Join us LIVE for a close up of the action brought to you by T-Mobile, featuring golfs biggest names, at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club.
Subscribe now: https://bit.ly/PGAChampionshipYT
Contested each May, the PGA Championship is the second major championship in golf’s annual rotation, and perennially features the strongest field in the men’s game based on the Official World Golf Rankings. Known for dramatic finishes and notable champions, the Wanamaker Trophy—which has been awarded to the winner since 1916—is inscribed with names such as Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player.
The 2025 PGA Championship is set to take place between 8-11 May at Quail Hollow Club. The reigning champion is Xander Schauffele.
Website: https://pgachampionship.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pgachampionship
X: https://twitter.com/pgachampionship
Instagram: https://instagram.com/pgachampionship/
Good afternoon everyone. I am Keith Stewart, your host for this afternoon’s T-Mobile Connections live from the T 5G range here at beautiful Quail Hollow Club just outside Charlotte. And I’m with PJ Professional Ryan Adams. And right in our sights in front of us, we have now in his seventh start of the PGA Championship, Mr. Michael Block. Ryan, good afternoon. Good afternoon, Keith. How are you enjoying this golf swing from Mr. Block? Oh, man. You know, as a fellow PGA of America golf professional, it’s always great to see these guys competing on the big stage. And u Michael Black obviously has had just a amazing run the last couple years with the T15 at Oak Hill and then qualifying again this year. um than at Bajala last year. So, we’re just kind of uh observing a few things from his swing. He te’s off here in a little bit. Um and just looks like at the moment trying to just kind of dial in some longer irons. Uh this is a longer golf course, a little softer. So, um finding the fairway and trying to get trying to get a few shots out there where he can get some good bird good birdie opportunities. I think he’s going to be paramount for him today in round one. You know what? There’s a couple things to unpack there real quickly. 12:41 p.m. this afternoon, off the first hole, he goes off with Eric Vanroyan and Quail Hollow member McKenzie Hughes. There might be a little added advantage there, but we know about the scorecard. Par 71, 7600 yds plus playing just under today. The official yardage 7596. And right now, he’s hitting that hybrid. and he’s going to need some long irons on, you know, three of those par threes playing over 200 yards. You know, coming into the week, a lot of big part of the preview was length and not only just length off the tea, but length with your long irons. What do you see in his golf swing that he’s working on that makes sense for, you know, anyone watching and listening at home that they can learn from? Like one or two quick keys? Yeah, I think you know the great thing about Michael Block swing for those watching is that it’s all about tempo and finding the center of the club face. And I think that’s what a lot of golfers at home tend to struggle with is they tend to take it the club back too fast trying to rush all the way down. They don’t find the center of the club face and it’s a slice, it’s a hook, it’s a top, it’s a chunky shot. But when we watch Michael Block swing, he takes it back very nicely and then transition through to find the center of the club face with a smooth tempo. So, if there’s anything that I think people could learn from watching Michael block today, it’s just he doesn’t swing outside himself. And I know that’s a big thing that him and his um son are focusing on this week is just playing what he calls blocky golf. You know, I’m just I’m going to the tea. I’m hitting the T-OT. I’m finding the fairway. I’m finding the green. I’m hopefully making a birdie. So I think and that’s a good perspective to have you know not only here at the PGA Championship but for anyone playing at home is you just got to play within yourself like even if someone’s hitting the ball which he might find today 20 or 30 yards past him he’s just going to play his game and that’s what he’s going to stick to. So that’s a I would say those are the two main takeaways that I’m seeing from his swing. You know I I admire how he handled the pressure back in 2023 at Oakhill. It seemed very much what you were touching upon there. finish your swing, stay in the moment, one shot at a time. And you can see here in his range routine that he’s picking out a specific target, and he’s hitting through the ball. And you know, let’s be honest for a second, Michael Block, he he’s not a 20some year old here, right? He’s one of the older golfers in the field, and yet he’s still putting it out there on this T5G range pretty healthily with what looks like a fairway wood there. And he knows he’s going to need that club today. And it’s interesting touch upon how much he moves his shoulders and his upper body and the way he winds up even as one of the older players in the field. I I think that a lot of times people they worry so much about the club and their arms and what they’re doing, but he really he’s really using his body here. And I like the way that he’s shaping those shots um and not really, you know, you said I love that point, don’t swing outside yourself. Well, when you turn, you really can’t turn outside yourself. you could swing with your hands outside yourself. Talk about his massive shoulder turn that really man he is just striping that right now. