Tag: Learn Golf

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4 Essential Golf Tips From Jeeno Thitikul, Nelly Korda, Brooke Henderson & Minjee Lee

By Brendon Elliott, PGA

Published on Saturday, November 22, 2025

The leaderboard at the CME Group Tour Championship tells a story that goes beyond scores and prize money.

After two rounds in Naples, Florida, we’re watching four of the world’s finest players demonstrate what separates good golf from great golf. And here’s the thing: the lessons they’re teaching us aren’t reserved for tour professionals.

Let’s break down what Jeeno Thitikul, Nelly Korda, Brooke Henderson, and Minjee Lee are showing us this week, and more importantly, how you can apply their strengths to your own game.

Jeeno Thitikul: The Power of Precision Over Distance

Leading at 14-under par, Jeeno is putting on a ball-striking clinic. But here’s what caught my eye: she’s hitting 93% of her fairways (26 of 28) while averaging 275 yards off the tee. That’s not the longest distance out there, yet she’s three shots clear of the field.

The Tip: Master Your Personal Power Zone

Jeeno isn’t trying to be the longest hitter. She’s found her optimal swing speed where she maintains complete control while still generating plenty of distance. This is what I call your “personal power zone,” and it’s one of the most underutilized concepts in amateur golf.

What It Helps: Finding your power zone improves accuracy and consistency, and, ironically, often increases your effective distance because you’re hitting more fairways and better lies.

Why It Works: When you swing at 85-90% of your maximum effort instead of 100%, you maintain better balance, tempo, and face control. Your body can repeat the motion more reliably, and your mind stays calmer throughout the swing.

How to Start: On the range, hit a dozen drives at what feels like 75% effort. Note your carry distance. Then hit a dozen at 90% effort. Compare not just distance, but dispersion pattern. Most players find their sweet spot around 85-87% effort, where they lose only 5-10 yards but gain 50% more fairways. That’s your power zone. Practice living there.

Nelly Korda: The Fairway Finder’s Advantage

Nelly matched Jeeno’s fairway accuracy in round two, going 14 for 14, and she’s done it while averaging 283 yards. At nine-under and tied for fifth, she’s proving that when you eliminate one side of the golf course, scoring becomes significantly easier.

The Tip: Commit to Your Stock Shot Shape

Nelly knows her ball flight and trusts it completely. She’s not trying to hit different shapes on every hole. She’s playing her reliable pattern and aiming accordingly.

What It Helps: This approach reduces decision-making stress, simplifies course management, and builds the kind of confidence that shows up under pressure.

Why It Works: Your brain and body can groove one swing pattern far more effectively than trying to hit multiple shapes. When you know your ball is going to move a certain way, you can aim with conviction and swing without doubt.

How to Start: Spend three range sessions hitting only your natural shot shape. If you fade it, fade every shot. Don’t fight your pattern. Learn exactly how much it curves with each club. Then on the course, aim for that shape and trust it. Give yourself a month of this commitment, and watch your fairways hit percentage climb.

Brooke Henderson: The Short Game Separator

Brooke’s sitting at nine-under, and while her driving distance average of 267 yards is the shortest among these four players, she’s making up for it where it counts. She went 14 for 14 in fairways in round two and has hit 96% of her fairways overall (27 of 28). She’s also hit 30/36 greens in regulation. Here’s the kicker: she’s converted on all but one of her 6 up and down opportunities, that’s an 83% scrambling clip. Pretty solid.

The Tip: Practice Scrambling Like Your Round Depends On It

Brooke understands that perfect ball-striking is a myth. What matters is recovering brilliantly when things go sideways.

What It Helps: A strong short game transforms bogey holes into par saves and par holes into birdie opportunities. It’s the fastest way to lower your scores without changing your swing.

