We Thought Cameron Young Was Just Power… Then He Did THIS

We chatted with PGA Tour player Cameron Young to break down what makes him one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the world and it turns out, it’s not just raw power.

While many assume Cam just bombs it with one shot shape, he opened up about the creativity behind his tee game, how he shapes shots on command, and the strategy he uses to gain an edge off the tee.

This is a side of Cam you haven’t seen before and it might change the way you think about driving the golf ball.

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How does PGA Tour player Cameron Young consistently find fairways and send it miles? Now, the key is he doesn’t just have one shot. He has a toolbox of shapes, flights, and strategy. He’s going to share with you exactly how he does it. Pretty much a perfect draw. That’s a draw for you. What are the main differences when you’ve got a driver compared to an iron? To me, a lot of it is setup. And then I feel like with the irons, the shapes are smaller, especially for myself at a bit of a higher speed. I feel like trying to hit it straight is kind of a tough one. Uh cuz if you mis hit it at all, you just your fairway gets small. So I try to hit really defined shapes, you know, with the the swing itself is much much more set up than anything else for me. So setup and then defining the shapes. I like that because a lot of people watching this and going they want to hit it straight and you’re like going that’s pretty hard. Yeah. I mean if you look at a lot of the guys that hit it hard, I mean Rory hits draws like Windham Clark hits cuts. Very rarely I feel like do you see either of them hit one just really straight. Yeah. Um, so I kind of follow the same same doctrine. Love it. Let’s hit one. We’ve got some full swing numbers we can get on here. We’re going to go down the bridge just in the corner down the left hand side. It’s about 3:25 to get there. It’s not getting there. If you guys see the sky on the camera, but yeah, it’s actually raining right now. Raining and cold. There’s umbrellas everywhere. That’s pretty tasty. That was pretty well. 297 carry, 119.8 8 club speed. Um 179 ball speed and the club path was 3.3 to the right and the face is 1.9 left of it. Pretty much a perfect draw. That’s a draw. One thing that’s quite distinctive for you is the top of the back swing. I don’t know how much you feel it is there but it’s there’s some there’s a pause there or it feels that way for a lot of people when you watch it. Is there anything in there that that’s been worked at or has that just always been natural? No, it’s kind of just come over time naturally I suppose. I think some of it is a little bit deceptive. Some of it is this arm going from straight to just bent a little bit. Yeah. That just makes it look like the club hangs there probably longer than it does. I don’t My body never really stops too much. But yeah, not on purpose. Just kind of developed over time. Mike, who’s standing right over there, had a lesson yesterday, and we were getting him to do that. So, he’s now Mike Young, obviously. Fair enough. But it’s like for some golfers, it can really help them understand the width and stuff like that’s going on the top. Definitely. I would say slower than most people up there, but I don’t think I’m actually stopped. No. As much as people think. Yeah. Yeah. It’s almost a smoother transition, I suppose, if we talk about it that way. You obviously hit a draw there on that one. How do you go about changing from draw to fade to to really creating those different shapes? What do you do? Is it setup? Is it swing based? Talk us through those. Yeah. So, it’s a little bit of both. For me, I like when the draw is easy. I like when that one is natural just because I feel like it’s easier to go find the fade from that. So, you’d rather be sort of feeling more draw biased? I’d rather feel like it wants to draw if I just kind of swing at it. But when I have to make one draw, I’ll do a couple things in setup. The main thing for me is when I go to hit a draw, I don’t like it to be from here and kind of throwing it with my arms. I like it to be like on top where the club is already out at the ball is what my feel is. Uh, so I feel like I try to get it kind of, you know, out in front of me and turning over that way as opposed to from underneath. When I start launching them really high and loopy, that’s when I know I kind of am in not my favorite spot. You feel like you can just get a little maybe loose with the hands and the arms then. Yeah, exactly. And then just the body wants to stop and my arms want to go that way. And that’s when I start getting big pushes and big draws. Um, as opposed to, you know, I don’t want it to be a two- yard draw. I like to be very defined, but I like when it’s launching a little bit lower and just a little more controlled. So, if you making it draw, what what adjustments would you do then? The thing I fight is ball position going back. Um, so I’m always kind of working to get it up in the front of my stance and then I also fight my arms getting that way. Okay. Shoulders going left. So, especially when I hit a draw, uh, I’ll make sure ball is far enough up and then make sure that my forearms get underneath a little bit that way. Do you feel that the arms and the shoulders get left when you put the ball forward? Yes, for sure. Which is a huge thing that