Golf IQ

Conventional wisdom might hold that swinging a shorter club might mean shorter distances. And that might be true if one assumed that impact locations on the face stayed the same. But shorter clubs are also easier to hit, and center hits equal fewer big misses and, often, more distance, too. LKD is joined by Club Champion Founder Nick Sherburne to explain why this trade-off works.

Most people have a general idea of what's wrong with their full swing. But the putting stroke is so compact, it's much harder to diagnose when something is amiss. After chatting with putting coach Stephen Sweeney, LKD breaks down how some of the same DNA that makes your full swing can leak into your putting stroke. Crucially, LKD explains why certain putting grips might help fix some flaws.

"How do you break 80?" is one of the most common questions in amateur golf. If you’re consistently shooting in the low 80s, the easiest way to shoot in the 70s probably isn’t making more birdies. It’s avoiding double bogeys, improving your golf course management and making smarter decisions from tee to green. Luke Kerr-Dineen breaks down how to break 80 using golf statistics, shot-pattern data and simple course-management strategies that can help golfers shoot lower scores without changing their golf swing.

This isn't a full-blown "Tee it Forward" campaign. Rather, it's a training tool designed to help familiarize yourself with new situations, particularly better scoring. LKD breaks down the full range of benefits from playing a much shorter course than you might be used to.

You might think paying attention is easy. And to some degree, you're right. But there are different types of attention, and knowing how and when to turn them on and off can save you energy and strokes during your round. LKD breaks it down.

At its core, golf's 'North-South' Problem is a lesson in course management. It boils down to this: with your wedges and short irons, which you use to hit the shots that affect your score the most, your miss will be greater long or short than it will be left or right. LKD breaks it all down with examples in this edition of Golf IQ.

LKD is back to finish answering your questions with Part 2 of this Golf IQ Mailbag. In today's episode, how to limit early extension, how to hit a push draw and more.

You asked. He answered. In Part 1 of the Golf IQ Mailbag, LKD runs through a handful of your questions, ranging from how to add spin around the green to whether you should change your grip to affect shot shape and what to do with the dreaded yips.

Swing thoughts are how you get better on the range. But a swing feel is how you transfer your progress to the course. LKD presents a buffet of swing feels from major champions and PGA Tour winners.

Matt Fitzpatrick is the most notable cross-handed chipper in the game today, but several tour pros employ the strategy. LKD dives deep on how it works for them, and why it can work for you, too.

Go to the driving range at a pro event and you'll notice a lot looks different than your local driving range — and we're not just talking about the stripe shows the players are putting on. LKD breaks down PGA Tour data on how many shots pros hit and what clubs they're hitting to give a clear picture on how the best in the world practice.

DIY-ing your own golf swing generally isn't advised. But Andreas Kali, coach to multiple tour pros, gave LKD a short checklist of body positions to note during the swing. Hit these body structure points and you'll generally be in a good position to deliver the club to the ball efficiently and effectively.

In this podcast episode of Golf IQ, Luke Kerr-Dineen breaks down Dr. Robert Grober’s study into the physics of the golf swing. Presented at Yale University, it discusses the idea of tempo and the right and wrong way to achieve it.

Draws are kind of an aspirational shot shape in golf. It doesn't come naturally to many players. Luckily, LKD is here to simplify things as he talks all things draw.

There are five numbers you need to know before you hit every approach shot. And knowing them, and how to find them, will make you a better player. LKD explains cover, actual, pitch, max and bailout numbers and why each is important.

LKD *loves* Lee Trevino, and for good reason. The 1971 Champion Golfer of the Year is a soundbite machine. In this episode, LKD breaks down Trevino's tips on how opening your stance might actually help fight your slice.

LKD *loves* Lee Trevino, and for good reason. The 1971 Champion Golfer of the Year is a soundbite machine. In this episode, LKD breaks down some tips from the six-time major champion on how to play Open Championship golf.

Match play is simple enough. Card a better score than your opponent on the hole, you win the hole. But what if you could only win the hole with a birdie or better? That's Birdie Sprint, and, as LKD explains, you'll see it a lot during pro-am rounds at PGA Tour events. Here's how you can play it and/or adapt it for your skill level.

Chris Gotterup just won for the fourth time on the PGA Tour in the last 53 weeks, and he's done it with an unusually open setup and steep swing. In this episode, LKD explains how steep swingers (*cough cough* Jack Nicklaus) have been successful and how you can too.

Keely Levins and Chris Powers return to share with LKD how their respective Golf Galaxy coaches helped them get better ahead of their big showdown. Each player brought their own swing flaws, but, with the help of their coach, they were able to create new, more productive habits.

Busy Golf Digest journalists Keely Levins and Chris Powers have accepted the challenge — to pair up with a team of Golf Galaxy coaches and fitters to analyze and overhaul their game and equipment, work hard over 90 days, and then square off in a high-stakes match to see whose game has improved the most.

Wyndham Clark vs. Sam Burns was the Sunday duel nobody really expected at Shinnecock Hills after Clark took a six-shot lead into the final round, but down the stretch, with Burns several holes ahead of Clark the final round of the 2026 U.S. Open became a real slugfest. How did these two players end up there after falling out of form in 2025? LKD spoke to each of them to find out.

The U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills is coming up and, as LKD explains in this episode, U.S. Opens are won by not making big mistakes. This is how pros plan their bail out strategies and why it works.

Facing a tight driving hole? You may want to tee the ball a bit lower than usual. On the other hand, if it's wide open, that's the time to "tee it high and let it fly." LKD explains why, backed up by his own experience and launch monitor data.

We all have them, tour pros. Here's what you can do, or, perhaps more importantly, not do, to keep a blowup hole or two from becoming a nightmare round.

