With Gary Woodland’s health greatly improved, he can focus on performance.
Gary Woodland’s ball speed hit 197 miles per hour during one range session last year, something he hadn’t produced since joining the PGA Tour in 2009. Making that accomplishment more remarkable is that Woodland turned 41 last May and is less than two years removed from having surgery to extract a lesion on his brain.
“I’m living close to 190 miles per hour now,” says Woodland, the 2019 US Open champion at Pebble Beach. “I’m hitting it as far as I was when I was 25, which is awesome.”
Woodland, who currently ranks in the top 10 on the PGA Tour in clubhead speed (125.8mph) and ball speed (185mph), credits his swing coach, Randy Smith, for reinvigorating his driving game. Smith helped restore the athleticism in Woodland’s swing and, more importantly, his confidence. The two reunited late last season after being apart for 13 years.
“His swing just wasn’t the same,” says Smith, one of Golf Digest’s Legends of Golf Instruction and swing coach to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. “The speed wasn’t the same. The attitude about hitting the ball was very different. He seemed very defensive, especially with the driver.”
The first order of business for Smith was to get Woodland back into a more athletic setup that would allow him to improve the speed and movement he needed without having to think about the swing. First, they widened his base and squared off his back foot [above, first image] because his stance had become too open. They added a little more spine tilt away from the target to help him launch the ball higher. They also strengthened his left-hand grip to where he could at least see one knuckle when he looked down. His grip had become so weak, he couldn’t feel the clubhead as he swung down into the ball.
“By strengthening my grip, my speed went up instantly,” Woodland says. “My dispersion came down, and once that got better, I could swing harder again with more confidence. I don’t have to do as much to square the face. It just allows me to be me.”
Woodland estimates his clubhead speed is up three to four miles per hour from late 2024. His driving distance (313 yards/286.2 metres) is about the same, but that’s because he’s now able to dial it back to provide a little more accuracy, he says. The four-time tour winner also got a boost to his confidence with a T-2 finish behind Min Woo Lee at the Texas Children’s Houston Open in March and a T-11 at May’s Charles Schwab Challenge.
“With Gary, he’s got all of the physical attributes,” Smith says. “The tools are in there. It’s a matter of getting him to feel the weight of the clubhead, trust it and then deliver it with as much speed as possible. Don’t be afraid to let this thing go. Once he was able to do that, golf became fun for him again.”