we see. I always feel like I’m doing this when I go get into setup. You probably see it like I I’ll actually try to exaggerate it because every time I come to the ball, I come in that way and then eventually I settle myself into pretty square. Yeah. Um, but it takes some work. That’s a great point for anyone watching, isn’t it? Because so many golfers, they’re kind of aware the ball should be forward. They put the ball forward and they start sort of reaching through with the head and their shoulders. And it’s only natural. I mean, some, especially with putting, but with everything else, you come in this way, you’re looking like the odds that you get all the way into a square position from looking that way are just not great. If I had you looking over there as you set up, you probably would set up Yeah. more square. Maybe people should do that. There you go. So, balls forward, shoulders feel a little more closed than they normally would. Yep. Exactly. For For me, it’s more a forearm thought, but has the same result in the shoulder. Yeah. I I might even like just shut the face a hair if I’m trying to make sure it’s drawn. And then in the swing for me it’s kind of making sure that I don’t get too inside on the takeaway because from there I feel like if the club is out in front of me here I can make sure that it’s going the right direction kind of to like shallowing and behind me where I feel like from there I can hit one right to left. Okay. It’s a it’s a great point this is as well though because as you say when you’re setting up the last thing you want to do is get too much underneath and if you set up for a draw your brain could be saying get that club behind you quickly. We don’t want that obviously. Yeah. And if anything I want the club going that way. Yeah. But you know when I get this way it it wants to come back over the top if I’ve taken it too far inside. So that’s when I feel like I start to Okay. So, if I kind of get it there to begin with in the top in the top of the back swing and then I feel like I can stay on top of it and get one a little bit more controlled, more flighty. That was a heel job. Ended up going straight, which sometimes works. You don’t mind? That’s a nice miss, isn’t it? I’ll take all those. That’s a nice miss. What would you do different for fading the golf ball? Yeah, my big thing with the fade is making sure it starts left. is making sure I’m aimed far enough left that I don’t have to try to slice it. Really make sure I give it enough room to start even right of where I’m aiming and still get into the fairway. Yeah. Without missing it, right? So, that’s kind of my main main thing. And a lot of the things would be done in the setup. So, your path’s going to be left from your body alignment pretty much. Yeah, exactly. And then it’s kind of a weird one, but I I don’t go as far forward in the stance. Um, which is probably why I have to aim as far left. Yeah. But to me, that just helps me make sure that the club face doesn’t have time to get square or left. Yeah. Yeah. So, I just I move it back just a hair to kind of make sure the face stays open. By moving the ball back, we can either have the face more open or they can change the path. Yeah. But if you aim further to the left, then you haven’t got to worry about the path. In theory. Yeah. In theory, the path should be more right just a little bit. But, but if you’re aiming left, it’s okay. I feel that I’ve Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a good balancing act. And it’s And again, it’s ultimately how you feel best to do it. Exactly. That’s just what I feel like gives me the control to I I know it if the ball is back, it shouldn’t really start too far left. Yeah. And if the face is open, it also can’t go left. So, it’s just a that’s what that one is for. Okay. Let’s see if the fade. Yeah. All right. And there’s my heel, but it’s going to end up nice when the miss shots are still pretty much where you want them. Yep. That miss feels disgraceful, but I would You’d still be riding the fairway. So, you know what? There’s no point of us talking now. He wants another one. Gone. Same thing, but working the right way. Yeah. Started left, which is obviously important for you, isn’t it? Yeah. What spec have you got in the driver? What are you What are you using? And and sort of what’s the reasoning behind some of the the setup you got here? Title is GT2 9° A1. And then the head setup pretty pretty neutral. I like there to be some glue up in the face to keep some spin off. If I start to see no loft, that’s when I start to get in some bad habits. So, I like to see the loft, but I also like the spin to stay down. Um, so for me, that’s kind of just the balancing act. The lack of loft on the face when you’re seeing it gives you an intention almost and feel that you have to sort of hang when it starts to feel like the ball isn’t going to get up in the air on its own and you’re inclined to do that. That’s why even if you’re trying to fight it, you’re just your body’s going to want to do that just to try to hit it up in the air. And is that why you’ve obviously got I know in your in your 3-wood it’s a strong loft 135 and you’ve experimented with mini driver as well and it’s like is that a reason for that more loft obviously I’ve actually just trying a little more loft in the 3-wood to try to give me some different shots so I’m doing a little experimenting on that but yeah same same