Why It Works: While the long game accounts for the majority of scoring differences between golfers, a strong short game acts as a crucial safety net that prevents round-killing double and triple bogeys. Even great players miss 5-7 greens per round, and your ability to scramble in those moments keeps big numbers off your scorecard and maintains momentum when your ball-striking isn’t sharp.

How to Start: Create a “scrambling circuit” at your practice facility. Drop three balls in different challenging spots around one green: thick rough, a bunker, and a tight lie. You must get up and down with at least two of the three balls before moving to the next green. Do this for 30 minutes twice a week. Your confidence around the greens will skyrocket.

Minjee Lee: The Green (and Pin) Reading Genius

Minjee is also nine-under and has been absolutely surgical with her iron play, hitting 89% of greens in regulation (32 of 36). When you’re giving yourself that many birdie looks, you’re going to score.

The Tip: Prioritize Green Center Over Pin Hunting

Minjee’s GIR percentage tells us she’s not always firing at flags. She’s playing to the fat part of greens and trusting her putting.

What It Helps: This strategy reduces three-putts, eliminates short-sided disasters, and actually creates more birdie opportunities because you’re putting from the green instead of chipping from the rough.

Why It Works: The difference between a 25-foot putt from the center of the green and a 15-foot putt from a tucked pin location is minimal in terms of birdie percentage for most golfers. But the difference between being on the green versus short-sided in rough is massive.

How to Start: For the next five rounds, ignore every pin position. Aim for the center of every green. Track your GIR percentage and your average putts per GIR. Compare it to your previous five rounds. I’m willing to bet you’ll see improvement in both categories, and your scores will drop.

The Common Thread

What ties these four players together isn’t just talent. It’s intelligent, strategic golf. They’ve each identified their strengths and built their games around maximizing those advantages while minimizing weaknesses.

You can do the same thing. Pick one of these four tips and commit to it for the next month. Don’t try to overhaul everything at once. Just choose the area that resonates most with your game and get to work.

That’s how champions are built, one smart decision at a time.

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Five Keys to Hit Your Fairway Woods Better

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By Brendon Elliott, PGA

Published on Saturday, June 29, 2024

In Thursday’s first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Cam Young hit a beautiful fairway wood from 273 yards to 3 feet. Fairway wood shots like this are shots that most amateur golfers can only dream of hitting. For most, just getting a fairway wood airborne is a significant achievement.

Struggling to hit fairway woods consistently off the deck, or the tee? You’re in good company.

Many golfers grapple with these longer clubs. But fear not, with the right techniques and practice, you can start hitting fairway woods better and add some serious distance and accuracy to your game.

Try these tips:

Get Fairway Woods That Suit Your Swing

First and foremost, it’s crucial to have the correct fairway woods in your bag. The loft and shaft flex should suit your swing speed and personal preferences. Once you have the right club, it’s time to focus on your setup and swing.

Trust The Equipment

Another key element is to trust the club’s loft. Fairway woods are designed to provide lift, so avoid trying to help the ball into the air by scooping or flipping your wrists at impact. Instead, trust the club’s loft and focus on making solid, confident conta

Understand How To Hit a Fairway Wood Properly

When hitting fairway woods off the fairway, a common mistake is to try and lift the ball into the air. Instead, focus on making solid contact with the ball at impact. Position the ball slightly forward in your stance, just inside your front heel. This setup promotes a slightly descending blow, ensuring clean contact with the ball.

Rhythm & Tempo

In terms of the swing, it’s essential to maintain a smooth tempo and rhythm. Fairway woods are designed to sweep the ball off the turf, unlike hitting irons, where you may take a divot after the ball. To achieve this, focus on a shallow angle of attack. Stay behind the ball at impact and maintain your spine angle through the swing. This will help you strike the ball cleanly and get the ball airborne.

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Nelly Korda’s Swing Tempo Tips

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Golf Tips: Copy Nelly Korda’s Swing Tempo With These 3 Keys

By Brendon Elliott, PGA

Published on Saturday, April 20, 2024

With no disrespect to Scottie Scheffler and his dominance in the men’s game, Nelly Korda may be the best golfer on the planet right now. Going for her fifth straight win this week at The Chevron Championship, the LPGA’s first major of the year, Nelly sits in a very familiar place near the top of the leaderboard.

