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Consistency might be the most elusive feeling in golf. Most of us are capable of hitting excellent shots and even playing the odd really good round, but if we could perform at a high level practically every time we teed it up, we would probably be playing golf for a living.
Like Jenny Shin. Since turning pro at the age of 18 in 2010, Shin has compiled an enviably steady record at golf's highest level. Though she only has one LPGA Tour victory on her resume - the 2016 Volunteers of America Texas Shootout - she has finished every year since 2013 inside the top 100 in the Women's World Golf Rankings. And since the 2012 Women's British Open, Shin has competed in every single major except one. That streak included a 19-major consecutive-cuts-made streak from 2012 to 2016. In 2024, she finished in the top 20 in three of five majors. That's a level of consistent play any golfer would dearly love to have.
How does Shin do it? She recently joined Jim "Bones" MacKay for the latest episode of Playing Lessons, the popular, long-running Golf Channel and GolfPass series, at Bali Hai Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nev.
Here are three key takeaways from the episode:
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Click here for Part 2 of Playing Lessons with Jenny Shin.
Chipping: A numbers game (2:40 mark of Part 1)
Most golfers confront a long chip or pitch shot with no real plan or sense of how to break the shot down into manageable pieces. When Bones asks Shin to hit a 30-yard chip with a 9 iron, Shin immediately processes it in specific terms: she wants to land the ball about seven yards onto the green and have it release the remaining 23 yards to the cup. That level of specificity shows the degree of precision that professional golfers deal in. Your own short game will probably benefit from a similar approach, especially as Shin goes over her technique for such a shot.
Stay within yourself (7:22)
After Shin hits a tee shot on a par 5, Bones asks if the potential for an eagle opportunity ever prompts her to "reach back for a little more" and take a more violent swing at the ball. Immediately, Shin says no. It's a reminder that straying from the norms of your own game and abilities will be more likely to hurt your score than help it. "I try to stick to my normal routine, stick to my normal tempo and try to hit it good as much as possible," Shin says. If an LPGA Tour winner isn't swinging out of her shoes, why would you?
Layup philosophy (13:26)
Laying up on a long par 5 often comes down to one of two options. Should you try and give yourself a "favorite yardage" into the green for your third shot, or should you push your second shot as far downrange as possible and simply try to make your next shot as short as possible? For Shin, the decision is putely situational. On the hole she and Bones are playing, the pin is cut deep into the green, so Shin wouldn't be as worried about leaving an awkward yardage to a short pin. She would be inclined to be aggressive on her second shot on the hole, even if she couldn't reach the green in two. It's a subtle point of course management that any golfer can use to lower his or her scores.
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