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s, you know, that’s what I love about his swing is he swings within his limits, but he knows where to find the power too, right? Like a lot of times golfers tend to use too much arms, too much wrists and hands to try to just figure out a way figure out a way to maybe come back to impact and find some speed. But Black really just turns back, back faces the target, and then he fires those lower that lower body through and the hips through, and then he’s center of the club face all the time. So, you know, as we’re watching him here with the fairway wood, which he’s probably going to hit, I would assume a few times today, um, just with the length of the golf course, but you can also see his shot is a little bit on the higher side. So, I think now he’s trying to find a little bit of a higher and a softer shot shape, but also it’s got some distance. So, going back to the point of how to use your body is we’ll watch here is when he turns back, he tries to get that shoulder underneath or his chin underneath his shoulder with his back facing the target. And then it’s all a matter of just letting that lower body rip through and find the center of the club face. So, let’s watch one here. I absolutely love the way he gets his back to the target at the top of his back swing. That is really coiled up there, creating a ton of torque. And you know, he’s going to need that today. And we’ve seen already with the conditions this week being a little bit on the softer side that there’s no doubt that he’s going to need maximum carry distance out there. There’s not going to be a lot of roll. We’ve already talked about a lot of the, you know, there’s 10 plus approach shots that he’s going to face today over 200 yards in order to hit that ball pin high. And we’ve seen some bounce in the greens, too. Subair systems drying them out. I mean, just an absolutely killer championship test right now. He’s going to need to control that trajectory and hit that ball high. Is there something about what he’s doing? Well, here comes the driver. But was there something what he was doing in those last couple of swings that you noticed that allow him to hit the ball a little higher? We talked about the turn. We talked about the finish. Is there something that he’s doing either in his setup or in his back swing that’s getting him to launch it? Uh I would say, you know, he’s probably um trying to hit a little bit more of a left to right shot. And a left to right shot tends to float a little bit higher in there. You’re trying to land it high and soft. Start a little bit left to your target and just let it tear drop down to the right. So I can I think from from our angle it looks like he’s aiming a little bit to the left and then just try and hit a little bit of a cut. You can see that uh there’s a little bit of a softer finish there when he comes through and he’s not trying to rip through with his hands and release the club. That would kind of uh be more of a draw type of feel if you wanted to hit a draw. And he’s actually more coming more through just trying to square up at impact and then also trying to just release high over that shoulder and play a little almost like it’s really not too much of a fade, but it’s just really uh straight and high. So, one other thing, Keith, that I was thinking about while we’re watching block here is just the amount of experience he has the last couple years in big time events. He’s made, you know, obviously the the T15 finish at Oakill. He’s played in multiple tour events. Um I I have to think that he’s going to lean on that experience throughout the first two rounds here at Coil Hollow and really try to dig deep and make the cut because for these club uh PJ of America golf professionals, that’s really the goal number one is to find the weekend and and and try and play along some of the best play alongside of some of the best players in the world. So, it’s interesting that you went there and and I want to touch on a couple things there that I observe which is look at the economy of energy that he is kind of trying to preserve cuz he knows it’s going to be a long hot afternoon out here in the Carolina sun. You know, people can learn from this at home. They get ready for their rounds at home and they’re just whailing on the golf ball one after another like a machine gun. And the fact of the matter is is that he hits a shot, he picks a target, right? Makes a swing, then he takes a break, right? It’s warm down here, folks, and he puts a really good swing on it, then he’ll step away and he’ll, you know, conserve some energy. He’ll take a deep breath. You know, I we don’t see that enough on the range as PGA professionals where people are actually taking enough time between each swing to try to like maybe preserve a little bit of energy. I mean, he’s going to have a long afternoon with the other two guys out there in the hot sun on these greens which are only going to get faster and more firm. He’s really got to mentally and physically conserve some energy. And that’s what I see right now out of him. And I tell you what, this driver right now, Ryan, I mean, stripe show. I mean, look at that one right there. Yep. Yeah. No, and it he’s just right down the middle. Really no curve left or right. And I will say too, um, that point that you brought up about the the humidity, it kind of makes me think of Tiger Woods actually where he actually always would prefer to be a little hot and humid because it is easier on his body. So, if you think about block a little bit of a veteran, you know, out here at the PJ Championship, his seventh appearance, he’s been here before, but I feel like the humidity, you know, it’s hard to tell if it’ll take it out of him a little bit, but at least it’ll keep him nice and loose and doesn’t have to worry about the cold morning that you might face uh at other places, too. elves and you know what we’ve been out here for a while with him and he’s definitely there’s a routine involved and I think a lot of times when people do warm up for their rounds that they don’t have a routine and even as we look towards different people on the range it right now we’re jumping over to Cam Davis you know he is in the midst of hitting drivers as well but everyone that’s out here warming up for their 1 p.m. afternoon tea times in that range. They have all had such a very, you know, like a very specific routine. And when you warm up, Ryan, like what are one of the things that you try to do that makes your routine unique to you? Right. I actually have a pretty similar routine to Cam Davis where I take a few practice swings just left of the golf ball and then step behind it and just try to see my shot, visualize my shot because that’s the most important thing once you’re over the ball is you can’t be thinking about, oh, I got to get more wrist hinge here or I got to tweak my lower body to make it work. You’re just trying to visualize what type of shot I’m about to hit. And he just hit a nice little uh little fade, little bit lower of a flight, but plenty of distance. and he’s one of the longer players on tour. So, yeah, I think, you know, as we’re watching Cam Davis here, uh, get warmed up. You can see that right now on the range, he’s trying to find some the right fields, but then he just slowly gets into longer practice swings. Steps behind the ball. I’m going to envision this little fade that I just hit 30 seconds ago, cuz that’s the shot that I’m working