The stinger is a shot you turn to when precision matters most. Low, piercing and built for control, this ball flight cuts through the wind, stays under trouble and rolls out. While many pros can hit the stinger, few have made it a signature shot quite like Gary Woodland — as we saw this week at the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
“The stinger has been a huge shot for me really my whole career,” Woodland said in 2023.
The origin of the shot, Woodland said, dates to his college golf days. As he told GOLF Top 100 Teacher Chris Mayson, the stinger became a solution when distance wasn’t the problem — control was.
“I’ve always hit the golf ball a long way, but when I was in college I had no idea where it was going,” Woodland said. “I was working with Randy Smith at the time and he’s like, ‘We got to find some way to get it in the fairway.’”
Let’s break down Woodland’s 3 keys for hitting a stinger.
1. Open stance, ball back
When hitting a stinger, Woodland says his priority is trapping the ball — and that starts with setup. He begins by opening his stance slightly to the target. Then Woodland moves the ball back in his stance.
According to Mayson, those adjustments work together to shape the proper path into the ball.
“He’s moved the ball back in his stance which actually gets the club coming to the inside,” Mayson says. “That’s why he’s moved his alignment more to the left to kind of offset that ball position.”
2. Glove logo at the target
“The biggest key for me is I want to hold the back [of my lead hand], so I want that Crown C logo at the target as long as I can,” Woodland says.
Keeping the back of his lead hand — or his glove logo — at the target allows Woodland to control his clubface through impact, which is key to trapping the ball. When he does that, the result is exactly what he’s after: a shot that comes out hot, low, and piercing.
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