Xander's X Factor: How Added Distance Transformed His Game
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00:00I'm even curious to just as we kind of further the discussion on Xander of, you know, what
00:08you think the, the, the, the sort of the, the X factor has been this year, uh, that
00:12might, that might've been an accidental pun, uh, the, the X there, uh, but you know, just
00:16this year, obviously he did the speed training.
00:19He gained some distance, but what do you think is just, has been the difference from a guy
00:23that has been steady his entire career, but now all of a sudden has two majors in one
00:28season after having none, every prior season of his career, Xander has been so good ever
00:34since, you know, I've been, you know, I've played against him, my, my entire junior golf
00:42amateur career.
00:43And he's always been somebody that's gotten better every year, whether it's from his freshman
00:49year to his sophomore year at San Diego state, he just, he just would get better every single
00:54year.
00:55And it's, and he's to a point now where it's like, what else can he get better at?
00:59Because that's how good he's gotten.
01:02I would say that this year in particular, you know, he's always been steady.
01:07Um, he's been solid in every aspect of his game, but I think you, you set it up perfectly.
01:13I think the added distance, uh, is something that, that is definitely an X factor because
01:20now he went from being, you know, above average to he's long, you know, he's one of the longer
01:25players and talking with, with plenty of players.
01:29They, every time they play with Xander, they're like, Oh my gosh, he's absolutely smoking
01:33it.
01:34And whether that's off the tee or irons, because you know, if, if, if they're hitting seven
01:39iron, you know, Xander's innate, that's, that's how much longer he's gotten, which is a for
01:45in the pro game that that's a pretty, it's a job, you know, I would say that's, that's
01:49considerable.
01:50The fact that he's able to hit one West call club, then the, you know, the, the above average
01:55guy.
01:56So he's, he's turned himself into a long player and he's done it by, you know, being in the
02:00gym.
02:01Uh, Chris Como has been somebody that's helped him.
02:04I think it was about Riviera was the first time I saw Chris Como post Xander Shoffley
02:09swinging a golf club.
02:10I was like, Oh, that, that could really work or it may not work.
02:15I think from talking to Xander, um, and, and Chris about what they've worked on is they've
02:21tried to steepen his shoulder turn a little bit.
02:23Um, and it's, and when he was, when he was, uh, kind of working through these changes
02:29that this was at Bay Hill, I remember watching him and his, uh, his time over the ball is
02:37time behind the ball.
02:39I thought he was having to think a lot to me.
02:42That was, uh, something that you just didn't see Xander quite be as methodical as he was
02:47trying to rehearse this feel, but it's obviously paid dividends because I was a little down
02:53on a guy that's, you know, working through something and then you saw the players, you
02:59know, and then it just kind of kept getting better and better to where at the PGA championship,
03:04you know, it was night, night game over.
03:06So it's, it's been incredible to watch these, these small changes, you know, make, make
03:12an impact to where he could feel like he can really go after it because there's no better
03:17feeling for a golfer to when you're able to turn as far as you want on the way back and
03:23just rip it on the way through.
03:25Um, in that club face is in a really good spot to where he can deliver it and just have
03:30that full, you know, full whack at it, if you will.
03:36Yeah.