with today. I’m not going to try to force a draw. I’m not going to try to force a high ball or a low ball. playing the fade, little 5yard fade, and that’s where we’re going with today. Now, one of the things I notice out here on this T5G range is all these beautiful flags, you know, the white and the pink are popping like this, the I guess magenta, right? Reason we see him so much though is that there’s a little breeze out here this afternoon, right? So, maybe he’s trying to control the trajectory of that driver uh because of there’s going to be a little bit of a crosswind on some of the holes or downwind or into the wind, right? So, is there anything you saw about what he was doing in particular with the driver or what he’s going to do right now with what looks to be about a mid iron um in order to control trajectory? Yeah, I think you know on his flights there with the drivers, it wasn’t like super high or anything. So, I think when you’re thinking about when there’s a little bit of a breeze out on the golf course, finding a lower ball flight will help you get more roll and avoid the ball getting caught up in the wind and spinning backwards too much and losing distance. But I think here what we’re watching is really cool is when you’re out on the range before a round. A big thing that I recommend is playing a golf hole where you hit a T-OT and then the next shot is an iron shot. And then if it’s a par five, maybe it’s a wedge and playing through the holes. So you might have just envisioned, well, I’m on the first hole. I’m hit a little bit of a fade. And now I’m in the middle of the fairway and I’m gonna hit this far of a shot with my X iron, right? And he’s just playing through the golf ball. Because when you’re this close to your tea time, it’s not time to just bang balls and try to figure out what’s wrong with my swing. It’s time to actually go play golf, right? So, good lesson right here. It is warm this afternoon. Make sure everyone hydrates, especially before you hit the first tea. Um, I think maybe he just shook the water bottle to make sure there was plenty in there for when he heads out. Uh, we’re moving down the range here. You know, T-Mobile, you got to be mobile. We got to find our next We got to find our next candidate with which to watch. A lot of the afternoon groups are now coming out. I mean, we have a blockbuster afternoon here at 107th PGA Championship. I mean, for me, um, I’m going to give you a couple names, right? Let’s have some fun here for a second. We’ve got Justin Thomas, right? He’s leading a group with Colin Morawa. you know, two of those guys, PGA, former PGA champions. They’re with Dustin Johnson. Um, following them, you’ve got Jordan Speed going for the career grand slam. He’s along with Ludvig Oberg and Patrick Reed. Patrick Reed third at the Masters. Um, a really nice blending there of some short game and then some power off the tea with Oberg. And then a little later, you’ve got the big man Bryson Dshambo with Victor Havland and US Open champion Gary Woodland. Havland is a guy that I’ve had my eye on because of how good he’s been in the PGA Championship. Any of those names um inspire you a little bit this afternoon? Like a guy that you know might be appointment viewing for you to go out and walk walk the grounds with? Yeah, I mean the great part about the PGA Championship is that the strongest it’s one of the strongest field in golf. And I think you know we’re we’re looking over at Max here warming up and just getting ready for his tea time. Um, I think a lot of the names are great, but a lot of them all have talent. And any time at any given tournament, they can pop off and shoot a low score in the 60s. And I think, you know, you think about Max, he maybe isn’t had the best year um that he’s looked that he’s had in a while, but you know what? It’s a new week. It’s a major championship and he’s ready. He’s ready to go. And so I think he’s as motivated as as anyone on this driving range at Quail Quail Hollow to really figure out, you know, how can I go out and win a WMaker trophy and join the guys like Colin and um a couple quick uh PGA points to follow up on that. You Max definitely a fan favorite here at the PGA Championship and out there on ESPN’s coverage, but he’s playing with Lucas Glover and Walking Neman 12:52 p.m. off number one. So, he’s just starting his warm up and you know, you can see he starts with the shorter clubs. And when when you warm up, Ryan, and as a PGA coach, what do you recommend everyone start with? Do they do we just tee it high and let it fly? And or do you like what Max is doing here? And a majority of these players, they start with the shorter clubs with some shorter targets and they build up. Well, I think one of the great things about this T5G range is there’s ton tons of technology around the around the facility and it’s easy to see how far he’s hitting each club. And I think when you’re out on the range yourself, you that’s actually the thing that I focus on the most versus you can start with any club, whatever is most comfortable for you, but you want to get your distances dialed in. I usually start with a 60° and just try to hit. we see these white and pink flags here in front of us um or in front of Max. And I think that’s what I usually start with is I’m trying to dial in the distance and you can see that with Homa here who’s a T-Mobile ambassador and he’s trying to figure out like how far is this club going today and how far am I going to be able to hit this into the wind with the wind or what’s the trajectory that I need to hit. So just trying to dial in those distances, you know, for those golfers at home if you’re trying to figure out like how what do I start with? Start with something comfortable and that’s the most important part. You know, it’s interesting the the fact that he’s out here with a trackman. You know, a lot of our um viewers right now, they don’t necessarily have a Trackman at home with which to warm up and practice. And one of the numbers that’s over there on the big T5G range scoreboard uh visually is you talk about Apex, right? And that’s something that we all could do. And it’s it’s interesting to me how you look at how high he’s hitting it. And you could look at how high you’re hitting it at home, right? And try to match those heights cuz then you know that the strike would be very similar. Do you feel the same way when you warm up? Do do you look at apex height? You know, not necessarily. I’m more of a field golfer. And I I just want to say