Each year, the LPGA plays a team event, the Dow Championship. There, players ditch the usual format of 72 holes of stroke play and partner up to play two rounds of foursomes and two rounds of fourball. It’s a completely different way of competing that has some unintended benefits to players’ games. If you play some team golf, you might feel a similar boost to your own game.
At the Dow in 2026, the team of Gina Kim and Yana Wilson went home with the victory. It was the first LPGA win for both players. Wilson and her caddie saw something in her game during foursomes that she wants to bring to her usual stroke-play tournaments.
“I kind of realised this would help my game a lot when we played alternate shot because I was really trying not to put Gina in a bad spot, really trying not to miss the ball,” Wilson said. “But it really made me think about how this could affect my game. My caddie, Eric, and I were talking about this earlier in the week. He was like, you should really do this more often, hit the middle of the green and hit the fairway, right?”
Wilson, in trying to make sure she left her partner with good shots, saw more control in her long game. She saw it in her putting, too. When playing alternate shot, her speed control suddenly improved because she was putting with the thought in the back of her mind: I don’t want to leave my partner with a long one coming back.
“Reflecting on what we did and how I played during alternate shot, I feel like it was very boring and I feel like I could definitely use more of that in my game,” Wilson said.
When you’re next playing stroke play, imagine you’re playing alternate shot and ask yourself what kind of shot you’d like to leave your partner. You might just find a more controlled gear that’ll keep you out of trouble and eliminate some big numbers.
