Nelly Korda hits a tee shot last Friday at the Annika tournament.
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NAPLES, Fla. — Sorry, Mason. I was just trying to help.
If I embarrassed you in front of Nelly Korda, I apologize.
Wait, what? Wild, right? I’ll try to explain. Mason is my 16-year-old nephew, and, in his uncle’s estimation, has true golf hall of fame potential. But first he has to break 80 consistently.
Korda, of course, you know. Seven-time winner this year on the LPGA. Fifteen-time winner overall. By all measures, she’s great at golf. She’s also at this week’s CME Group Tour Championship, the LPGA’s season-ending event.
And so am I.
So I thought: Why not? I asked Korda and other LPGA pros this:
My 16-year-old is looking to break 80. He shoots in the mid-to-high 80s now. What’s one tip you’d give him?
It was a bit frivolous. But the benefit, I think, was three-fold. The players talk shop. Mason gets a tip. Maybe you do, too.
Except now Mason is worried that Korda thinks he isn’t that great. Whatever. The kid will live.
Maybe break 80 consistently, too.
The full exchanges are below.
What’s one tip you would give my nephew on his journey to break 80?
Nelly Korda
Nelly, kind of a lighthearted question. My 16-year-old nephew is trying to break 80 for the first time. He shoots in the mid-80s, high 80s. What’s one tip you would give him?
“One tip I would give him? Well, two,” Korda said. “A lot of the people that I see who are ams never have a stick down on the range. If you don’t know where you’re aiming, there is a high chance you don’t know where you’re aiming on the golf course.
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“Tip two, I see a lot of people stand on the range and just drilling golf balls or just practicing a lot instead of going out and visualizing.
“At the end of the day, golf is a game of creativity and you’re never going to have your A-game. One day the wind will be off the left and one day off the right. The hole will play completely different. It’s all about creativity.
“So going out and playing a lot.”
Lexi Thompson
My 16-year-old nephew is trying to break 80 for the first time and shoots in the mid-80s right now. What’s one quick tip you would give him?
“That I would give him to break 80?” Lexi Thompson asked. “How long has he been playing?”
Been playing about four years.
“Oh, that’s pretty good then,” she said. “He’s going in the right direction. I always say the biggest tip that helped out the most when I went out and practiced was always have a goal in mind. Always have something you want to improve on. It could be the smallest or biggest of things, the mental side. As we know, golf is such a mental sport. Could be working on the mental side and visualizing shots.
“So going out there with a purpose. Don’t just go out to the golf course and be like I’m just going to hit some balls today or play. Have a goal, something you want to improve on. That way, you’re not wasting any time and it’s always productive practice.
“Even if you struggle a little bit, you had a goal, you committed, and you’re striving to be better.”
Lydia Ko
This is an easy one. It’s instruction-based. My nephew is trying to break 80 for the first time. He shoots like mid-80s, high 80s. What’s one tip you would give him?
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“One tip. I would say try and nail down what is the consistent reason — I think when you shoot in the 80s or high 70s, it’s always not because you consistently make a bogey, but it’s more like one hole where you made a double,” Lydia Ko said. “And most of the time, those mistakes are very repetitive. And even for me, I play and have — it’s kind of the same reason why I make those mistakes. Try and nail down what that key dominator is and that way you’ll be able to work on that and I think that slowly fixes itself without you trying to break everything down and try and make everything better.”
Ally Ewing
My 16-year-old nephew is trying to break 80 for the first time. What’s one tip you would give him?
“My tip would be go to a tee box that makes that realistic,” Ally Ewing said, “and then when you break 80 on that tee box, move back a box. So I would move up to a tee — like probably some people would say that’s not good. I think scoring is scoring and you have to learn to score.
“You know, shooting 61 from the forward tees is still really hard. You still have to golf your ball. I would encourage him to go to a tee box where he feels like he can attain that and steadily move back and keep challenging yourself that way.”
Ruoning Yin
My 16-year-old nephew is trying to break 80 for the first time. What’s one tip you would give him?
“Break 80? Practice your short game and putting,” Ruoning Yin said, “because that’s what you spend most of the time on the golf course. Let’s say 62-stroke course. You’re probably going to spend half on putting.
“If you want to break 80, I would say spend time on your putting.”
Angel Yin
One golf instruction question I had. So my 16-year-old nephew is trying to break 80 and get onto his high school varsity team next year. What’s one tip you’d give him?
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“Hit through the ball and not at the ball. It’s simple,” Angel Yin said. “I think a lot of people try to hit at the ball because it’s the one ballgame you play that the ball is really stationary and you have to go after it. In football, they’re throwing it at you; tennis, the ball is coming at you — you’re reacting. Where this one, you have to, I don’t know, go after the ball. It’s a little bit different. You have to make the ball move.”
Jenno Thitikul
(Editor’s note: Jeeno Thitikul was this year’s winner of the Aon Risk-Reward Challenge — so I asked her a risk-reward question.)
If you were talking to a higher handicap player, how would you advise them about going for a risk or playing it safe?
“Well, for me it’s hard,” Thitikul said. “I know golf is so hard. It’s like a really — there’s the ball and the club is like this big. I think sometimes it needs confidence. You need confidence and not afraid to make a mistake if you’re going to go to a risk. I think that’s the big key, when you have a really challenging hole, a really risk hole, water or something that you have to carry. I think confidence is the most important.”
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