Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner discuss the rigorous speed training that transformed Xander Schauffele’s swing and led to his 2024 PGA Championship victory, the first major title of his career. #GolfChannel #GolfChannelPodcast #XanderSchauffele
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Xander Schauffele’s speed training led to 2024 PGA Championship victory | Golf Channel Podcast
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one other thing Rex as it related to Xander schof was Jordan Speed talked to reporters on Wednesday who said obviously he was not surprised at all that sander shle went on to win a major championship his record speaks for itself six top five finishes major championships previously 12 top 10 finishes but one thing rex that spe is is probably spe only can do he pointed out how everyone on tour goes and works out before the round like that’s become the new customary thing you go and you get loose somewhat famously now that is exactly what Scotty sheffler was doing last Friday three or four hours early before his tea time when he got stopped by police we’ll get into that in a second but he noticed that Xander was working out on the back end where Thursday Friday Saturday after a five hour five and a half hour round typically in the heat it’s very slow he plays Great Golf he’s the one who’s going in and doing the speed training after the round and speed said that has kind of been one very small subtle thing that he’s noticed that kind of has gone along with Xander’s transformation over the past five or six months what do you think in hindsight now was the biggest key to unlocking Xander’s greatness uh and to be clear workout after the round or even before the round is it’s relative so for you and I they are probably look like very strenuous workouts for professional athletes it’s probably on the light side of what they normally do when they’re home to be clear uh I what stood out to me is is per quote per spe quote heavy workout with a goal in mind that he would gain a slight Advantage heavy workout and he did so this goes to the idea and I think I talked about this on Friday’s live from with Todd Lewis uh he picked up 10 m hour of spe of swing speed U golf ball speed um from last year to this year that’s no little jump for a professional now you and I could probably do that with a little bit of training and a little bit of fitting and whatever the case may be thank you very much tyus for all you do for us however for a for a professional that’s a huge leap I mean that’s Monumental to pick up 10 miles an hour and when I talk to KO about it it’s like well he can Cruise now at about 188 ball speed and he goes he can get to 190 192 when he has to and I I think though it’s a combination of things one the way KO described it is the swing is just more efficient now so I think that that’s part of it but the other side of this and to your point is he has gotten stronger and it’s a decision that these players have made I I think Scotty Sheffer probably went down a very similar route you would you could probably speak did this better having covered him in college and the transition he has made to a pro you’ve said numerous times that you didn’t see this coming you thought he was going to be a really good PGA Tour player but not what he’s become and I think in both these cases it’s a very Vivid example of what players can do if they decide to go down the road of just not getting stronger but doing it in a smart way do the speed training we know we’ve all heard the Matt Fitzpatrick’s story that he went from very much a middle of the road player when it came to driving distance to someone that was in the upper third on the PGA tour and and I don’t think that was a coincidence that as soon as he did that he won a major championship the modern game is pretty clear about what the one thing you absolutely have to do well to be able to sustain longterm sort of that level uh to stay in that top third is you have to hit a long ways and then you sort of go from there and you have to go with your wedges and go with your short game whatever the case may be but it starts with a long game that it you’re not gonna be out driving Bryson D Shambo but if you look at where Xander is now he’s very clearly in that upper third I I don’t think that can be dismissed and it’s been a very conscious effort yeah I think you absolutely nailed that when when Chris KO and Xander shle first began working together last fall the centerpiece of their entire project was how do we become a better longer driver of the golf ball to hear Como tell it that was sort of the the centerpiece from which they were working that if you look at the world rankings if you look at the players who are most consistently in major contention you have to hit the ball longer to do that they needed to increase the ball speed and the swing speed it’s a it’s a very minute change and I think this this goes to to show just how small the margins are on the PJ tour and particularly the top levels in the major championships where if they’re talking about a five M hour increase in ball speed that’s probably a shot per round where you can either get more aggressive on a dog leg you can carry a bunker you can fly it over a tree you can take one less Club into a green to stop the ball closer to the pin like these are very very minute changes and when you look at Xander Schley he didn’t go into sort of the cartoonish elements of speed training he wasn’t like Bryon the Shambo who would be on the tournament practice area at Augusta National like swinging as hard as he as hard as he possibly can remember back in 2020 2021 like VJ Singh was staying next to Bryson he was literally laughing seeing what Bryson was doing through was going through when you talk about these workouts at spe talk about these quote unquote heavy workouts where where Xander is so heavily dedicated to speed training he’s not all of a sudden looking like Brooks kka you know squeezing into a medium shirt he looks by all accounts the exact same as he did a year ago but he’s just a little bit more explosive he has those fast switch M mus muscle fibers that have allowed him now to swing uh the golf club faster and thus hit it further I found that very interesting but I also love that speed picked up on that uh while looking at Xander Cha’s notable rise in the world how about the update sorry go ahead no I I think other players are going to do that I mean let Tiger Woods being the example here that if you played during that era when Tiger Woods was dominant everyone was watching you in the world but particularly every Tour player was watching you because they were trying to figure out what whatever it is Tiger Woods is doing that seems like a good Avenue to go down considering how he performed how he played I think Xander and Scotty to a certain example it is is the exact same of that just to quantify this so last year Xander chafl was 34th on on tour in ball speed 179 mile mile per hour average and the to be clear these numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt that these are not the radar data on tour is not as scientific or perfect as they would like it to be however this year he’s 10th on tour with 183 mph ball speed that’s a huge jump for a player of that caliber and keep in mind I think there was a a boost with speed training particularly in 2021 right after Bryson Shambo did what he did at Wing foot looked like this was going to be the future uh several players whether it’s Justin Thomas Jordan Speed Tony fee now Roy marroy even admitted to chasing speed and chasing distance in the aftermath of Bryson doing what he did at Wingfoot it is very difficult to chase speed while not losing your week- toe consistency as well as the other aspects of your game Xander shle short game and putting are as good as he’ been throughout his entire career his his approach play has actually gotten a little bit better it’s worth sort of appreciating Xander schley’s greatness even at a at a 30,000 foot view because it’s very easy to get sidetracked and Jordan’s be uh was one of those who chased it and ultimately came up a little bit fruitless