One of the most striking things about Nelly’s swing is its fluidity. Her motion is smooth and graceful, with no wasted or unnecessary movements. Her natural rhythm and tempo allow her to generate power without sacrificing accuracy.

Another key element of Nelly’s swing is her balance. She maintains a stable base throughout her swing, which allows her to continually make solid contact and control her shot trajectory. Her weight shift is subtle and controlled, which helps her to maintain her balance and generate power.

Nelly’s swing also features a high level of coordination between her upper body and lower body. Her hips and shoulders rotate in a way that creates proper resistance between each other, allowing her to generate torque and power. Her arms and hands remain relaxed and passive, allowing the club head to do the work.

Of course, Nelly’s swing didn’t develop overnight. It has taken years of hard work and dedication to reach the level of proficiency that she now possesses. The following three tips can help you find better balance, fluidity, and rhythm in your swing, but, just like with Nelly, it will take some time to really get things dialed in.

Focus on your posture

Maintaining good posture from set up and throughout your swing is essential for achieving balance and fluidity. As you get set, focus on keeping your spine and sternum steady and over the ball, with your weight evenly distributed and your feet shoulder-width apart. This will help you maintain your balance throughout the swing.

As you move throughout your swing, always try to maintain that feeling of centeredness, with those critical points of the spine and sternum steady and over the ball.

Practice your transition

Many golfers lose rhythm and fluidity during the transition between the backswing and downswing.

Nelly Korda of the United States plays her shot from the third tee during the second round of the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon Golf Club on November 18, 2022 in Naples, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

To improve this, practice your transition by slowing down your swing and focusing on the smoothness of the movement. Once you have mastered a slow and smooth transition, gradually increase your speed until you can maintain the same fluidity at a faster pace.

Use your hips correctly

A consistent and solid golf swing relies heavily on using your hips correctly. This helps generate power and maintain fluidity. Additionally, it allows for a consistent strike at impact and a reliable shot shape. Check out this sequence from Nelly:

Notice Nelly rotating her hips throughout the swing, starting with her backswing and continuing through to your follow-through. As you swing back, your hips should rotate around 45 degrees, with your upper torso rotating an additional 45 degrees beyond that. That resistance between your upper body, rotating closer to 90 degrees, and your 45-degree hip turn creates the wind-up, which is necessary for you to be powerful once you transition down from the top of the swing.

As you unwind in the downswing, your hips must lead the way and rotate out of the way so that your hands and club can approach the ball from the inside. Hips that do not clear properly in the downswing create problems with consistency in your swing.

Catch some coverage of The Chevron Championship this weekend . . . there’s a lot you can learn from one of the LPGA’s stars who’s on an unreal run!

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Try This Drill to Cure Your Slice

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Golf Tips

Published on Tuesday, April 2, 2024

The slice is enemy No. 1 for a lot of golfers. And it’s easy to see why.

A slice curves away from the target pretty quickly and zaps distance, making tee shots and approach shots less likely to find the fairway and green. The result? Higher scores.

Slicing the ball is a common fault because it’s a combination of a lot of common miscues but none more prevalent than an over-the-top backswing and open clubface at impact. Those two combined make it easy for the ball to spin left to right (for righties, opposite for lefties), and away from the target.

The good part about a slice though, is just like any swing fault, it can be fixed with the right prescription. We asked Jimmy Wisinski, the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Kent Country Club in Michigan, to share a drill on how the combat the dreaded slice.

Jimmy delivered with a great alignment-stick drill that you can do the next time you hit the range:

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Drain Putts Like Tiger Woods

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Struggling On The Greens? This Putting Drill Can Help Instantly

By Brendon Elliott, PGA

Published on Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Beyond some standard fundamentals, the art of putting is as individual as a fingerprint.

