GAINESVILLE, Va. — Lauren Coughlin‘s meteoric rise to the Solheim Cup started with a putter change.
In March of this year, Coughlin was 107th in the world ranking. She had aspirations of playing her way onto the Solheim Cup team by year’s end, but with zero career victories, the goal looked unlikely.
Her 2024 campaign got off to a solid — if unspectacular — start. Coughlin made four cuts in five starts, with her best finish a T21 finish during the Asia swing. Cashing checks is always good, but to make the Solheim Cup roster, she needed a special season.
When the LPGA schedule returned stateside, Coughlin readied for the Ford Championship in Arizona. A few days before the tournament, she and her husband visited Ping’s headquarters in Phoenix. While there, she fell in love with a new wand — the PLD Oslo.
Armed with her new putter, Coughlin placed eighth at the Ford Championship — just the third top-10 of her career. Three weeks later, she cashed the biggest check of her career with a T3 at the Chevron Championship. She continued the stellar play for the remainder of the summer, winning twice and finishing third in the Solheim Cup standings as she qualified for her first national team.
“It’s been kind of a whirlwind,” Coughlin said. “But in the best way. It’s been super fun and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”
Coughlin’s putter change has been credited for sparking her remarkable run this summer. But the 31-year-old made another key change to her putting at the same time as her club switch.
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Part of the reason for Coughlin’s putting woes came from her habit of turning her head to watch the ball roll right as she struck the ball. To fix the problem, Coughlin’s husband and coach got together and created a do-it-yourself training aid: safety goggles with duct tape over the left half of the left lens.
“I tend to really look up early, especially on short putts,” Coughlin said. “It’s just basically so I don’t look up and I don’t look at the hole when I’m putting.”
The creation of the goggles came the same week as her putter change in Arizona — and the results speak for themselves.
According to KPMG’s Performance Insights, Coughlin ranks 37th on the LPGA Tour in SG: Putting, gaining .70 strokes per round on the greens. Last season, she ranked 210th in the same category. The year before, she was 227th.
“At the beginning of the year I was giving myself a 45-, 50-footer that used to cause me a lot of anxiety because I thought I would three putt them,” she said. “I think [putting has] become a strength of my game this year.”
All thanks to a timely putter change and DIY training aid.