one thing is to make sure that we’re uh we’re recognized and we want to thank our friends from T-Mobile for bringing us this live show from the super high tech T5G range. It’s a really great viewing experience for the fans here and for the players too to see, you know, where their balls are going. So, um, thinking about back to to Max here as he’s warming up with his wedges. Um, the most important thing is am I getting the ball close to the hole? And I think he’s trying to figure out like is that going to come with the low flight? Is that going to come with the high flight? You know, at Quail Hall, you think about the soft greens that are out there potentially that might be drying out now more a little bit with the wind. So maybe that’s why he’s trying to do a little bit of a lower flight. Come in there with a little bit of check. Um but regardless, I think you got to do what’s most comfortable for you. And when we’re watching Max here and he’s just working on a little bit of tempo, a little bit of a saw off finish and just trying to figure out is this ball going this distance and do I need to maybe do a full swing or do I need to cut off the the swing even more and try to hit a little bit lower. So yeah, that’s what I would say for that. We are live. My name is Keith Stewart. I’m hosting you here on the T-Mobile Connections along with PJ professional Ryan Adams. And we’re taking a live look in Max home as he prepares for his afternoon tea time alongside Lucas Glover and Wae Neman. Now, one of the things that we know about Max is that he’s been working very diligently on his game. Do you think that there’s a possibility right now as we watch him, how deliberate he is with his arm delivery and hitting these wedges that, you know, he’s also has a couple quick thoughts about what he’s been working on? He’s trying to, you know, manufacture those feels. Or do you think that at this point in his routine, he’s just getting ready to roll? Yeah, I was out here yesterday watching Max and he was, you know, grinding over a few different things, just trying to figure out, you know, what’s going to be working for me this weekend. So, I think at this point, Keith, he’s he’s got those feels down and he’s just trying to lock in on some targets. And I think, you know, a little bit of a higher ball flight there. So, now he’s trying to probably work on a little bit longer of a club. But the thing that I love about Max’s swing is it’s a lot like Michael Blocks where it’s a it’s just very fluid. There’s no rush to it. It’s very smooth. But you can see here he stands behind the ball and he’s dialing in on a flag out there and it’s not leaving his sight. It’s like this is I’m out on the golf course and I’m trying to knock the flag down is probably what he’s feeling right now. So I would say he’s got the feels down after all the prep work from, you know, a little bit on Monday, probably Tuesday, and then a lot yesterday. Now it’s time to uh to dial in even more. You know what I I’m absolutely loving not just this range and all that’s going on out here, the number of targets, the things the items you’ve mentioned, but as we lock in on Max here, the control he has over the delivery of the club. I feel like so many amateurs, they just kind of yank that handle down from the top, right? And as such, then they get offline. They don’t get centerness of contact. We could learn so much from how he is delivering this golf club with in such a rhythmic fashion. And you know, for a lot of people that might be foreign or new, but I strongly suggest as a PJ professional myself and coach, that when the next time you go on the range, especially when you first start to warm up, move your arm slower than you’re used to, concentrate wholly on centerness of contact and your target, as Ryan mentioned. And I think that you’ll you’ll really start to understand how that club works with leverage and gravity and oh man, the shots he’s hitting right now. And he’s going to need him today because, you know, this is a this is a true test of championship golf. And we saw it in 2017 when it was a lot firmer and faster and the arid conditions of August. But I tell you what, um, all of that water we’ve seen, 5 in of rain over the last 5 days, but the championship team led by Carrie Heg has this place absolutely perfect. The water’s coming out of the ground. It’s humid here. That ball is going to be flying. So, another thing to pay attention to is when you go to a target, he obviously has a specific club there. Pay attention to how far you’re hitting it that day. Our body always changes. Is there anything you do on the range, Ryan, or that you notice he’s doing that, you know, helps him evaluate maybe without the Track, man, how far he’s hitting it and then comparing that to maybe his normal game? Yeah, that’s a great point. I think that yeah, as we’re watching him, he seems like he’s working up the bag a little bit further here. I think the most important thing as you go through your practice uh session on on a range and you’re just slowly kind of trying to build that momentum and build that feel all the way up to the longer clubs. It’s not so much the takeaway or the am I getting my hands in the right place. It’s more about using, we talked about this a little bit with Michael Block, is using those big muscles and the upper body, your shoulders, your chest, turning back, and then using the lower body and your hips and your your glutes, and trying to really fire through. So, I think you when you watch Max’s swing, he’s not really I’m not really focused on my wrist hinge or I’m not really focused on making sure the club’s in a a perfect place on the back swing. I’m focused about making a good smooth tempo on my way back, making a big nice full body turn and then I’m firing my lower body through. And I think the more you can simplify the delivery of a club to the ball, the easier golf gets for sure. So once again, we saw right there cuz we have a live look in right here on the T5G range for T-Mobile Connections this afternoon. PJ professional and coach Ryan Adams alongside Keith Stewart. And uh we saw it again just like with Michael Block we pointed out, right? Take a break. It’s hot out here today. He took a break. Hydrate. You drink drink a little water. Now, hey, you may be in perfect conditions at home in San Diego or maybe up north where the golf season’s just getting started and it’s a beautiful day in May. All we’re saying is that you’re going to go out, you’re going to walk, you might ride, but