It’s safe to say that 2024 was a great year for Scottie Scheffler. He captured seven PGA Tour wins, including his second Masters victory and his first Tour Championship title, along with a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. By year’s end, he was named Player of the Year and was first in the World Golf Rankings.
In addition to all his accolades, Scheffler also led the tour in numerous stats — which isn’t that surprising considering it was his most dominant year on tour. But, there was one stat that stood out among the rest: Stroke Gained: Approach.
During the 2024 season, Scheffler gained an average of 1.269 strokes on his approach shots. To give you some perspective, that’s 57 percent better than Tony Finau who was second on Tour for the same stat. For even more context, about 41 percent of PGA Tour players actually lose strokes on their approach, so Scheffler’s performance wasn’t just good — it was on another level.
So what exactly was it that made his approach into the greens so lethal last year? His answer might surprise you.
Scheffler’s ball-striking keys
“I’ve always tried to have a variety of shots going into the greens,” Scheffler told GOLF.com at the API media day. “I feel that’s something that’s helped me separate myself a little bit, is being able to shape the ball both ways and control distance.”
Scheffler also explained that his solid approach into the greens was largely due to good fundamentals.
“[I’m] always working on my setup and ball position,” Scheffler said, “Making sure my feet, hips and shoulders are all aligned and then making sure my ball position is good.
“Typically, if I’m hitting it really bad, one of those things is for sure going to be off.
It might be a simple takeaway, but it’s obviously valuable. Most amateurs believe that basics are only for beginners, and they can’t wait to graduate to the more exciting technical aspects of the game. But, as the world number one proves, you are only as good as your fundamentals.
Next time you’re at the range, take a page out of Scheffler’s playbook and commit more of your practice session to mastering setup keys like your grip, stance, posture, alignment, and ball position. You can even utilize alignment rods to improve your aim, or a grip club like the one we’ve seen Scheffler use to practice setting your hands on the club properly.
The more time you can spend working on the basics, the better you’ll become.
