BOCA RATON, Fla. – Dana Finkelstein’s license lists her at 5 feet, 2 inches tall, but she admits that’s probably being generous. More like 5 feet, 1 inch.
Finkelstein never expected to overpower a golf course. Yet at the end of last season, she knew a change was in order. Simply put: Finkelstein felt she couldn’t win on the LPGA unless she got longer.
So she hired a new swing coach in Milo Lines and got to work immediately after Q-Series last November. It didn’t take long for the decision to pay off.
The 26-year-old from Chandler, Arizona, made her way into the new Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio at the last minute and recorded a top-20 finish. She’s hitting it 15 to 20 yards longer off the tee and a club longer with her irons. The extra swing speed paid off handsomely on the soggy South Florida course.
“I think it’s going to be a big game-changer for me this year,” she said, “being able to go for par 5s in two and have more wedges in my hand.”
Finkelstein finished third last season in driving accuracy on the LPGA, hitting 82.9 percent of fairways. She was 150thin driving distance at 246 yards. Finkelstein didn’t need to change her identity as a player, but there is such a thing as too short.
Her backswing has changed from a laid-off position to more on plane, which Finkelstein said allows her to shallow the club and create more speed with her lower body.
“There was no way I was going to be able to win a golf tournament out here with where I was at last year,” she said.
As the tour grows deeper in talent, the players have gotten longer too. Last year, 16 players averaged over 270 in driving distance on the LPGA. That’s up from one player in both 2014 and 2015.
Finkelstein’s average of 246.033 would’ve ranked much higher than 150th not long ago. In 2014, Morgan Pressel was 87th in driving distance at 246.256. Stacy Lewis was 89th at 246.330 in 2015.
Finkelstein arrived in Boca Raton on the alternate list. She played in the Monday qualifier, didn’t make it, and stuck around hoping somebody might withdraw. She wasn’t optimistic given how early it was in the season, until she heard that sponsor exemption Madison Pressel, Morgan’s sister, was sick. Pressel gave Finkelstein the nod last Thursday, eight minutes before her tee time. She ran to the 10th tee to get ready.
“It was definitely probably the most nervous I’ve ever been on the first tee,” she said of the rushed start.
It turned out well. Finkelstein hopes the $21,380 paycheck gets her into the ANA Inspiration. She played the Dinah Shore course three times while at UNLV, finishing runner-up in the Mountain West Conference Championship. She has unfinished business there.
Finkelstein was still in college when Mo Martin, who is listed at 5 feet, 2 ½ inches, won the 2014 AIG Women’s British Open at Birkdale. Another Mo, Moriya Jutanugarn, won the LA Open two years ago. She’s 5-foot-1.
“It was in there,” said Finkelstein of the power she needed to get succeed at the next level.
She’s off to a flying start.