Becoming A Complete Player

The short and long of my game.

- Keely Levins

PEOPLE TALK ABOUT my driver a lot. It’s fun to hit it far, and my driver does put me in a lot of good positions on the course. But golf isn’t just about how far you can hit it off the tee. Scoring and winning tournaments happens a lot closer to the green. About three seasons ago, I realized I needed to take my wedge-game practice a lot more seriously. Though my coach, Butch Harmon, will give you an analysis of my driver swing (pages 16-17), I want to talk about my short game. It has made me a complete player.

My World Golf Ranking has mostly been somewhere in the top 10. But I wanted to get better, and one area of the game where I could really improve was wedge play. Honestly, before a few years ago, I never practiced it. I mean, I’d hit wedge shots, but I never had a set practice plan.

The thing I needed to improve a lot was distance control. I’d never structured my practices with wedges in mind. I never really knew how far the ball would go with different swings in that 75-to-150-yard range. Literally, I would just guess. I was still fairly decent, but playing completely by feel.