Yana Wilson just won her first LPGA title. She’s 19 years old. And the thing that unlocked her game wasn’t a swing change, a new iron set, or a week on the range – it was playing foursomes.
The 2026 Dow Championship is the LPGA Tour’s only annual team event, alternating rounds of foursomes (alternate shot) and fourball over 72 holes. Wilson and her partner Gina Kim shot 17-under to win at Midland Country Club in Michigan. But the more interesting story isn’t the scoreline. It’s what Wilson noticed about her own game during the foursomes rounds – and why it matters for every amateur golfer who’s ever wondered whether playing team golf can actually make them better individually.
It can. Here’s how.
Quick Answer: Playing team golf – whether foursomes, fourball, or a scramble – forces habits that solo stroke play never demands: hitting to safe positions, controlling your pace on putts, and playing without ego. Those habits don’t stay on the course. They follow you back into every individual round you play.
What Yana Wilson Discovered at the 2026 Dow Championship
Wilson wasn’t planning to use the Dow as a technical laboratory. She was trying to win. But when you’re playing alternate shot, something changes about how you think – and Wilson’s caddie, Eric, noticed it before she did.
“I kind of realized this would help my game a lot when we played alternate shot because I was really trying not to put Gina in a bad spot, really trying not to miss the ball,” Wilson said. “My caddie, Eric, and I were talking about this earlier in the week. He was like, you should really do this more often – hit the middle of the green and hit the fairway, right?”
Two things sharpened up immediately. Her long game became more controlled because every tee shot and approach had a consequences attached to it: her partner would be playing the next one. Her putting speed tightened up for the same reason – she didn’t want to leave Kim a six-footer coming back. When the outcome of every shot affects someone else, you stop gambling.
“Reflecting on what we did and how I played during alternate shot, I feel like it was very boring and I feel like I could definitely use more of that in my game,” Wilson said.
Boring golf. That’s the insight. Not flashier. Not longer. Just quieter, more deliberate, and harder to blow up.
Why Alternate Shot (Foursomes) Forces You to Play Better Golf
The accountability mechanism in foursomes is unlike anything in stroke play. Miss your drive in a normal round and you play it yourself, grind it out, maybe make bogey. Miss your drive in foursomes and your partner plays it. They didn’t hit the bad shot — you did. That dynamic doesn’t just change the pressure; it changes what you aim at.
PGA coaches have been saying this for years. Great alternate shot players are steady. They keep the ball in play, they seldom put their partner in trouble, and they understand that the risk you take doesn’t just land on you — it lands on someone who trusted you to manage it. That’s not a soft observation. It’s a hard technical discipline that translates directly into better golf course management when you’re back in a solo stroke play round.
The Ryder Cup is the most visible example. Watch how players like Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay operate in foursomes sessions compared to their individual play on Sunday. The shot selection is narrower, the swing is tighter, the target is the middle third of every green. They’re not trying to be heroic. They’re trying to be reliable.
Play one foursomes round at your club and you’ll feel the same pull. You will stand on the tee and genuinely ask yourself: “Can I live with where this ball might end up?” That question is worth its weight in handicap strokes. Most of us never ask it.
What Fourball Teaches You That Stroke Play Never Will
Fourball — where you and a partner both play your own ball and the lower score counts for the team — teaches something subtler and arguably more valuable: how to play without fear.
Here’s the mechanism. On a par 4 where your partner is already on the green in regulation, you can take a more aggressive line into the pin knowing their solid score is already in the bank for the team. Nothing bad happens to the scoreboard if you miss. You’re playing with a safety net.
Most golfers experience this as a kind of release. Suddenly the swing feels freer, the ball flight is better, and the decision-making is sharper. Not because you’ve fixed your mechanics — because you’ve removed the mental weight of consequence.
That’s the lesson. Play a round of fourball and pay attention to how you swing when your partner is safe. That swing — the one with no fear attached — is closer to your actual potential than what you produce under stroke-play pressure. Watch it, feel it, and try to reproduce it when you’re playing alone. The “ham and egg” dynamic between fourball partners, where one picks the other up when they’re struggling, teaches you that not every hole needs to be won individually. Sometimes the right play is the steady one that doesn’t blow a hole open. Your individual game needs that reminder regularly.
Even a Scramble Can Sharpen Your Eye
Scrambles are often written off as the format where golfers go to score low, drink beer, and not think too hard. That’s partly true. But there’s a specific benefit hiding inside them that most people miss.
When four players hit their approaches from the same spot and the team walks to the green, you see four different outcomes from the same lie. You see who attacked the flag and finished in a bunker. You see who aimed at the middle of the green and rolled out to 15 feet. Over 18 holes of watching that pattern repeat, you build a sharper sense of what aggressive plays actually cost versus what conservative plays actually deliver.
It’s not a drill. It’s observation. But the spatial intelligence you develop watching four balls from the same lie, hole after hole, accumulates into better target selection when you’re playing alone. Scrambles won’t fix your swing. They can train your eye.
