Tennis revitalizes golf star's comeback

US Senior Women's Open Golf Champion McGill credits tennis for her return to the top

Ground strokes, serves and overhead smashes are not ordinarily associated with golf. But these strokes – and the inherent conditioning benefits of tennis – fueled Jill McGill’s victory in the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open.  

A state champion golfer at Cherry Creek High School, McGill stepped away from competitive golf in 2010, following a 15-year career on the LPGA tour. She began dropping in on tennis classes at Samuell Grand Tennis Center, a public facility in Dallas, in 2020. Jason Warren, the instructor, was not aware of McGill’s status as a world-class athlete, but a couple of nuances caught his attention.

“She kept coming and coming to classes, and I’m thinking her racquet was likely a product of Target. Maybe a ‘Barbie’ model,” he facetiously recalled. 

Cross-training is not a new concept, but its value has been illuminated from McGill’s perspective. In her learning excursion, she discovered its mental and emotional benefits were commensurate with the physiological benefits.

Golf, with its methodical pace between shots, exacerbates the time in which poorly executed shots tend to linger. In this respect, McGill extolls the tempo of tennis, stating: “One of the great things about tennis is the ease one has to ‘flush’ what just happened. I can physically feel the stress exit my body.” 

Wendy Ward, a junior golf and collegiate competitor of McGill’s and a four-time winner on the LPGA tour, agrees with McGill’s appreciation of the rapid action in tennis. “Golf is one of the few sports where you have considerable time to think and ponder, which can be good or bad,” she said. “A sport like tennis is much more reactive . . . requiring rapid responses both mentally and physically.”

Jeff Wagner, a fitness coach in Denver, Colorado with seven years of experience on the PGA tour, teaches core-stabilizing biomechanics that are fundamental to tennis. These offset the repetitive, static motions golfers employ in their practice sessions. Tennis requires constant motion, while golf professionals spend hours at a time in virtually the same position and essentially the same posture. 

Wagner believes that training fine motor skills like a golf swing can diminish an athlete’s overall capacity. He cites the single-sport trend in youth sports – with its focus on one sport only, as a culprit for injuries caused by repetitive motions. When Wagner trained PGA star Jason Duffner with exercises to increase stability and properly decelerate the torque of his swing – elementary to tennis mechanics - Duffner rose from a world ranking of 93rd to 6th. 

Matthew Bernier, another trainer from Denver who works with athletes from various sports, underscores Wagner’s philosophy of building core strength and balance – regardless of the sport. Both trainers recognize the subtle similarity between a tennis swing and a golf swing, referring to it as rotational mechanics. Bernier breaks it down further, stating, “The golf swing incorporates a ‘unirotational’ movement; swinging a tennis racquet implements ‘multirotational’ movement.” 

Because of the various swing planes required in tennis and the sequencing required, it builds strength and stability in the core muscles. Jill McGill capitalized on this conditioning to maintain her stamina throughout the grueling rounds of her recent championship. 

Jason Warren, McGill’s tennis coach, recognizes the similarity between tennis and golf swings in the progression of the backswing to the finish. Both swings implement a deliberate movement to load energy in the backswing, then increase velocity all the way through the ball strike, to a balanced finish.  

Unlike the pressure McGill experienced while competing with the best female golfers on the planet, the flow of tennis provides opportunities to unload the emotional baggage which comes along with competition. She said tennis helps her relax, trusting that her practice has prepared her for success. She carried this onto the golf course, along with better breathing and relaxation techniques she found on the tennis courts.

“Another way tennis has helped my golf is by embracing the journey of learning,” McGill said. Jason Warren thinks this approach to learning is a result of her own experiences coaching. McGill is in demand as a golf instructor, teaching when time permits. 

“She wants to know ‘why’ I coach certain techniques, so she can make adjustments as needed during competition, whether on the court or on the course,” Warren said. “She’s a coach taking the coaching. I was impressed when she told me she wanted to ‘feel’ the tennis ball on her racquet, like she does a golf ball on her clubs.”

A 15-year veteran of coaching tennis, Warren embraces the theory that it’s not a matter of winning or losing, success or failure. His emphasis is to trust the learning process and let the results come naturally. And like conditioning coaches believe, he’s convinced that relieving tension also helps prevent injuries.

When McGill arrived at her Dallas home following her win in the Open, she was greeted by her tennis teammates, playfully dubbed the Unicorns. Her front lawn was adorned with large, colorful congratulatory signage and symbols, and champagne was chilling. It’s these tennis teammates – her “tribe,” who add an obvious layer of joy to her life. She adores them and it’s obvious they adore her as well. Jason Warren appreciates the Unicorns, and when he checks in with them after matches, he inquires about the fun they experienced that day – not whether or not they won. Maybe it’s this laid-back approach that helped the Unicorns win a city title in Dallas.

Tennis lends itself to team play easier than golf, and team sports provide opportunities for bonding that cannot be found through individual competition. McGill playfully insists that the details of the Unicorn’s karaoke party shall remain confidential.

In two years, McGill has risen from an NTRP rating of 3.0 to 4.0, so she’ll have to consider different teammates going forward. But for now, she’ll bask in the joy of the family she’s been dedicated to since leaving full-time competitive golf, and the tennis community which has elevated her athleticism.

Summarizing her relationship with tennis and golf, Jill McGill said: “Truly, tennis is what helped me most and I will continue using it as a vehicle for fitness and sanity.”