{"id":478777,"date":"2026-02-16T16:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/478777\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:04:11","slug":"how-i-rebuilt-my-golf-swing-to-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/478777\/","title":{"rendered":"‘How I rebuilt my golf swing to win’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tAlmost 16 years after his last victory \u2013 and 12 years after walking away from golf \u2013 Anthony Kim has rebuilt his game from scratch. The way he\u2019s done it offers lessons for every golfer wanting to improve.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t receive universal acclaim. Many will dismiss it because \u201cit\u2019s only LIV\u201d. But Anthony Kim\u2019s victory at LIV Golf Adelaide<\/a> stands as one of the most improbable comebacks golf has ever seen.<\/p>\n

Sixteen years since his last win, and after more than a decade away from the game entirely, Kim blew past Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau with the authority you\u2019d expect from a man once dubbed \u201cthe next Tiger\u201d, not one who became a conspiracy theory for a decade before failing to score a single point in his first two seasons on LIV.<\/p>\n

A closing 9-under 63 to finish 23 under par was definitive proof that Kim was back. A missed 20-footer on the last left him one shy of the course record, but it hardly mattered. The victory was his first since the Houston Open on April 4, 2010 \u2013 a gap that eclipses the longest in PGA Tour history, which stands at 15 years and six months.<\/p>\n

Few players disappear completely from elite golf and make it back. Fewer still return and win. Kim did not try to mask what the moment meant to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBest moment of my life so far,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t really know what to say right now. It\u2019s been overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many had written him off, Kim insists he never did.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew this was going to happen,\u201d he said. \u201cBut for it actually to happen is pretty insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for Kim, whose battle with drug and alcohol addiction is public knowledge, winning is about more than proving himself right \u2013 it\u2019s a vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can talk about my struggles all I want, but if I don\u2019t have the platform, then I won\u2019t reach as many people,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I was in rehab, that was my goal\u2026 if I got out of here, I\u2019d like to help people. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to have this platform has been tremendous in my growth and my self-belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was not a comeback built on nostalgia or natural talent. Kim isn\u2019t back to winning ways because the swing that once made him one of the most exciting players in the game magically returned. When he returned to golf, he was, by his own admission, \u201cterrible\u201d.<\/p>\n

He had to do it the hard way. He has rebuilt his game \u2013 patiently, deliberately and, at times, painfully.<\/p>\n

In the weeks before the start of the 2026 LIV season, Kim spoke openly<\/a> about what he had changed, what he had stripped away, and what he had learned from starting again at 40.<\/p>\n

For every amateur searching for consistency, confidence, or simply a clearer way to think about improvement, there is more in his process than just inspiration.<\/p>\n

There is a blueprint.<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyBelief x hard work = success<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going to do something seemingly impossible, you only need one person to believe you can do it: yourself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know my self-belief is second to none,\u201d said Kim. \u201cObviously taking 12 and a half years off the game is a long time, and you have to build that confidence back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was in my 20s, I was never scared to play anybody. I\u2019m not scared to play anybody now. I know this is just one golf tournament, but I believe in myself. That will never change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim may have incredible self-belief, but he\u2019s also a realist. He knows it takes a lot of work to make up for lost time.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing is holding me back. Nothing is holding me back. I just have to keep working. The 1 percent better every day thing is a mindset that I\u2019m going to carry with me until the day I die. I don\u2019t see why I can\u2019t make it to the top again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnthonySetup is king, swing your swing<\/p>\n

