Nelly Korda feels the pain. If she could, she would totally change the rule about not getting relief from a divot.
Still … there is joy in working the ball out of the dirt, Korda said.
“It’s come up in conversation a couple times with my friends,” she said. “There is an art to hitting out of a divot from a fairway.”
That interested Kevin Jonas.
“What is it?” he asked.
“You put it more back in your stance to grip a little bit more down on the club because in a way it’s kind of like a bunker shot,” Korda said. “So you’re trying to hit the ball first and you’re just a lot steeper.
“So there is an art.”
Yes, that was Kevin Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, the pop-singing trio. And yes, that was Korda, world No. 1. She’s a fan of Kevin, Nick and Joe. They’re fans of hers. And they invited Korda onto their podcast, “Hey Jonas,” and the episode was released this week. (You can watch it here.)
And yes, they talked about how to hit out of a divot.
“Or you could just do what Kevin does,” Nick Jonas said, “and just move it.”
Over the 26-minute show, there were eight other notable golf insights from Korda. They are below.
How does Korda handle big-stage nerves?
Joe Jonas wondered about this.
“My routine,” Korda said. “Some people call it superstition, but a routine, it’s always something that you fall back on. It’s the same over and over and over again, but when you get a little nervous — and they’re excitement jitters. It’s not nervousness where it’s a bad nervousness, but they’re excited to go again, being on that first tee if it’s for a major.
“And for me, it’s my routine. I fall back on it.”
What does it look like?
“I have my practice swing,” Korda said, “I lock into my target, talk to my caddie, and then I go.”
When will Korda ‘reassess’ playing pro golf?
This came up after Joe Jonas asked whether Korda enjoyed practicing.
“I like to play alone,” Korda started. “I’m a loner out there. I just like when I’m out on the golf course, I have to give it 100 percent. And I’m always practicing, but I’m having fun. Like I’ll like skip off the tee. Like I’m there like with my coach obviously, but I’m like, I hit a good shot and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, that was so good.’ Like I’m still like a little girl when I’m at golf.
“And I tell myself all the time when I’m not like that, then I think it’s time to kind of reassess what I’m doing. But right now, I’m feeling the jitters on the first tee — I want to feel that. And I’m also excited when I’m going out to practice. I’m completely burnt out when I’m like, ‘OK, I need to go practice. I don’t want to go, but I need to go.’”
‘I never slam my clubs’ — except that one time
What’s the most embarrassing thing Korda has done on the course? She had a story that included her caddie, Jason Dede.
“I never slam my clubs,” she started. “And the first year Jason started caddying for me, I took the butt end of the club — so I gripped it by the head of the club — and I slammed it into the ground right in front of him and it ricocheted back and hit me into the mouth and I had a bloody lip. I thought I knocked out my teeth.
“And he was like, ‘I thought if I laughed, I would get fired right there.’”
How does Korda ‘decompress’ when she doesn’t play well?
Joe Jonas asked this.
“Put the clubs away for a little bit if I have the time,” Korda said. “If I only have a week, it’s like back to grind mode.”
McDede and her team also help, she said.
“He’s always in my corner,” Korda said of McDede. “That’s I think the best thing about my career that I love so much is my team. Yeah, I’m winning and I’m hitting the shots, but there’s so much going on behind the scenes and like I wouldn’t be where I am without them.”
How does Korda decompress after a win?
Kevin Jonas asked this. After a show, he said the group needs hours to decompress. Korda said she needs a burger.
“The post win meal is always Five Guys burgers,” she said.
What goes on it?
“I like mustard, ketchup, mushrooms and that’s it,” she said.
Does Korda have a ‘go-to golfing drink?‘
Something with electrolytes. No booze.
“I’ve never had an alcoholic beverage on a golf course,” she said.
Nor has she had one the night before a round.
“It’s like a pilot wouldn’t have a drink the night before,” Nick Jonas said.
How do you get young golfers hooked?
Nick Jonas asked this. He said his 5-year-old daughter, Malti, is getting started in golf.
“It’s always about the fundamentals,” Korda said. “Even I revert back to the fundamentals. So knowing how you grip, knowing your weight distribution, the small things.
“But also at that age, you want to make it fun. You want to play a lot of games. And I had a great coach where we were hitting flop shots over trees. She would do like five minutes of technique work and then the rest of it was just to play games and to really fall in love with the game and fuel my competitiveness.”
What should an ‘up-and-coming’ golfer focus on most?
Kevin Jonas’ daughter, Alina, asked this.
Short game, Korda said.
“A lot of short game,” she said.
Korda then talked about a drill she “loved” when she was younger.
“It’s called the six-ball drill,” Korda said. “It’s hard. So you pick an easy, medium and hard. And you have to make six up-and-downs in a row. And if you don’t, then you can’t move on to the next one, or you can’t leave.”
At times, Korda said, the drill took her a couple of hours to finish.
“Because I did not make six up-and-downs in a row,” she said. “So a bunker shot, you have to actually make the putt, too. It’s challenging. But on that sixth putt, you’re feeling pressure.
“And that’s what you feel out on the golf course.”
Editor’s note: To watch the entire Hey Jonas podcast with Korda, please click here.