good win for her.

I believe the story behind the longer clubs was that she started playing with her sisters clubs, which were always longer. She simply became accustomed to playing longer clubs and it stayed with her throughout her career.

I believe there was a golf article written about this from her words, but I can't tell you if the publication was just in Canada or one of the larger US based companies.

Anthony Kim did the same thing to a smaller extent. I do it a little as well. I feel more comfortable with a little extra length past my hands.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/anthony-kim-gripping-down

She can really play. I don't watch the LPGA much but she's now on my short list of those to watch. Impressive at such an early stage in her career.

> @BeerPerHole said:

> She can really play. I don't watch the LPGA much but she's now on my short list of those to watch. Impressive at such an early stage in her career.

Right? Girl really is fun to watch.

The driver was to add distance which she added 25 yards by going to 48”. Choking down is from what she is used to growing up. Even when she played a standard length driver she choked down

Nothing to really do with Brooke's gripping down, but an interesting articles with quotes from people around her growing up.

http://scoregolf.com/feature/becoming-brooke/

In baseball parlance it's referred to as "choking up" but in golf it's "choking down". Does anyone know why?

> @NCLancer said:

> In baseball parlance it's referred to as "choking up" but in golf it's "choking down". Does anyone know why?

Maybe the terminology is just simply due to a human perception quirk. Standing in the batters box the tip of the bat is pointing up so you're actually "chocking up" and the head of a golf club is pointing down so you'd be "chocking down". This is probably dead wrong but honestly I never thought about it till you asked the question lol

> @NCLancer said:

> In baseball parlance it's referred to as "choking up" but in golf it's "choking down". Does anyone know why?

as above - batt is held up, club is held down. The delta in hand position is referenced.

Language logic wins...for once.

> @NCLancer said:

> In baseball parlance it's referred to as "choking up" but in golf it's "choking down". Does anyone know why?

Interesting point actually....choking up was originally invented by an English hurler named Eddie Upstock in the 1860s who found he could make more reliable contact if he gripped the bat higher on the handle.

Many players later followed suit, commonly referring to it as "Up-style" or "Up-gripping."

I was lucky enough to speak to Brooke's sister Brittany at a local event where she told me Brooke got the technique from Donovan Downwinster, a Canadian Pro. Downwinster never had much competitive success but his signature grip (what many called "Down-style") was distinctive.

Unfortunately, Downwinster was known as a choker and most people mocked his grip, often calling it the "Choke-Down." It became popular for people on driving ranges to call attention to themselves when they saw Downwinster nearby whereupon they would shout _"hey, look at me, I'm Donovan Downwinster!"_ before purposely shanking a ball using Downsinster's grip. People would laugh at this. It was rampant across Canada.

Brit told me that Brooke saw this ridicule when she was young and thought it was bad form and dedicated her life to erasing the negative history associated with "Choking-Down."

Brooke is just super sweet like that.

> @nostatic said:

>

> as above - batt is held up, club is held down. The delta in hand position is referenced.

>

> Language logic wins...for once.

Ha! If only it were that simple.

> @MelloYello said:

> > @NCLancer said:

> > In baseball parlance it's referred to as "choking up" but in golf it's "choking down". Does anyone know why?

>

> Interesting point actually....choking up was originally invented by an English hurler named Eddie Upstock in the 1860s who found he could make more reliable contact if he gripped the bat higher on the handle.

>

> Many players later followed suit, commonly referring to it as "Up-style" or "Up-gripping."

>

> I was lucky enough to speak to Brooke's sister Brittany at a local event where she told me Brooke got the technique from Donovan Downwinster, a Canadian Pro. Downwinster never had much competitive success but his signature grip (what many called "Down-style") was distinctive.

>

> Unfortunately, Downwinster was known as a choker and most people mocked his grip, often calling it the "Choke-Down." It became popular for people on driving ranges to call attention to themselves when they saw Downwinster nearby whereupon they would shout _"hey, look at me, I'm Donovan Downwinster!"_ before purposely shanking a ball using Downsinster's grip. People would laugh at this. It was rampant across Canada.

>

> Brit told me that Brooke saw this ridicule when she was young and thought it was bad form and dedicated her life to erasing the negative history associated with "Choking-Down."

>

> Brooke is just super sweet like that.

>

> > @nostatic said:

> >

> > as above - batt is held up, club is held down. The delta in hand position is referenced.

> >

> > Language logic wins...for once.

>

> Ha! If only it were that simple.

Mello ...I've played golf nearly all my life ... since I was 13 ... some 40 years now and i never once heard the name of Downwinster. I grew up in and still remain in B.C. We've always borrowed the term from baseball. I'm not sure where you live, but that term was never very popular out in B.C.

I remember my dad using the term (choke down on the club) when I was a kid (late 60's). It isn't a recent development. Pops was a scratch golfer and also played AAA-level fast-pitch softball. He was a pitcher - crazy what he could make the ball do.

I think I recall reading that the famous pitcher Sidd Finch took a few lessons from the noted Mr. Downwinster.

> @BeerPerHole said:

> She can really play. I don't watch the LPGA much but she's now on my short list of those to watch. Impressive at such an early stage in her career.

She can really bomb it with the driver, she needs work with her irons though. She is really fun to watch though because she plays such a simple, carefree verison of golf. Her game seems to be hit it as far as you can, find it and hit it as far as you can again. If she improves her iron play, she would be nearly unbeatable.

She also grew up playing goalie, and they tend to grip the stick pretty far down. That might be part of it.