\u201cI get a lot of these questions on Instagram: \u2018What am I working on? What can a 10-handicap do? What can a college player that is playing D1 golf do?\u2019 I\u2019ve had some guys that have played on tour ask me what I\u2019m working on and what they should work on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all comes down to setup. It\u2019s all about the fundamentals of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has nothing to do with how you\u2019re supposed to swing the golf club. Whatever your body type is, the club is going to work around you if you start with a good setup and make good turns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI overcomplicated it when I first got back. I was so far behind, having not touched a club in so long, that I didn\u2019t know what to work on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI owe all the credit to Adam Schriber. Not only is he one of the best golf minds ever, he\u2019s one of the best human beings I\u2019ve ever met. He spent so much time with me working on stuff before it was the cool stuff to do. All the things that kids are doing now, he was doing when I was 15, 16 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow fast forward [after] the 12 years that I was off, I wanted to get my setup right, and it was actually the worst it could be, because my feet were [pointing] right, my shoulders were [pointing] left. I know it doesn\u2019t have to be perfect, but for me, I never play golf that way. My feet were always left of the target, and I could move my shoulders however I wanted. If I wanted to hit a bigger cut, it would be more left of my feet. If I wanted to hit a draw, I would just put my right shoulder back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started working with Matt Killen about a year ago and we got our setup dialled. From that position, I don\u2019t have to do much.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that position, I know what to do, which is turn my left shoulder behind the ball. I don\u2019t work on where my hands are, where my shoulder plane is \u2013 all the sh*t that people are talking about. Because when the club is going 70, 90, 100 miles an hour, you have no idea where that club really is. You can guess where it is, but that\u2019s where the brain takes over in golf.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good thing about me not being as smart as some of these other guys is that I don\u2019t think about the golf swing that much. I just think, If I get my left shoulder behind this ball, the only way I\u2019m going to make solid contact is if my right shoulder goes past the ball. And then stick your finish. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyThe process to improvement \u2013 back to basics<\/p>\n

\u201cMatt is great at figuring out what the big problem is, instead of trying to fix something that is the effect of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went all the way back to how I\u2019m gripping the club. I had the grip so weak that when I took the club back it would immediately suck under, and then my misses were behind the ball and wipey \u2013 as a result of the fundamentals of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I get up to hit a shot, the first thing I do is aim the club. I wasn\u2019t aiming the club properly the first year I was on LIV.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019m aiming the club, getting my grip in the right position, and I\u2019m making sure my feet are left. No matter what, my feet are left.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyPlay your shape<\/p>\n

While any driving range will be littered with amateur golfers desperately trying to hit an elusive draw, Kim knows that playing your natural shot shape is the best formula.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always been a cut. It\u2019s great to work the ball both ways, but to have a safety shot, where you know, I can aim this down the left rough and cut it or even slice it however far you want and get the ball in play \u2013 that\u2019s the biggest key in golf, take one side of the golf course out and know that I can aim in that spot, it will never go there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to be able to work the ball both ways, but still 90% of the time it was a cut. Nowadays the ball doesn\u2019t curve as much, so you have to do double as far as technique to get the ball to curve. So I\u2019d rather not mess with that stuff. I\u2019d rather just keep hitting my cut. Even if there\u2019s a tonne of trouble on the left, I\u2019m going to aim there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JustHow to practice \u2013 and how it should change based on timing<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing you can do besides hit a lot of golf balls to get better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I think is important is to start changing the way you practice as you get closer to tournaments. That\u2019s what Matt has reinforced with me. When you\u2019re working on something, sure, scoop a ball, hit it. But at 40 years old, I can\u2019t hit as many balls.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what I like to do, maybe two weeks before the tournament, is start taking more time on each shot. Not worrying about the exact technique, but seeing the shot. Trying to get back so quickly, I forgot about how important that was \u2013 seeing the golf shot before I hit a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TigerTake inspiration, but know your own game<\/p>\n

Kim reveals he\u2019s watched videos of some of golf\u2019s greats in his search for improvement, noticing that they pick an intermediate target a short distance in front of their ball \u2013 something he tried but realized doesn\u2019t work for him. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to get better, so I\u2019m watching some videos of Tiger and Phil and Faldo and some of these guys that were really good ball strikers, as far as what they do, and it was a spot thing. For me, I can\u2019t get to it. I am a ball-to-target guy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pick a target, generally left. If I\u2019m trying to get at that flag, I\u2019m looking left of that flag. That\u2019s where I\u2019m trying to point the face. If there\u2019s something out there left of my target, that\u2019s where I\u2019m looking. I\u2019m not even looking at the flag, because I know the ball is going to curve. <\/p>\n

A lot of people look at their target, and their body subconsciously moves to that side.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost 16 years after his last victory \u2013 and 12 years after walking away from golf \u2013 Anthony…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-478777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}