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Looking to Achieve a Major Goal? Never Let Up Like KPMG Women’s PGA Champion Nelly Korda
By Keith Stewart, PGA
Published on
Nelly Korda is playing the best golf of her life. In the last two weeks, she has accumulated 47 birdies and 4 eagles. The result of her sensational scoring is an outstanding 44 under par, No. 1 World Ranking and her first Major Championship.
Achieving this milestone moment has taken a holistic approach to her game. This remarkable run is the culmination of a couple key factors coming into place. Much has been made of the mental strain a championship like the KPMG PGA puts on a player. It will also test your game, your fitness and without a doubt your resolve.
Many of us will face similar golfing challenges in trying to obtain our own major goal(s). We can learn a great deal by looking at Nelly’s preparation and performance this week. Just three weeks ago, Korda missed the cut at the Women’s US Open. From that point, she has pivoted and taken her game to new levels. Nelly’s world-class two weeks are a product of taking a very well-rounded approach.
As you look to achieve your playing goals this season, make sure you can cross off all the boxes on Korda’s Checklist:
1. Manage the Mental Game
- Much has been made of athletes opening up and letting their feelings of pressure be known. Golf is an individual game, but you don’t have to go it alone. Confide in your team what you’re feeling. Letting others doesn’t show weakness, it adds support. Talk to your PGA Coach, friends and family. Most importantly, be honest with yourself.
2. Don’t Forget Fitness
- Modern athletes spend a tremendous amount of time paying attention to their bodies. Long-term goals like winning a major championship require long-term physical fitness ambitions as well. Korda is a big believer in measurable technology. More than just working out, she pays attention to what her body is telling her. She uses that knowledge as a means for sustaining these types of runs.
3. Planning to Win
- Watching Korda cover the landscape this week, we could all see she had a very specific plan on how to attack Atlanta Athletic Club. Sticking to your strategy sounds like a very easy thing to do. But when you are tested as Nelly was coming down the stretch, she continued to play according to her plan.
4. Schedule Your Practice
- Partner with a PGA Coach and develop a personal development plan. Understand the dynamic needed to develop all aspects of your game. Random practice doesn’t get us across the finish line and it’s boring. Deliberately set time increments for all aspects of your game on different days. This will really help make practice time engaging rather than mundane.
We all aren’t trying to win the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, but the lessons Korda teaches us here are important. You don’t need to plan out every hole you play but create some personal rules. Play to your strengths. Learn to manage your way around the course. When you’re away from the course consider how your actions lead toward your destination. Finally, incorporate others.
Nelly Korda’s moment is a product of a positive environment. Include others in your process and in the end, you will have more people to celebrate your success with.
