The ‘unbelievable’ advice Butch Harmon gave Tommy Fleetwood

It’s a great thing for silly swings and can be useful for improving golfers’ swing even at the recreational level. For a deeper dive into what yeast means and how it can be useful, we enlisted the help of GOLF Top 100 Teachers Joe Plecker, which you can read below.

Breaking down Butch’s ‘unbelievable’ advice

I loved how Butch Harmon shared his viral “close the door” swing tip with Tommy Fleetwood. With the feel and image, it’s easy for a player of any caliber to understand.

Butch has long been considered one of the best instructors in the world because of his ability to communicate a complex, lightning-quick golf swing through a simple idea or two. Of course it helps when you’re working with a hyper-talented athlete like Fleetwood, but the real solution is this: the information flowing from teacher to player needs to be simple, memorable and accessible.

This tip did just that.

So what does the advice actually mean? First, he wants Tommy to raise his position with the thought, “stand tall.” On the surface, this sounds static. In fact, it affects the entire movement. The tall stance raises the backswing path and encourages a more level turn of the shoulders during the takeover.

From there, Butch couples back-to-back feel with a “door-closing” back thought, which promotes proper lower-body rotation. When the lower body is cleared efficiently, the club naturally shallows in transition, creating a more powerful and connected stroke.

Finally, “go to it” releases the release. Instead of driving the ball or taking too long corners, Fleetwood can move dynamically through the tackle. The swing becomes reactive and fluid instead of forced.