Oliver Fisher golf pupil of coach Chris Jenkins

Oliver Fisher

Interview with Golf International Magazine in 2005 :

As the youngest player ever to contest a Walker Cup match, Oliver Fisher has already carved a niche in the history books. But the 17-year-old from Essex is destined to achieve a whole lot more than that.

Chris has been working with Oliver Fisher since he was nine years old, and the swing you see here has been evolving all that time. Says Chris "It’s a work in progress. And before I analyse the moves that we look for, let me stress the work that Oliver puts in not only on the range hitting balls, but in the gym, where he works on improving both his strength and flexibility.

Top players these days are athletes, and, to his credit, Oliver understands that to have a chance of realising his dream and being a top professional he needs to develop in these areas. Technically, I honestly don’t think there’s a lot more Ollie can do to improve his swing when he’s on song. But he can certainly be more consistent with it, and this will come through his own understanding of his tendencies and his awareness of what we are trying to achieve.

His performance at the Walker Cup proved to everyone there in Chicago that Ollie Fisher is the real deal, and experience in the big events is what he now needs to bring his game along. We are both looking forward to the Wales Open, at Celtic Manor in June, where Nick Faldo has been able to get Ollie a start in the tournament.

For me as a coach that will be a great opportunity to experience working on the range among the game’s elite and for Ollie it will be another opportunity to show what he’s capable of."

Thomas Levet on Oliver Fisher
"If he improves on Tour in two or three years he'll be like Tiger Woods"

What are the key points you should study and try to emulate?
Well, we try to keep things fairly simple, and so let me highlight the specific moves and positions we look for. First, look at the way in which the set-up position positively encourages the correct upper body tilt away from the target (and the subsequent turning of the upper body behind the ball). We look for the left hip to be slightly perked ‘up’, the hips not centred between the feet but favouring the left side, and this helps Ollie to set his spine at the desired angle away from the target.

Following on from that, the initial series of moves away from the ball is key, and the noticeably early cocking of the wrists you see here is something we worked on ahead of the Walker Cup last September. Oliver had been losing width on his backswing, especially nearing the top, and he also had a tendency to overswing. So we worked on achieving an earlier ‘setting’ of the wrists, which immediately enables you to enjoy a better width throughout the backswing.

As I mentioned in brief earlier, Ollie’s swing is based on just a handful of key ingredients: first and foremost, the set-up position establishes a series of good angles that we always look out for. Chief among these is the angle of the hips; you will find that when you set your left hip slightly higher than the right, you positively encourage the correct spine tilt behind the ball. And, in so doing, you give yourself the best possible chance of turning your upper body fully behind the ball in the swing.

Looking at the set-up face on, I want to see the hips forward of centre; by that, I mean the left hip is further forward than the right hip in relation to the feet. From there, you will notice that the hips do not move outside that box. As Ollie takes it to the top, his head remains ‘centred’; he’s already set that spine angle, and so all he has to do is rotate the upper body. There is no hint of a sway. And this is where all that flexibility training pays off. He’s really turning his ‘core’ area, winding up his swing behind the ball.

Oliver Fisher Golf Swing

As far as width is concerned, I look at the position of the right arm at the top, not the left. The right arm creates the width in the swing as it pushes away from the turning upper body.
Again, it is the set-up position that allows the right shoulder to turn back and out of the way, which allows the right arm to push away from the body.

A lot of people get caught up with the position of the left arm, and you often hear people describe a ‘straight left arm’ as being something to copy. But it’s not always the best thing to focus on. If you can combine this rotation of the upper body with the feeling of pushing the right arm away, you will enjoy good width in your swing. And you won’t over-swing the arms; with the ‘core’ of the upper body in control, the arm-swing is compact. And I regard this as the most efficient way to play.

Says CNN “20-year-old Oliver Fisher has been regarded as a hot prospect in the golfing community. Now a professional on the European Tour, Fisher is considered to be one of Europe’s top hopes for the future”

Oliver Fisher Stats

Born September 13, 1988
Lives Chigwell, Essex
Height 6ft 1in
Weight 12st 10lb
Coach : Chris Jenkins
2007 Order of Merit 109th
Earnings 2006-07 € 242,067 (about £172,000)

Top finishes in 2007 Ninth, Johnnie Walker Championship, Gleneagles; eleventh, Commercialbank Qatar Masters; thirteenth, TCL Classic, China

— Won the Faldo Series, a competition for young amateurs, three times in a row from 2003

— Britain’s youngest representative in the Walker Cup, aged 16, at Chicago Golf Club in 2005

— Youngest Briton to win a place on the European Tour, finishing fifth at Qualifying School in 2006

Oliver Fisher Golf Swing