Caitlin Clark’s morning on the LPGA Tour: Shanked shots, pured drives and so many fans

BELLAIR, Fla. — There were hushed tones and whispers as 6:30 came and went, as each minute ticked closer to the 7 a.m. tee time. Was there traffic? Has anyone seen her? LPGA and tournament organizers, eager to see Wednesday go off without a hiccup, fretted the day would instead begin with one.

Then, around 19 minutes before her tee time, Caitlin Clark strolled onto the driving range at the Pelican Golf Club. Casual and cool in head-to-toe Nike, an official carrying her bag to the far end where cameras were set up to document her first swings. She thinned the first couple, but soon enough was launching them into the sun as it rose over the tree line. An introduction to her caddie, an insistence to him that she would not care if a club was dropped along the next 18 holes, and a cart ride later, Clark was standing on the first tee box at The Annika next to its namesake and Nelly Korda, the No. 1 golfer in the world — with all the attention on her, a 16 handicap.

This is Caitlin Clark’s normal but something extraordinary for this golf tournament, a crowd that swelled to in the thousands, following the biggest women’s basketball star in the world hit a little white ball.

“We’ve messaged a little on Instagram beforehand but to get to spend some time with her and to see the influence that she has on people, bringing people out here, and to see how amazing of an influence she is just for sports, was really cool to see firsthand today,” Korda said.

So how is Caitlin Clark’s golf swing?

In a word, relatable.

The Athletic sent multiple videos of her swings during Wednesday’s pro-am to golf coach Dana Dahlquist, who works with Bryson DeChambeau, among others. Dahlquist’s biggest takeaway was, like a lot of amateurs, Clark doesn’t load properly into her left side and doesn’t get the hands to square the club face early enough. So by the time she gets to impact, she has to “stand up” to attempt to strike the ball with a square face, which reduces the potential for power, speed, etc.

“For amateur golfers, it’s an interesting thing that all golfers that are not high-level players struggle with the same thing,” Dahlquist said. “They tend to somewhat spin out, tend to have the face more often and if you’re taking lessons it’s a good balance between educating your hands how the club releases and then learning to get to your left side appropriately so you can straighten out your golf ball and make good contact.”

At the same time, Clark’s elite athleticism and understanding of her body still allow her to recover and generate considerable clubhead speed. Her first tee shot was on the same line as Korda’s, and only around 20 yards behind Korda, averaging 269 yards off the tee this year. Even if her approach game leaves her left of her target with a tendency to pull her irons, she always had the length to get to the green.

Clark said she first began playing golf with a pink set of junior clubs, going to the course in Iowa with her dad, and watching Rory McIlroy on TV. She’s since upgraded to Callaway, and in advance of this week (set up through Gainbridge, a title sponsor for this LPGA Tour stop and one of Clark’s sponsors) has been taking lessons from former LPGA pro Martha Foyer-Faulconer in Indianapolis, Golf Week reported.

Golf and basketball fans swarmed Clark at the end of her pro-am on Wednesday. (Ray Seebeck / USA Today Sports)

Clark said following the end of the Indiana Fever’s playoffs she hoped to become a professional golfer in the offseason. It was a joke taken seriously in some quarters, to her surprise, but Clark does want to play competitive golf — against her friends, for bragging rights. “That’s what’s been fun about it. It’s challenging,” Clark said.

Pro golf has occasionally been accused of being too thirsty for attention from other professional athletes and celebrities, eager to bring their youthful energy and audiences to a sport that skews older. That can lead to awkward fits and partnerships that come off as inauthentic.

Clark and the LPGA — this is her second pro-am appearance, after a 2023 PGA Tour John Deere Classic showing — is not that. She is a golfer, casually and comfortably speaking the lingo and dropping Pebble Beach as her bucket list course. She friggin’ cleans the grooves of her irons with a tee as she waits for her next shot.

But she faces unique challenges compared to the rest of us, like LPGA pros lining up to take selfies with her as she walks up the 18th fairway. Or doing a walk-and-talk up No. 7 with Golf Channel, then immediately having to swing — Clark asked for and received a mulligan after chunking her shot 100 yards, and ultimately decided she was done with the hole after airmailing the green. “I’m just the average golfer. I’m going to hit some good, I’m going to hit some bad. It is what it is,” Clark said.

If anything was surprising about Clark’s game, it was how the famously competitive WNBA Rookie of the Year could shrug and laugh off even the worst of shots — a shanked tee shot on the third hole sent a portion of the crowd ducking for cover.

Clark played with Korda on the front nine and then Sorenstam on the back nine. While the former said she was more focused on getting ready for the tournament and light conversation, the latter did offer Clark some swing thoughts.

“It was more just tempo. She hits it a little quick,” Sorenstam said. “She played with Nelly on the front and Nelly is about power, so of course when you play with someone like that you want to swing harder and faster. Now when it’s windy, I’m like, just got to calm down, find the tempo, and try to make sure that club face is more square to the target.”

The Athletic’s Gabby Herzig contributed to this story.

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Photo: Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images)