How Open Champion Ryan Fox's Fast Pace Can Help You Play Better

Ryan Fox produced his best golf when The Open demanded it most.

His pace was also difficult to miss.

On the final green, No Laying Up counted only 22 seconds from the moment playing partner Sam Burns removed his ball from the cup to the moment Fox struck the winning putt. That is not a measurement of Fox’s time at address, but it illustrates how little unused time he allowed between becoming ready and making the stroke.

Fox has explained that this speed is natural to him and that he generally identifies his shot window quickly and believes giving himself less time reduces the opportunity to overthink the decision.

The lesson for everyday golfers is not to imitate Fox’s exact speed. Rushing through club selection, alignment, or setup will not improve your golf. The more useful lesson is narrower: once you have created a functional address position, do not remain there so long that you begin changing it.

In lessons, I often see golfers create a perfectly workable setup and then unknowingly edit it before the club ever moves.

The fingers begin squeezing the grip. The knees gradually straighten. The shoulders rise. Pressure shifts toward the toes or heels. Sometimes the golfer makes one more adjustment with the hands because the club suddenly no longer feels comfortable.

By the time the takeaway begins, the player is not swinging from the address position that was originally built.

Once your clubface, feet and posture are established, retain three simple sensations:

You do not need to manufacture extra movement or fidget over the ball. The objective is to begin the swing while the body still feels responsive.

If the knees have straightened, the shoulders have lifted, or the hands have visibly regripped, the player’s time at address has already affected the motion.

Your address window is the period between completing your physical setup and beginning the takeaway. It does not include checking the yardage, choosing a club, assessing the wind or making a rehearsal swing.

It begins only when the club and body have reached their final starting condition.

There is no universal number that every golfer should copy. Fox’s natural speed belongs to Fox. Your useful address window should be determined by what happens to your contact and starting direction, not by whether you can hit the ball as quickly as a Tour professional.

The goal is to identify the point at which additional waiting begins to change your setup or degrade your results.

A complicated lie may require additional preparation. It does not necessarily require additional time standing over the ball.

Consider a ball-above-the-feet lie. Before addressing the ball, choke down until the club can return naturally to the height of the slope. Make a rehearsal beside the ball and confirm that the sole brushes the ground where the ball is sitting. Account for the tendency of the lie to start the ball left for a right-handed golfer, then establish your club and target.

Do that work before stepping into your final setup.

When I’m helping a player with an uneven lie, I want the golfer to solve the lie, low point and target questions first. Once the player addresses the ball, the task should change from analyzing the shot to producing it.

Should the wind suddenly change or something about the lie no longer look correct, step away and rebuild the shot. Remaining motionless for several additional seconds usually does not solve the new problem. It simply gives the body more time to brace and the hands more time to interfere.

Fox’s 10-second tee-shot clip and the 22-second sequence on Royal Birkdale’s final green are evidence of an unusually fast player. They are not target times every golfer must match.

The transferable principle is more precise: once you have built a sound setup, do not let preparation turn into unnecessary waiting.

As your eyes return to the ball and your body reaches its final starting condition, the next deliberate change should be the beginning of the swing, not another regrip, a rise out of posture or a new setup adjustment.

That is not rushing. It is protecting the address position you worked to create.

Fox’s pace is distinctly his own. What everyday golfers can borrow is his apparent unwillingness to let a moment of readiness become a period of hesitation.