you’re still going to be walking to and from the cart. You’re going to have to expend some energy. There’s going to be fatigue. And in doing so, when you’re on the range, you know, set a pace for yourself, you know, learn a cadence and and get some, you know, take a break. It doesn’t always have to be water if it’s not hot where you are. It could be just just take a break after five swings. You know, manage your time appropriately. You know, I think about that all the time on the range. A lot of people, they’ll just hit ball after ball after ball. And when you watch these guys out here on the T5G range, you see them, they have a they have an actual plan as to what they’re doing. Hit five shots, take a break. you know, there it’s there’s no randomness to what’s going on. And you see it correct you see it wholeheartedly with with Max. And now we’re going to move over to Adam Scott. That’s right. And you know, I think each of these players has a different routine that they follow. And I think something that you’re going to see here with Adam Scott is the first thing he did, I’m setting down an alignment stick. So, when you’re at the at the range at home warming up, if it even it’s just a practice, you’re not playing it that day or if it’s before a round, alignment sticks are easy to go find. You can find them anywhere at your at your local golf shop or your uh big box store. Set it down and where am I aiming today? And just have that alignment stick allows you to really see or really remind yourself, am I aiming in the right place? Am I aiming at my target? And you can actually get a better sense of of where the ball is going because you’re aimed right, right? Because you have an alignment stick down. So, looks like Adam’s trying to get a little dialed in here with with the Trackman. But, uh, just thinking about his golf swing and his warm-up, he’s probably going to do a little bit of the similar um routine as Max. You know, start from the lower clubs and try to get the feels down, good tempo, start out hitting to the few targets right in front of us here that are 20, 30, 40 yards. And then he’s one of those guys that has always had great fundamentals. And I think while while we watch him, it’s just that I’m I’m actually really psyched to watch him because he’s one of those swings that I think golfers can learn a lot lot from. Not so much like technical things, but more just the basics and the fundamentals. Well, you know what? as we wait for him to set up his technology, the one thing that comes to mind if you just if we were somewhere having a conversation, not here on this amazing technologically advanced range thanks to T-Mobile, right? Um, you say Adam Scott and I say balance, right? So, what are some keys that the viewers as we wait for Adam to start to warm up here, what are some of the keys that you use as a PGA coach when it comes to maintaining balance in your golf swing? Right. So, I think the first thing you notice here is like his weight in his swing is right in the balls of his feet, like right in the middle of his feet. And I feel like if you sometimes amateurs get a little too far on their toes or they drop back when they sit back on their heels a little bit. And it’s hard to get back to impact at a at a square position if you’re, you know, not in the center of your stance. So, one thing you’ll notice with Adam is he just every time it’s just dialed in on making sure my posture is good. I’m standing not too upright, not too hunched over, but just a comfortable enough position almost like he’s a a shorts stop. Um or, you know, in a good position like he’s about to go play defense. You know, NBA Finals or the NBA playoffs is going on right now. You think about that. Um and he’s just he’s in a good athletic position to where he can just make a nice move on the golf ball. And I think that’s what I really appreciate about his swing is honestly, Keith, it hasn’t changed a whole lot since he got out on tour. And I think, you know, you could say like that’s probably a good thing because it makes him makes him a lot more uh consistent. His tempo is good and it’s a lot easier to deliver the golf ball when you got good fundamentals to help you out. And by the way, folks, he has 14 wins, so he knows a little thing or two about playing good golf. Well, guess what? You know who else knows a little bit about playing good golf? And that are his playing partners. Adam’s going off first tem this afternoon. from Quail Hollow Club. He’ll be joined with Terrell Hatton and Will Zalator. Um, two other pretty good ball strikers. So, you know, at 103, that would be one group that I want to that I’d want to walk along with if I want to learn a thing or two about how to stripe it off the tea, hit some long irons, and and certainly try to score in and around these green complexes, which down here at the Quail Hollow Club are absolutely impeccable. I mean, the shape of this golf course um is only rivaled by that of this this practice area. It’s unbelievable. Now, as Adam starts doing this, and you talk about an athletic stance and posture from the start, uh, the folks that are watching at home, they can see this right down the line here. Should we be copying Adam’s look or, you know, do you recommend that someone go see a PGA coach and then try to develop their own correct posture? But are there a couple principles maybe you could pass along if someone’s at home and they want to stand up in front of the TV and try to test some things out here to develop their own posture, not necessarily Adam’s? Yeah. Yeah. Well, the point about going to see a PGA of America Golf Professional, a PGA coach is I couldn’t recommend that enough. They they’re the ones who can put you on film, put you on their software that they have and actually see what your stance looks like, what your posture looks like, and you can actually know what am I doing wrong and what do I need to do right? But I think when you think about Adam Scott, like what I think about when I want to have good posture is I stand up straight. I put my hand into my hips. I bend over and then bend my knees just slightly just so there’s a little bit of flex. Not too much flex because then you’ll get like I was saying earlier into the back backs of your feet. You don’t want not enough flex because then you’ll get on your toes. So if you just kind of hands into your hips, do a slight little knee bend. And you can see that with Adam. He’s not like super flex, but he’s just enough where he can make a good move back