idea. Cool. Cool. You said you like to do like a real low T one. Let’s talk through that and then the scenario of when that would come out to play. Yeah. I T1 way down. Wow. So like threewood height almost. That’s like an iron height, isn’t on a Yeah, not not far off the ground and it kind of turns into like a little two-wood shot. It tends to want to draw for whatever reason, but I end up hitting it left to right winds sometimes, like if you just get a hole that’s shaped that way, I’ll I’ll hit the low te especially if there’s any kind of run out or something. It ends up getting used at the British Open a lot. Okay. Just because crosswinds and firm fairways, you just don’t have to hit the high one that you do over here. In theory, the launch will go down to four or five. Yeah. Uh the spin will go up around 3,000. Feel this is a control shot for you. Do you feel like you got a little bit more chance of Yeah, I think this is just on uncomfortable holes, stuff like that. All I’ll go to. I don’t like using it too much cuz then I start to just give up my kind of gift of speed. Yeah. It’s another tool to have though, isn’t it? Which is great. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, it’s it’s kind of a two-wood replacement, but I don’t have the two wood in the bag. And this will carry around what sort of yardage normally for you? 280 range. Okay. Um, like a normal one’s probably about 300 depending on temperature. Today it’s probably about 258. Not much of one, but that’s decent. I mean, it’s it’s not moving off the target really that it’s a nice shot. I mean, it’s Yeah, just under 3,000 spin, 293 carry. You obviously play a lot of proams at these events. Yeah. What would you say the biggest mistake that you see amateur golfers make with the driver from whatever, whether it’s technique, whether it’s strategy? Yeah, pretty much everybody’s tempo is bad. Hard off the ball, hard from the top without kind of a understanding of how to create like a smooth motion that creates speed. I mean, I was taught just you lead with a step and then you lead with your lower body and everything kind of comes one after the other. Y and you see a lot of people lead with their hands. I understand the impulse to do it, but it’s just not the right way to move the golf club. The other one is setup. That’s probably a lack of time. I mean, we obviously spend a lot more time practicing that kind of stuff than your average golfer, but physically there’s nothing stopping anybody really from making a pretty normal setup. The way I was taught was just really like once you get set up, the first motion is just your shoulders. If you turn your shoulders, you’re in a pretty good position right there. So, that that’s the main battle that I would have your average guy fight out there. Just set up and just try to get the first part of the swing. So many golfers go, “Oh, I’m early extending. I’m swinging over the top.” and then you see them stand to a golf and you’re going, “Okay, maybe we should tidy that up first.” And it’s like, it’s so overlooked and it’s the most common misconception. And Aaron Ry, who we coach obviously, really straight hitter, he talks all about setup and that as long as he does this, he’s okay. Yeah. No, I mean, I watch him on the range. He’s got his two sticks set up like back behind the ball and he’s as simple as it gets from here to here. Yeah, exactly. Which I probably would be why he hits it so straight. Most of our swing battles are over by the time I get there. U because if I get that part right, most of it kind of falls into place. The one thing that I like that a lot of the the golfers watching this can take away is that don’t just hit this one way. You know, you’re trying to make the ball do something. You’re trying to hit a draw. You’re trying to hit it low. You’re trying to hit a fade. Having those tools, you’ve got something to take to the golf ball as instead of just standing here and just hitting it. You’re not having to create the image in the picture to do anything with the ball. And some of it I’m not doing anything. Some of it is setup where you’re like you’re not manipulating the club perfectly to make it make the shape. It’s just you’re setting yourself to where the club wants to hit the ball in that way and make the ball do that. Let’s finish off with one more shot. I want to see you go after one a little bit if possible. I think the highest we’ve seen today is about 181. 181 ball speed. Yeah. Okay. So, we we were close on that. We were almost at 179. Yep. Take your You can have a couple of practice swings. Take your time with this. No rush. Do you do anything different with this? Is it just intention of harder or if we’re going for maximum ball speed, I’d probably try to bring the flight down just a hair. Okay. Just less loft. I think it get a little bit more out of it. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it was close. It was close. It was close. 79.9. I got to hit one more. He wants to break the 180 there. He’s got to go. Good job. You’re not competitive, man. Not at all. There. There you go. There you go. That’s n Okay, that was nice. Let me see that. Oh, there we go. 183. 183. That was the middle. There we go. Thank you guys. Always fun as always. Thank you so much. Good luck the rest of the season. And if you want more from us, check out me and mygolf.com. We have a plan for every single part of your game. Thanks for watching.