The “Partner Test” – A Drill You Can Use Alone
Wilson’s caddie Eric put the idea most simply: hit the fairway, hit the middle of the green. But there’s a way to formalize this into a repeatable mental exercise you can use in any round, even when you’re playing solo.
Before every shot – tee shots, approaches, chips, putts – ask one question:
“If my partner had to play from where this shot lands, would I be comfortable with that?”
That’s the Partner Test. It sounds simple because it is. But it does something structurally important: it shifts your decision-making from “what’s the best possible outcome here?” to “what’s the safest acceptable outcome here?” Those are very different questions, and the second one is the one that eliminates big numbers.
Apply it specifically to putting. Before you pull the trigger on an aggressive downhill lag putt, ask whether you’d want your partner dealing with a fast 8-footer coming back. If the answer is no, dial the speed back and aim for a flat two-footer. You’ll three-putt less. Wilson found this instinctively during the Dow. You can build it deliberately.
This isn’t playing scared. This isn’t leaving shots out there. Boring golf, as Wilson called it, isn’t weak golf — it’s disciplined golf. And discipline is the one thing no swing lesson can give you.
What Each Team Format Teaches Your Individual Game (At a Glance)
| Format | How It’s Played | Core Lesson for Solo Golf | What It Reveals About Your Individual Game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foursomes (Alternate Shot) | One ball, partners alternate shots | Accountability — every shot affects someone else | You discover how often you gamble without realising it |
| Fourball (Better Ball) | Each plays own ball, best score counts | Freedom — learn to swing without consequence | You find out what your game looks like without fear |
| Scramble | All hit, team takes best shot | Observation — see four results from one lie | You calibrate your target selection against real outcomes |
Who This Mindset Shift Won’t Help (Be Honest)
If you’re already a scratch golfer or a 2-handicapper who plays conservative golf by default – who already aims at the fat part of every green, already two-putts from 20 feet without stress, already hits the fairway 80% of the time – the team golf mindset won’t move the needle for you.
What Wilson found wasn’t a revelation for her overall game. It was a reminder. She’s 19 and playing with enough talent to occasionally get sloppy. The Partner Test pulled her back to basics.
The golfer who benefits most from this is the 12–22 handicapper who makes good contact 70% of the time but loses six to eight shots per round to poor target selection, aggressive line-hunting, and putting at speed instead of position. That golfer – and that’s most amateur golfers – will notice the difference within the first couple of holes of applying the Partner Test.
If that’s you, play a team event this weekend. You don’t need to win. You just need to notice the version of yourself that shows up when someone else is counting on you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does playing team golf formats like scrambles actually improve your individual golf game?
Yes, but differently depending on the format. Scrambles primarily improve your target selection and spatial judgment by letting you observe multiple approaches from the same lie. Foursomes (alternate shot) builds accountability and conservative decision-making because every shot you hit lands in your partner’s lap. Fourball strips away fear and shows you what your game looks like when the pressure is removed. None of them fix your swing mechanics — but all three train habits of mind that make your stroke play rounds cleaner.
What is the best team golf format for improving your individual game?
Foursomes (alternate shot) delivers the strongest individual improvement. The accountability is immediate and visceral — you cannot escape the consequence of a bad shot because your partner plays it next. PGA coaches consistently describe great foursomes players as steady, conservative, and controlled, which are exactly the qualities most amateur golfers lack in stroke play. Play one foursomes round and you’ll carry the mindset home.
What did Yana Wilson learn from foursomes at the 2026 Dow Championship?
Wilson won the 2026 LPGA Dow Championship with partner Gina Kim. During the foursomes rounds, she noticed her long game became more precise because she was genuinely trying not to leave Kim in a difficult position. Her putting speed also improved because she didn’t want to leave her partner a long comeback putt. She described the experience as “very boring” — and said she needed more of that discipline in her individual stroke play rounds.
How does the “Partner Test” work as a solo practice drill?
Before every shot in a solo round, ask yourself: “If my partner had to play from where this lands, would I be happy with that?” Apply it to tee shots (would you be comfortable leaving your partner in the rough?), approaches (would you be fine leaving them in a bunker?), and especially putts (would you want your partner dealing with a fast 8-footer coming back?). If the answer is no, adjust your target or your pace before you swing.
Is fourball the same as better ball?
Yes. The USGA’s official term is Four-Ball. In the UK and Australia, it’s often called fourball betterball or 4BBB. Both terms describe the same format: two partners each play their own ball, and the lower score of the two counts as the team’s score on each hole. It’s distinct from foursomes, where both partners play a single ball in alternating shots.
The Bottom Line
Wilson’s insight from Midland wasn’t a golf tip. It was a shift in how she thought about every shot – what it’s for, who it affects, and whether she’d be comfortable with the result. You don’t need to win a team event on the LPGA Tour for that shift to change your game.
Play a foursomes round, try the Partner Test in your next solo round, and watch what happens to your big numbers. The “boring golf” Wilson described isn’t a compromise — it’s the standard the best players hold themselves to, every single hole.