and a good move through. I think, you know, if you can have those fundamentals set up where you got good posture, you know, we talk a lot about posture and stance and balance, but grip too, right? Like a comfortable grip and a PGA coach can help you out with that because everyone’s grip is unique to their golf swing. Adam Scott’s grip is different from Keith’s and Keith’s is different from mine. So, we want to make sure that you’re comfortable because that’s your only connection to the golf club, too, is the grip. So once you got your grip down, you got your posture down, you got your balance down, then you can be confident enough to go and be like, “Okay, I got everything set up. There shouldn’t be really much more I need to do to deliver the golf or deliver the club in a square position back to the golf ball.” So he’s doing that like repeatedly right now. So So we’re not on camera here. We are right behind Adam Scott looking down the line and myself, Keith Stewart, PGA professional, alongside Ryan Adams, another PGA coach. And folks, if you’re at home and you find any of this addictive like we do and you’re standing up trying to mimic what Adam is doing because he’s had one of the most pictures swings on the PGA Tour for about 25 years, you’re not the only one. I’m standing next to Ryan and as he was going through the whole description, I was just loving this as a golf geek myself. I I was loving watching Ryan get into his own posture to try to explain it. Right. So, if you are on the couch or in your office right now at home, uh maybe not at work if you’re in a common place. But, uh we fully recommend that you get up and you test out some of these things, maybe go grab a club, um grip down on it so you don’t take any put any holes in the ceiling. But, I mean, these guys are inspiring right now with what they’re doing and warming up. And I can’t wait to walk with them for the the rest of the day and and continue to cover the golf. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. And we’re just kind of moving a little bit around here on the range, folks. It’s it’s an afternoon at Quail Hollow. It’s a warm one. It’s humid, but we’re going to stop here um at Colin Mawa, who’s a former PGA champion um and warming up here on the left side of the of the TE 5G range. And uh Keith, one of the things that I’ve always loved about Morawa’s Morawa swing is that he he commits to that left to right cut. And I think, you know, he’s tried to draw from time to time. It works sometimes, but him and his PGA coach, uh, Dr. Rick Cessen House, who’s right behind him there in the in the blue hat, they are committed to making sure that that swing stays dialed in and that he’s confident in his abilities to pull that cut off. No matter what kind of conditions he’s facing, if it’s a little windier, if it’s, you know, a hot and humid day, the cut is going to stay the same no matter where he’s at. So yeah, there’s there’s no doubt about that. And I think the big part of that has to do with PGA coach Rick Sessing House that works with him, he also works on the mental side of the game with Colin. So not only is are are they working on the physical aspects of the full swing, but they are also working on the mental aspects as well. And I think one of the things that Rick loves to preach is the idea that swing your swing. And I know that sounds kind of hokey and very generic, but the point being is that what you touched upon and what I want to expand upon is that so many times people on the range, they have a left to right ball flight or they have a right to left ball flight, then they go out on the golf course and they try to change it. Well, you are who you are when you’re hitting it, especially when you’re warming up. And it’s very interesting to watch these guys when they do warm up, not only their routines, the timing of all of it, but also how much they are dedicated to their ball flight and their swings themselves. Now, Colin has a very deliberate back swing. Right now, let’s say at home, I’m somebody that likes to yoke the club away really quickly or whatever. Would you recommend as a PGA coach to go ahead and try to mimic Collins back swing? Like, how do you think the effects of that would play out? Yeah, I think you know anytime you can replicate a tour player’s motions and his and his uh moves is is a good thing, but also remember that you don’t need to do that because Colin’s swing fits Colin’s swing and and Ryan’s swing swing fits Ryan’s swing and Keith’s swing fits Keith’s swing. So, there are things what we try to do um as PGA coaches is especially at stages like the PGA Championship is here’s what you’re seeing on TV and here’s what you can use. You don’t have to copy every move of Colin’s swing, but here are some things that you can watch and then apply to your own golf swing. That can help you. And so, one of the things that I think is most is the the thing you can copy the most from Colin is this solid takeaway on the back swing. I mean, he gets the club in a position um at the top that, you know, obviously it it’s it plays for his fade, but when you look at like the first, you know, first takeaway move of his of his back swing, that club head is outside of his hands and he’s not getting behind himself and he’s not getting stuck, a lot of times amateurs at home or golfers at home will whip the club inside and be stuck and they have to reroute it at the top and then they’re either stuck in a position where they have to use their hands to match up at impact or they hit a slice or or a hook and they pull through. So, I think when we’re watching Colin here, focusing on his takeaway and keeping that takeaway nice and wide and having to have a nice wide arc on the way back and keeping your hands tucked and keeping that club head outside of your hand so that when you go back, you’re in a good position at the top and trying to figure out is this where I want to be? is this is this a good impact position or this is this a good position that can lead to good impact and I think if we’re watching Colin today we’re watching his takeaway and I think a lot of people can learn from that. So you know I think back to Harding Park and everyone always remembers the driver and hitting it on the green but what it really comes down to is Colin as a iron player. Is there something that he’s doing right now in your mind that you know sets him apart as an iron player? Yeah. And we’re just moving around here, folks, uh to Hideki Matsyama, who we’ll be talking about next. But