brand-name swing coach, acknowledges the im- portance of golf ’s mental aspects, but believes that physical tools are what sepa- rate good players from the best of the best. McLaugh- lin is 5-foot-9-inches, 150 pounds. From Paul Runyon to Luke Donald, plenty of little guys have suc- ceeded on Tour, but size and strength are increasingly important in this era of longer, harder course setups. Says Leadbetter, “You can’t underrate the physical- ity that goes into the golf swing. Balance, hand-eye coordination, the ability to generate speed…a lot of this is God-given. Take Carl Pettersson”—the rotund five-time winner on Tour— “he has tremendous physi- cal gifts that I’m not sure can be achieved through training alone. His coordi- nation, his ability to repeat his swing, the marriage of his power and soft touch; they’re all the hallmarks of a world-class athlete, even if he doesn’t look like one.” Even physical savants
with a background in competitive sports bump up against the glass ceiling. As Leadbetter notes, “From Johnny Bench to Rick Rhoden to Michael Jordan, we’ve seen truly elite ath- letes who devoted countless hours to golf, but they were never able to achieve a stan- dard anywhere near even a struggling Tour player.” Of course, it’s impossible
not to wonder how differ- ent sports history might be if golf had been their first love. Another well-known athlete offers a primer on the challenges that are still in front of McLaughlin: Gabrielle Reece. Around the turn of the century, I spent some time with the
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model-turned volleyball player, who at 32 had taken up golf in a quest to reach the LPGA Tour. She was taller (6'3") and stronger than anyone else on the LPGA, and brought an obsessive work ethic and mental toughness that came with having spent her ath- letic career under a white- hot spotlight. For nearly a year she hit a thousand balls a day under the watchful eye of Gravity Golf founder David Lee, and then Reece spent two and half a half more years embarking on an equally intense training reg- imen with Claude Harmon. Eventually she could paint the sky with majestic shots, but she never developed the touch or course manage- ment skills to consistently break 80, let alone 70, as would be required to make a living on the LPGA.
Carl Pettersson’s coordination, his ability to repeat his swing and the marriage of his power and soft touch are all the hallmarks of a world-class athlete, even if he doesn’t look like one.
Rickie Fowler understands why so few succeed at the highest: “Competitive pressure is a whole different animal. It’s different when you’re out here, when you actually have to go out and post a score and it matters. “
PHOTO: DREAMSTIME
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