What Was Wyndham Clark Doing With A Coat Hanger At The Open Championship?

These days there are all kinds of weird and wonderful golf training aids, but Wyndham Clark went with a simple if bizarre approach as he pulled up on the range at Royal Birkdale with a coat hanger.

The US Open champion may have conquered Shinnecock Hills and the toughest test in golf, but he still needs help with his swing and produced the unusual piece of kit when starting his prep for the 154th Open Championship.

Clark originally emerged with a large white plastic contraption on his arm, the new proSENDR he's been using this year, then switched to what was literally a simple wooden coat hanger.

It was no surprise he was asked about it later on in his Open Championship press conference, where he spilled the beans on the rather quirky piece of kit.

"Mondays are my technical days. You won't see me doing a bunch of that stuff the rest of the week," Clark told the media, before explaining exactly what he was using the coat hanger for.

"My swing's gotten a little off. I kind of hit it kind of crappy, especially on Sunday - or just yesterday. The coat hanger is for wrist angle, trying to get a little more inflection in my left wrist so I can square the face more. That's just what it is."

Clark says he only used the coat hanger for a few balls "15 to 20 just to get the feeling" and believes the rather unorthodox training aid works just fine for him.

"It's like an old, old training aid. People have been doing it forever," he added.

"I didn't come up with it, but for myself, I was like, okay, I know that helps wrist angles. I decided to do it. My swing coach and I have been working on it.

"I get my wrist cupped and I've been trying to get it flatter. I feel like that's the best way to do that."

There's hundreds of training aids on the marktet, maybe in the future we'll now see a few coat hangers being taken out on driving ranges emulating the two-time Major winner.

Clark - Open crowds are the best

Clark says he has thick enough skin to deal with being the "villain within the game of golf" after dealing with a hostile crowd at Shinnecock - but doesn't think he'll need it this week in front of an Open crowd.

"Oh, they're the best," Clark said of the Open crowd. "I think any golfer will tell you they love playing over here. The fans really respect the game, they respect the players, and they really understand golf.

"If you hit it into a tough spot and make the correct play or the smart play, the prudent play, they clap; they understand sometimes 20 feet is a great shot. So, yeah, I really enjoy the fans over here."

Clark has endured some struggles in between his two US Open victories, and says a lot of that was to do with off-course matters - which he says is an underrated part of professional golf.

"I think people don't talk enough about what's going on off the course and equate that to what's going on on the course," he added.

"I think it's very difficult to have off-course issues and play really good golf. You may be able to fake it a couple weeks here and there, but for a season it's difficult.

"I think last year I had a lot of off-course issues that were bleeding into the golf and led to some poor golfing decisions.

"Right now I'm very pleased with my life off the course. It's very simple. I have an amazing girlfriend. I have an amazing family. Everything is set up awesome off the course, so then it's bleeding into playing really free golf on the golf course."