The flight of the golf ball will tell you (almost) everything you need to know about your golf swing — what's going wrong, how you should fix it, and whether or not you've succeeded in your quest to do so.

Whether it was driver ball position from eventual champion Aaron Rai or a putting alignment technique from Justin Rose and putting guru Phil Kenyon, LKD learned a bunch of great lessons from pros at Aronimink.

Where are you gaining or losing strokes? Do you know? Do you hit it as far as you think you do? Maybe you hit it farther. Do you mesh with larger trends in the game or are you atypical? Arccos' annual Driving Distance Report is here to answer some questions. LKD breaks it all down.

As the weather warms up again, many of us will find ourselves facing our first greenside bunker shots of the season. That may scare some of us more than others, but even the most confident bunker players might need a refresh every now and then. Fear not: With the help of Golf Digest Top Teacher Joe Mayo, LKD explores how shaft lean can help players get the ball closer to the hole.

You asked for it, you got it. In this episode, LKD talks with former World No. 1, 2015 PGA Champion and short game aficionado Jason Day about different types of shots to play around the green and when to play each one ... and you might be surprised at how often certain shots come up.

Golfers often try to push too hard, too soon to make up for mistakes on the course. Sam Weinman talked to Rory McIlroy and Max Homa at the Masters about how and when they go about responding when things go south on the course. Their answers about patience and when to push might be surprising.

Adam Scott has spent more than half his life as a professional golfer. He also has won in three different decades, a testament to his longevity in the game of golf. At Augusta National last week, LKD got to ask how the 45-year-old has been able to stay relevant for so long.

Even when he raced out to a six-shot 36-hole lead at the Masters, Rory McIlroy wasn't firing on all cylinders. He worked hard Friday and Saturday nights to address a few issues with his swing and was aided by a helpful mindset: instead of thinking about what *not* to do, he thought about what *else* he needed to do.

With the help of putting guru Phil Kenyon, LKD explores how players prepare for one of the toughest tasks of the year: putting on Augusta National's greens.

As Strokes Gained has become more mainstream in golf, many players have come to understand that the closer they get to the hole, the fewer strokes it will take them to hole out. And that's still generally true, but PGA Tour data and strategy coach Cory Jez outlines a key scenario where laying up off the tee actually helps.

LKD is back with another episode featuring renowned putting coach Phil Kenyon. Today, LKD and Phil are busting one of putting's biggest myths: that the putter head needs to be rapidly accelerating through the ball. Plus, a drill on how to nail stroke tempo.

Phil Kenyon is the top putting coach in the world. And one thing he notices is amateur players often under-read their putts. He came up with this drill, which he explained to LKD, to help ensure putters both properly estimate the amount of break and, critically, aim accordingly.

The first episode of the PGA Tour's collaboration with NFL Films, called 'Chasing Sunday,' dropped and it is an absolute banger. In it, viewers get to see a detailed back and forth between Akshay Bhatia and his caddie Joe Greiner as they debate what shot to hit with which club. It's a fascinating look into how tour pros make on-course decisions and LKD breaks it all down so non-tour pros can understand.

There has long been a complicated relationship between golfers and lifting weights, often featuring baked in misunderstandings of the how and why surrounding lifting in the first place. In this episode, LKD breaks down who on the tour bench presses the most and why it helps the golf swing to lift weights.

Erik Barzeski, Director of Instruction at Golf Evolution, is the father of a golf pro and an author, but also has the perspective of someone who works with juniors. The ability to switch between wearing those different hats has given him some invaluable insight on how to manage golfers at different abilities and interest levels.

Director of Content at Fried Egg Golf, Kevin Van Valkenburg joins Sam Weinman to discuss his youngest daughter's affinity for and success in golf. Like Sam, KVV has had to find a way to foster his kid's growth past the point of his own skill level on the golf course, which has taught important lessons to both father and daughter.

There are a seemingly infinite number of training aids out there. Where do you start? What training aid helps with which issues? LKD breaks down some of his favorites, how they work and who they're for in Episode 2 of the miniseries 'Training aids I like.'

Sam Weinman's miniseries returns with PGA Professional Mike Thomas, father of two-time major champion Justin Thomas. Mike explains how he just wanted Justin to have a passion for something and was lucky enough that passion turned out to be golf.

There are a seemingly infinite number of training aids out there. Where do you start? What training aid helps with which issues? LKD breaks down some of his favorites, how they work and who they're for in this new miniseries 'Training aids I like.'

Three-time PGA Tour winner and CBS broadcaster Johnson Wagner joins the pod to talk about how his parents shaped his golf experience as a junior player and how he's tried to nurture his son's game.

It might be easier than you think to gain five, 10 or even 15 mph of ball speed. Cordie Walker, founder and chief curator of the Golf Science Lab joins LKD to discuss his biggest jumps in ball speed, how he made it happen and how a regular golfer can do it too.

What's it like raising a kid to play golf when you're a former top-10 player in the world, have won more than a dozen times professionally and played in seven Ryder Cups? Ian Poulter gives us a look into his world, and how he and his son Luke bond over golf.

LKD and Sam Weinman preview the release of a new Golf IQ miniseries: How to be a better golf dad. Golf Digest talked with avid golfers, some of whom are professionals, to gain some insight on how they raised kids who have a good relationship with the game.

Bryson DeChambeau, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and many other strong players off the tee hover the club before they begin their takeaway, but the reasons why range from "relieving tension" to "creating tension." If that sounds confusing, that's because it is! LKD breaks it all down on this week's episode of Golf IQ.

Nick Chertock joins LKD to break down some common issues golfers face when they're close to hitting a milestone but can't quite breakthrough.