We all have unique factors influencing our approach to putting: our height, body type, tempo at which we walk and talk and, most impactfully, how we see a putt with our eyes all influence what we do with the flat stick, whether we know it or not.

We often force ourselves into a setup position that is too “squared off” or “technically sound” to allow our eyes to see that critical starting spot to roll the ball over just after impact.

Our brain, or subconscious, will actually reroute the putter on the downstroke if it feels that something is “off” visually when you make those last few looks with your eyes down the target line. This will lead to often funky-looking strokes and a potential massive loss of confidence.

If you’ve been experiencing some struggles on the green, not to fear. This drill below can help right away.

Find your spot
  • With three golf balls, start with a putt of 6 feet on the practice green.
  • Really focus on your putting line. Take a trip around the hole and see the line from all sides.
  • Once you are confident on the line, find a point on your line about 4-6 inches past your ball and align the mark on your golf ball to that point. Pro tip: Using your golf ball mark is a critical part to being a good putter!
  • As you start to get set up to the ball, make it a point to feel comfortable with what you see with your eyes as you are over the ball. How does the line on the ball look in relation to that intermediate starting point? How does your putter head look with regard to the ball and your intermediate starting point? Adjust your body, line, or even your putter head if it seems off a bit.
  • It is critical to get your setup conditions correct in terms of what you see as you are over the ball and not necessarily in a way that feels more “technically sound.” Your eyes and instincts, unique to you, are far more critical in allowing you to roll the ball end over end and over that intermediate spot on your line.

Once you start continuously rolling the ball over that intermediate spot on your line, this drill will allow you to putt with more confidence and think less about how technically sound your putting may be. Technique is essential, but it often handcuffs golfers by not allowing them to stroke the putt freely and confidently!

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Swing Tips from a Super Bowl Champion

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A Swing Tip You Can Learn From the NFL Quarterbacks Who Played in the Super Bowl

By Ryan Adams, PGA

Published on Sunday, January 28, 2024

A thrilling match-up for Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on Feb. 11 ended as it should.

With drama.

The Kansas City Chiefs won their second straight Super Bowl, defeating the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 on a short pass play in overtime. The game was fun to watch, with high-flying offenses, stout defenses, plenty of storylines . . . and how could we forget Taylor Swift?

Believe it or not, though, there’s also a little golf lesson you can learn from the quarterbacks playing in today’s game.

Did you see how Patrick Mahomes (above) of the Chiefs and Brock Purdy of the 49ers were making their throwing motions? Well, there’s a lot of similarities between the way these quarterbacks sling it and how to create more powerful strikes with every club.

Let’s break it down.

Wind up and weight transfer

The first step for a quarterback is winding up their upper body and then transferring weight to the front foot to fire a pass. That’s a lot like the golf swing if you think about it: You make a full turn and then transfer your weigh to the lead side to maximize power. Look at Mahomes below as he steps into a pass:

He can’t make this throw without transferring his weight to the lead side. When they weren’t under pressure during the Super Bowl, Mahomes and Purdy started throws by stepping into them, and not hanging back. When you hang back on your trail side, there’s no energy going to the ball (or in the quarterbacks’ case, the pass) which makes it harder to create good contact.

Try this: Make practice swings with a full turn (shoulder under chin) and then on your downswing, take a step with your lead foot like you’re throwing a football or baseball. You’ll understand the proper sequence a lot better.

Unwind the lower body

Once you’ve made that first step, it’s time to unwind the lower body. You’ll see in the Super Bowl that the quarterbacks create space with their lower body by opening their hips and firing through with their upper body. Without that, it’s nearly impossible for them to make a proper move and throw the ball. Look at Purdy unwindingfor a big throw here:

Same goes for your golf swing. There’s no way for you to hit the ball squarely without unwinding and rotating your hips to clear out space for the arms, hands and club. Not only are you clearing out space but because you made that move we described above in the first step, your sequence is right on and that means really good contact with the ball.

