3 Lessons From Jackson Koivun's Presidents Cup Performance

Jackson Koivun arrived at Medinah Country as a 21-year-old Presidents Cup rookie.

He left as the only undefeated American.

Koivun went 2-0-1 in three matches against the International Team, capping off a successful weekend in Chicago by winning his Sunday singles match in a come-from-behind, swagger-filled fashion against Si Woo Kim.

The week was not spotless, however.

In his opening match Thursday, Koivun hit a tee shot out of bounds on the fourth hole. He settled down, birdied the sixth and eventually won with Justin Thomas, 4 & 3. Two days later, he opened another match by driving it 309 yards into the fairway, hitting his approach to 8 feet and making birdie.

That is the part of his game I want everyday golfers to notice: Koivun is wildly talented, but there are pieces of what he does that any player can copy to play better when it matters.

Koivun has a small setup feature that is easy to test: He hovers the driver just above the ground before starting the swing.

I would not tell every golfer to copy it automatically. I would try it with players who get stuck over the ball or snatch the club away from a dead stop.

Set up normally and let the driver rest behind the ball. Once the clubface is aimed, lift the clubhead about a half-inch off the turf without raising your shoulders or hands. Hold it there for a beat, then swing.

Make it an A-B test. Hit six drives with the club soled and six with it hovering. Do not chase distance. Count how many of each six would have been playable on a normal-width fairway, and pay attention to where the strike feels on the face. If the hover produces the better group, keep experimenting with it.

Koivun has talked about feeling more centered in his backswing so his head does not drift too far over his trail foot. That is a useful distinction for golfers who confuse “turn” with “move everything to the right.”

Use your phone from face-on. Make three slow backswings with a 7-iron and watch your trail hip. It should turn behind you as your chest rotates. Some head movement is fine. What you do not want is your whole upper body sliding so far laterally that you have to race back to the ball.

For a simple video check, draw a vertical line up from the outside edge of your trail shoe. If your head is well beyond that line at the top, you have a strong clue that you are sliding more than you need. Then hit five balls at about 70% speed. Your goal is solid contact without feeling as if you have to lunge back toward the ball.

I see golfers add sway when they are trying to create power. Often the better answer is a fuller turn with less wandering.

In team golf, matches often come down to big putts. Koivun made not only one but two down the stretch against Si Woo Kim to turn his match into a W.

One of the things Koivun does so well with the flatstick is putt with a ton of confidence. Once he steps over the ball, he's only thinking of one thing: make it. That comes in handy when you need to drain a big par putt or convert a tight approach for birdie, or even save yourself from disaster for bogey.

The Koivun mentality even helps on longer putts: you may not need to make it, but dropping all else around you and focusing on the stroke, the ball and the hole, and swinging your putter with conviction, is something to copy.

Before your next round, drop 3 or 4 balls around 5 feet from the hole, and focus on nothing but the back of the cup; or even a blade of grass in the back of the cup. That's where your ball is going, and nowhere else.

Koivun knows the feeling well.