The thing about golf, as you’ve no doubt heard us say before, is that there’s no one way to do it well. One method that works for someone many not for another.
I was reminded of this recently during a chat with Jess Korda, who paired with her cover star sister Nelly to share some tips about their golf swings.
Meet Nelly Korda, the face of American women’s golf
Along the way, I asked her about warming up. How does she get going for the day? Her answer was quite interesting.
“When I’m on the range, I don’t really have a target I’m aiming for, I’m only focusing on the contact,” she says.
Most coaches and players will say aiming at a clear, defined target is an important part of range practice. Jess will do that when she’s practicing, but when she’s warming up before her round, she only has a vague idea of her target for most of her warmup.
Instead she’s focusing on her feel: Making solid contact, feeling if she missed the shot left or right, and how it matches up her ball flight. It’s only at the very end of her warmup session, when she pulls driver, that she gets more target-focused and heads to the course.
“The most important thing for me is to get a feel for how I’m hitting the ball,” she says. ”If I can start with soft shots, making good contact with nice rhythm, the ball will go where I want it to go.”