TOUR TECHNIQUE
Split the Fairway Do these three things if you want to drive the ball in play BY LINN GRANT
as A KID IN SWEDEN, I LOVED hitting driver. My dad, who played professionally on the
Swedish Golf and Senior tours, taught me the basic swing fundamentals, and I’d spend hours on the range trying to hit the ball as far as I could. Learning how to swing the club fast was impor- tant to my development as a junior, but as I progressed through the amateur ranks to the Ladies European Tour and then the LPGA Tour, I found myself working less on speed and distance and more on accuracy. The more I played, the more I came to realise that while hitting it far is fun, hitting it straight is how you position yourself to make more birdies and pars and fewer bogeys. In 2023, my first full season on the LPGA Tour, I ranked sec- ond in strokes gained/off the tee. A big reason was my ability to keep the ball in play – I hit nearly three-quarters of my fairways. Too many amateurs focus exclusively on how far they hit it, just as I did when I was a kid. But trust me, if you turn your attention to hitting more fairways and less bombs, your scores will improve much faster. Here’s how to do that using three fundamentals I concentrate on when I absolutely have to hit the fairway, including how to aim consistently for success. Add these into your game and you, too, will see how much fun golf can be from the centre of the fair- way. – with KEELY LEVINS LINN GRANT captured her first LPGA Tour title at the 2023 Dana Open. The 25-year-old’s first two wins as a pro were in South Africa in 2022, including the Joburg Ladies Open.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JENSEN LARSON
42 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025
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