When you hear the name Ludvig Aberg, what do you think about? An elite driver of the ball, undoubtedly. A European Ryder Cup hero, perhaps, and maybe the brightest young talent in golf today.
You probably didn't think of Aberg as a wizard with his wedges—he's slightly below average on tour in SG: Around the Green this season, ranking 94th. That's not a slight on his wedge game, but rather, highlighting how incredibly good tour golfers are around the greens, and how they're all capable of doing things with a wedge that the rest of us couldn't even fathom.
How Ludvig's bunker drill works
This is a drill that Ludvig Aberg and longtime coach, Hans Larsson, were working on together ahead of this week's Tour Championship.
I asked Hans how it works:
- The two alignment rods you see are set one yard apart from each other.
- Ludvig's goal is to land his ball between the two sticks.
- "Once he'd carry his ball between the sticks, I'd move them one yard further away at a time," Larsson says. "The better the bunker game, the harder you can make the drill."
- The rest of us can try it, but we'd have to alter the gaps. Maybe the zone you're trying to land it into is five yards, for instance, and you move it five yards further away each time.
Ludvig would rinse-and-repeat this drill all the way across the green. An incredible level of attention to detail on his distance control, and a glimpse into how good the top level of professional golfers are.