She is the hottest female golfer on the planet, and while the rankings haven’t caught up, she is arguably the best female golfer in the game. But Danielle Kang took a long time and a lot of work to accept her place at the top.
Much of that work has been near her home in Las Vegas with her boyfriend, Maverick McNealy, and her coach Butch Harmon.
“She’s a hard worker and an incredible competitor, to the point where she can be annoying to other players,” Harmon told LPGA.com. “I like how competitive it is. And during this COVID blockade we have been able to do a tremendous amount of work. We went through all of his stats and what his strengths were, what his weaknesses were and worked on things we could have improved. Mostly though, we worked on her mental side and convincing her how good she was.
“She has been known in the past for being down on herself and not playing her best. All we worked on was to let her know how good she is. I kept insisting on this, telling her she had to believe she was good. Now she believes it. She knows she is the best golfer in the world and wants to be ranked first. And she will be “.
Kang acknowledged the work, saying, “If anything, it has motivated me even more to work on the things I want to improve on. Some (people) have said that hard work pays off; who are proud of me and who are very excited for me. The support I have around me is really important. Without them, I won’t be where I am. “
“He works really hard. I mean, really hard, “Harmon said, underlining the words.” I’ve worked a lot with Suzann Pettersen and she reminds me a lot of Suzann, a real competitor who wants to be successful.
“She and Maverick being boyfriends and girlfriends also helps,” Harmon said. “Living here in Las Vegas, he goes out and competes with a lot of players on the tour. He tells many players (from the Korn FerryTour): “No wonder you’re not on the (PGA Tour), you can’t even beat me.” It goes straight to those guys. ”
“I’m normally intense,” Kang said. “I’m usually very determined on what I’m doing. I just want to give my all in whatever I do. Sometimes I will succeed and sometimes not, but as long as I have given 110% effort, I have no regrets. This is my attitude in everything I do “.
According to Harmon, some of those areas that required 110% effort were its fairway woods and short irons.
“We worked a lot on consistency and ball control in the air with short irons,” he said. “His pitch and chipping have improved enormously. A positive aspect of this pandemic is that we have had a lot of time to work on it. I played a lot of golf with her and we worked a lot on strategy: why she was hitting this particular shot and what she was thinking.
“When she finally came back, I told her the hardest thing she would have to face was that she would be ready on Tuesday. I said, “You’ll be amplified because you haven’t shot worse than 65 or 66 in a month and a half, so you’ll be good to go.” ”
Like many students Harmon has worked with, including Tiger Woods, patience isn’t Kang’s strong suit. The blow to her was how hard she can be on herself, often hitting herself.
This is changing. Discussing the challenges presented by golf link over the next two weeks in Scotland, Kang said: “Acceptance will be more difficult for me. The shots I expect will end a certain way but I am not in control here, it will be hard for me. , where if I hit a big shot and end up in a place I don’t want to be, but I just have to let it go.
“The secret that the great players have is that the last hit never happened,” Harmon said. “They forget and go away. Two players with whom I have had great success, Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, two guys who have had a lot of things happening on the golf course, never let themselves be bothered. It’s like it never happened. It took a lot of work to get Danielle to that point, but she’s getting there. “
“I’m still very hard on myself,” Kang said. “I am very intense during free practice. People may think I’m angry or something, but I’m really just a very intense person. But instead of going down on myself and being hard on myself and saying that I could have done better, I find ways to make it better.
“Coping with it in a positive way and giving yourself positive reinforcement was good. But I’m a realist. There are things I always have to work on and improve on. Looking at the stats, analyzing your game, being very introspective about how you are on and off the golf course, things like that have definitely improved my golf game. “
