Why the LPGA Players Are So Consistent

Here's a link to a Golf Digest article about how the LPGA players practice, based on info from Gary Gilchrist's protege Bill Schmedes III. He says it isn't about distance with the women.



The article isn't long (that's appropriate, don't you think?), but it's very informative. Here's a quick quote from it:

Schmedes says that the women on the LPGA Tour aren’t trying to get longer, they’re trying to get more consistent. You can hit it as far as you want, but if you don’t know where it’s going, you’re in trouble. The overriding philosophy right now is that it’s more important to know you can be in the right place on the fairway than know you’re the longest on tour. In turn, more time is spent on developing a predictable shot shape than trying to be long.

Every time you hear the announcers talk about how you need a power game to win -- and they say that about every tour -- take a good look at how the winners get it done. Even when a big hitter does win, it's less about distance than you might think. For example, when big hitter Brooks Koepka won the US Open a few weeks back, he set a US Open record for accuracy... and short-hitting Brian Harmon's driver deserted him during the final round, where he hit about 50% of his fairways. That was over 30% fewer than in the rest of his rounds.

Short hitters of the world, take heart! There's more than one way to lower your score, and you might not need longer drives to do it.