just doing a live show, finishing on Colin for a little bit. I think the best part about his his swing is that he never he commits to it 100% too. And I think that anytime that you know, we talked about the takeaway, but think about when you’re watching Colin today, you’ll see that he finishes completely on each swing, too. And a lot of times people a lot of times people quit on their swing and they they and they don’t get through impact very well. So it’s important to remember like takeaway is good, but we’re always finishing our swing too as we uh watch Hideki warm up here now on the T5G range. I’m Keith Stewart, PGA professional host here for T-Mobile Connections on the T5G range alongside PGA coach Ryan Adams. We’re taking a look down the line right here at Hideki Matsyama. He’s wait warming up for his afternoon tea time and he, you know, when you think of Hideki, you think about a Mast’s champion. You think about somebody who definitely knows how to get the ball in the hole as he warms up with his wedges here. Is there something specific you see that allows him to control up now he’s got an iron. So, is there something that But let’s go along that same theme, Ryan. Is there something that you see in his swing that allows him to control his carry distance so specifically? Yeah, I think for Hideki and you you might have noticed here on Hideki that he tried to pop up his chin a little bit to get the posture right before he dialed in. And Hideki’s Aki is a funny one, Keith, because sometimes he does this follow through where he’s super disappointed with the shot and it’s like 10 ft away from the hole. So some Hideki is a little bit of a tricky one to really analyze too much. But I think the thing I’ve always loved about his swing is he’s very focused on making sure he has a good position at the top. And you’ll notice, you know, on the back swing here that he pauses actually a little bit on the top, too. So, I think that gets him in a good position to deliver the club head and and make crisp contact every time, especially with those longer irons. You know, speaking of the longer irons and long distance right here, the cameras that we have today are wireless and they’re powered by T-Mobile’s 5G technology. And that’s how we’re able to bring to you these live looks as these world class players are warming up right before round one of the 107th PGA Championship. Now, we’ve got Hideki going out with Windam Clark, someone who’s won on this property before and a T-Mobile ambassador and Oh, which we love. There you go. How about that? Caught me there. and Tom Kim, right? Another guy who was electric here in the President’s Cup, right? I mean, you got to talk about this golf course just for a second. And we’re going to get, you know, and I want to compare that to why Hideki is so successful at a golf course like this. Obviously, there’s a lot of comparisons between here and Augusta National Golf Club. You’ve got a Mast’s champion, right? And as we watch what he’s doing here, one of the things that sticks out in my mind Oh, we’re moving. Oh, here we No, and you know, Adide is a master champion and we’re moving on to Dustin Johnson, who’s another master champion. And you know, one of the things I’ve always loved about Dustin’s swing is he’s a lot like Colin Morawo where he sticks to one one type of shot shape. And for the for the golfers at home, when you think, well, I got to move it both ways, right? Like this is a dog leg left, it’s a dog rake, right? And it’s more important actually to focus on hitting it one style of shot. Now, Dustin hits it far enough to where he can get away with a fade, but even, you know, if if you’re not doing well with the draw at home, the fade is actually a really easy way to find the fairway more often because it’s a lot easier of a shot to hit. And you can see here Dustin just moving the ball a little left to right with the fairway wood. And again, I you know, that shot shape actually reminded me of the first hole. First hole is a little bit of the left to right dog leg. And I’ve seen now a couple players trying to mimic that same movement in the fairway where it’s left to right. So, a lot of the players are dialing in here and thinking about the golf course and not thinking about golf swing. Well, you know what? As you’re looking down the line with these amazing T, you know, T-Mobile cameras that the feed we’re getting here wireless, right? One of the things that always stands out to me about DJ’s golf swing are his wrist angles at the top. Now, they seem pretty pronounced. Is that something in particular that you as a PGA coach, if you saw that, would you work around that? Would you work with that? I’m sure there’s a lot of people that are viewing this right now that are wondering like, how could that help my golf swing? What is the result of DJ’s wrist being in that position? And then maybe how does that apply to the general public, right? So, the first thing I would say is is when you go to your your PJ coach for a lesson and and he shows you or she shows you their your swing on camera and they point out your wrist position at the top and they’ll probably ask like, “Do you feel comfortable in this position?” And if you say yeah, then they’re like, “Great. We’re going to work on a way to make this position at the top work.” And if you say no, then they’re going to try and figure out a way to make the position that is more consistent for you work every time. So Dustin Johnson has a unique unique position at the top. And I think that he just has run with it and his and his coach has has run with it too. And I think you know if they tried if they went up and tried today right now like hey we’re going to all of a sudden do this at the top. Dustin would be like well I’ve been using this position at the top for for years and it’s worked perfectly for me. So that’s a great lesson for everyone at home. It’s not you know you don’t just want to change your wrist position to make it look more pretty at the top. you want to do in the end, what works best for you. And Dustin Johnson is multi-time winner on the PGA Tour, Master Champion, obviously as we as we’ve discussed, knows what he’s doing with that position at the top. And I think he’s run with it and it’s proven to be successful. So, there are so many similarities here and the themes that we’ve talked about already today here on the T5G range for T-Mobile connections. And you see it, you see the the weight as you could just drop a straight line down through that saddle, that