Lexi Thompson taught me methods to hit a punch shot into the wind

Rising up in South Florida, LPGA star Lexi Thompson discovered a factor or two about enjoying within the wind, and through her latest GOLF cowl shoot, the 29-year-old — who’s set to compete on her seventh U.S. Solheim Cup crew — shared her keys for achievement on the most recent version of Professionals Instructing Joes.

“Normally you simply give attention to extra stable contact when it will get tremendous windy,” Thompson says. “So a little bit slower velocity, extra heart contact.”

Lexi Thompson’s 3 keys to success enjoying into the wind

To execute a decrease, extra penetrating ball flight into the wind, Thompson makes three changes to her setup, together with adjustments to her grip, ball place and swing size.

1. Grip

“I already grip up a little bit bit on the membership, however I do some bit additional once I need to hit a managed shot,” she says. “Normally about half an inch to an inch on the membership for me.”

2. Ball place

“I play a little bit bit additional again in my stance as an alternative of center to extra up entrance,” she says.

3. Swing Size

“I normally take one membership extra and swing about half to 3 quarters, particularly when it’s windy,” she says. “You don’t need to must over-swing or swing full in a membership as a result of it provides spin to the ball and it simply will shoot up. So the bottom line is much less spin, the decrease the ball will play, the extra managed.”

Thompson demonstrated hitting the shot together with her 8-iron, which she mentioned is normally her 150- to 155-yard membership.

One factor to recollect: it’s okay to membership up within the wind. What you don’t need to do is attempt to hit the ball tougher. Thompson suggests utilizing a pleasant, even tempo with a shorter-than-normal swing. Additionally: take note of the wind route. On our blustery day at Panther Nationwide, Thompson made positive to provide herself a 10-yard aiming cushion on her goal to account for motion from the wind.

On my try to include Thompson’s suggestions, executing the shot felt pure. Transferring the ball barely again in my stance and taking a three-quarter swing helped the ball keep decrease, with a extra penetrating ball flight than regular, and no distance loss. I used to be delighted with the consequence after only one swing.

Lexi Thompson, grasp teacher. We’ll add that to her prolonged record of accomplishments.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of feminine varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everybody on the masthead. She will be able to out-hustle them within the workplace, too, the place she’s primarily accountable for producing each print and on-line options, and overseeing main particular initiatives, equivalent to GOLF’s inaugural Type Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview collection, “A Spherical With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in each within the journal and in video type on GOLF.com.