Try this: To understand this hip clear-out, get in stance and then take your lead hand and press it into your lead hip. You should feel an open rotation, or a “clearing out” of your lower body. Another way to think about this is if you had a belt on and tugged it with your lead hand. Attempt hitting a few half shots with this idea in place with your wedges.

Hopefully this two-part tip is something that will help you, like it helps these great quarterbacks on the NFL’s biggest stage.

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The Coat Hanger Drill

A coat hanger can help straighten up your wrists and eliminate any scooping in your swing.

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Two Lower Body Exercises to Help Your Golf Swing

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Two Lower Body Exercises to Help Your Golf Swing

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The lower body plays a pivotal role in generating power in the golf swing.

But it’s also important to improve your fitness & conditioning in the lower body to assure that you can play the game for life.

Fortunately, PGA Coach Thor Parrish shared a pair of exercises that won’t only improve your strength but will help teach your body the proper movements needed to prevent injuries on the course and in your swing.

So check out yet another great fitness tip from Parrish below & be sure to connect with a PGA Coach in your area to find out what tips & drills are best to improve your game.

 

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Golf For Beginners – Find Golf Schools and Friends to Learn Golf – PGA.com

Golf For Beginners – Find Golf Schools and Friends to Learn Golf – PGA.com

Playing with Pace

Golf is sometimes perceived as a secret society with its own mores, culture and language, which can make it feel exclusionary, elitist or unwelcoming.  Yet, while the sport is deeply rooted in history and traditions that make it great, today’s golf scene is getting with the times like never before.  In fact, golf will present you with such unbelievable personal and shared experiences that the only fear you’ll have nowadays is a FOMO –a “Fear of Missing Out!”

There are almost too many reasons to list for taking up this great game, but here’s eight of them to get you started:

  • Connections Abound – Golf’s a relationship game.  Every angle of the sport is rooted in relationships—both personal and business. And your time spent in and around the game allows you to make connections and foster relationships through shared experiences that you wouldn’t otherwise make.
  • “Grass Ceiling” No More – Tired of being excluded from the informal networks your colleagues, especially the guys, are building on the course and then leveraging for career advancement?  Grass ceiling no more, girl.  Get in the game.  You’ll break down those barriers, and build a network for a lifetime.
  • The Great Outdoors – In this high-tech generation of being chained to our mobile devices while doing more with less at the office, who couldn’t use a little more time outside in the fresh air?  Can’t you just hear your mom saying, “Go outside and play!”?  Mom knows best, especially when it comes to what a little fresh air can do to boost your mind, body and spirit.
  • Calorie Burn – Who couldn’t use a little extra off?  You’ll burn approximately 2,000 calories during an 18-hole round (while walking and carrying your clubs) or even 1,300 calories when riding a golf car as you play!
  • Your Wardrobe Awaits – Forget about the stodgy, starchy, boxy and, yes, tacky golf shirts of days gone by.  Cute, fashion-forward, sexy, professional, sporty; whatever look you’re going for on the course, the fashion world is your oyster in golf.  Oh, and the shoes!  One word.  Love.
  • Your Significant Other – Golf is such a special sport to share with a spouse or partner.  You’ll leave the world behind and be together, undisrupted in a beautiful setting where nothing else matters but the two of you.  Fun and closeness are sure to result.  (And don’t fret if you don’t currently have a significant other, many happy couples are known to have met on the golf course.)
  • Destinations Await – Around the corner or even the globe, golf travel can take you to stunning locations all over the world.
  • That One Shot – There’s no way to do justice to describing the feeling of pure exhilaration you’ll experience the first time you connect your golf club with that little white ball.  There’s really nothing like it!  You can do it…And you’ll never forget it!  Believe me, it will keep you coming back to the game you love!

So, no more FOMO…Get Golf Ready today!