white saddle in his shoe. You know, the balance that he has there at a dress, the armhang being vertical. And then, you know, we talked about Michael Block earlier and his shoulder turn, how DJ gets his back to the target and then he absolutely gives it the full send, but still has the same sort of arm control like a Max Hulma. What stands out for you when you see that shot? Oh my goodness. When when you see that shot right there? Yeah, I think there’s two things that have always stood out to me with with Dustin Johnson swing is is his incredible shoulder turn and then his incredible release through the golf ball. And I feel like if you can mimic those two things, you might not be able to turn as far as Dustin Johnson can. I know I can’t and Keith, I would assume you probably can’t either, but if you can get that shoulder turn in a good position where you feel like this is about as far as I can go, that’s all you need. So, well, hey Ryan, we are mobile again here on the T5G range. And now we have Cameron Young who’s out here, son of a PJ professional, David Young, who’s still his coach out here on tour. Cameron Young, he’s been, you know, very good in the PGA Championship. And and one of the major reasons for that is the fact that he is such a great ball striker and off the tea, he has just an incredible incredible golf swing. And what everyone always notices is that similar to like a Hideki, he has that pause at the top. And you know, there’s people at home that question maybe the way that they deliver the golf club or their transition, right? Is a pause or is there some sort of pause drill that you’re familiar with using as a PGA coach that you know would be one that someone could take at home and use and you know try to work on their own transition and delivery of the golf club to the ball? Yeah. So, here’s the thing is I wouldn’t recommend doing a pause drill before you go out and play, but if you’re out on the range practicing, I think if you pause at the top, it gives you a good idea where am I right now? Am I in a good am are my hands in a good position? I know when I was going through the PJ Golf Management, Golf Management University program, my coach Ed Kebble, um he always had me pause at the top to take a look at where my wrists are, where my angles are, make sure I’m looking good before I head down to the on the down swing. And so I feel like if you’re at the range and you want to kind of maybe mimic a little bit of Hideki or Cameron Young’s um pause that allows you to really feel where you’re at at the top and see where you’re at at the top. Cam Cameron actually pauses a little bit at the top I think to kind of set his lower body up for a huge turn. And that’s why he’s always a great uh ball striker and hits the ball pretty far and straight. So um yeah, you saw it right there. just a little bit of a pause at the top. And I think it just it’s it’s one of those things where think about it like you’re starting the ignition, right? Like his pause is like, “Okay, I just turn on the car, the keys to the car, and now it’s go time. I’m hitting the gas, right? I’m I’m taking off.” So, pause a little bit at the top and it can really help out uh with your tempo, get you set up for a good good down swing. You know what? As we look at these two guys side by side here on the T5G range, right, we just jumped from Justin Johnson and now we’re over here to Cam Young. You know, they’re both extremely long off the tea with their long irons, their irons. They can press the ball incredibly, right? But Cameron’s not nearly as big in stature as DJ is, right? And I’m sure there’s people at home that are trying to say like, I’d love to get a little bit more power. Is there something about Cameron’s swing that you think increases the level of power he has pound-for-pound? Because, you know, if you if you put them both on a scale and then you said, “How far did you hit it?” You know, Cameron might be getting more out of his frame than maybe DJ even is. That’s right. That’s right. And I think one of the things you can see Cameron Young’s got a alignment stick down just to the left of of where he’s setting the ball up. And I think that’s he’s using that not only for alignment uh to try and know where he’s going with the ball, but also to make sure that he’s coming through crisp at impact. One of the things I love about Cam Young, and you know, going back to your point about the distance, is that he uses the ground really well. buries that back foot, back right heel into the ground and that he’s using the ground as energy to transfer that through impact and then off to a full finish. So, he’s not really getting up on his toes. Sometimes we see people get up on their toes or you might at home get up on your toes to try to get more distance. Cam Young’s Cameron Young’s actually doing the exact opposite where he’s using that ground and really digging in to to try to transfer that energy on his back swing. And then you’ll see here when he comes through all the way through to that front left heel to really get through and find some crisp contact. All right, little the PGA golf chunky in me. I want to dive into that a little bit more. All right, you know, the cameras locked in there on Cam Young, these wonderful uh T-Mobile wireless cameras, right? We have this incredible incredible high resolution picture, right? So, talk me through it when he takes this swing here. talk me through when you see the weight moving because weight shift in the golf swing is something that a lot of players don’t really understand like what the timing of it all is or the steps that take place. So, as he’s about to take this swing, talk us through what you see and the timing of it all step by step. Yeah. Yeah. As we wrap up here on the T5G range, you know, the the shift the shift here is the most most important thing on the back swing and then the follow through is the most important thing on the down swing. So, you’ll see that a lot from Cameron Young today. You know, we’re going to see a lot of that today all afternoon here in the 107th PGA Championship. We can’t thank T-Mobile enough for having us out here. Myself, Keith Stewart, PGA Professional, alongside PGA coach Ryan Adams. The T5G range, a live lookin like this, it’s just such a benefit to all of our fans of the PGA of America. You know, these guys are going out this afternoon. Tune in. It’s appointment viewing. We’re going to see a lot of power. We’re going to see a lot of these keys that you and I just talked about.
