I’ve written recently about how you can learn from watching the pro game on TV on weekends, but that the lessons are mostly about the importance of the short game. It’s just a fact that these best male players in the world are simply magical around and on the greens, and they have to be to shoot those scores. Tour stats prove that they really do not take these golf courses apart from tee to green if given a tough track.

But apart from that, I believe it’s pretty difficult for the typical recreational golfer – especially those in their 50s or older – to learn much about the golf swing from these finely-tuned athletes who go at it as hard as they do.

As a complete contrast to the men’s professional game, I hope many of you tuned in to watch the amazing play of the LPGA stars at this past weekend’s Women’s PGA Championship. Particularly impressive was the play of both Lizette Salas and Nelly Korda as they distanced themselves from the field the last two days. They went pretty much head-to-head and shot-to-shot until Miss Korda eagled two par 5s to pull away on Sunday with spectacular shotmaking.

What was most impressive to me — and a great contrast to the show the guys on PGA Tour present each week — was the absolute precision of these ladies’ shotmaking with every club through the bag. Overall, their misses tend to be much smaller than the men’s, and their best shots are every bit as good. If you watched, you witnessed drive after drive in the fairway, approach after approach on the green, and many shots – not only with wedges – that just covered the hole. These ladies are really THAT good, trust me.

I’ve always believed that most of us guys can learn a lot more from watching the ladies than the men. They swing with precision and grace, perfect timing and sequencing, in order to get the most out of their physical size and strength, which is a fraction of the typical PGA professional. Lizette Salas, for example was averaging about 230-235 off the tee, usually leaving her 20-30 yards or more behind Korda, but she continually put her hybrid and mid-iron approaches on the green. And she obviously hit a bunch of them close, as she finished 16 under par on a challenging Atlanta Athletic Club course that has also hosted the men on the PGA Tour.

I’m sure Lizette Salas’ distances through her bag are much closer to most of ours than even the shortest hitters on the PGA Tour. And that just proves that precision shotmaking can still allow you to score any golf course. Of course, these ladies also show us time and again that their short games and putting are not inferior to the men at all.

One of the other things that struck me about watching the ladies play the game is how often the cameras catch so many of them smiling – even after shots or holes when the outcome is not to their liking. In other words, they appear to be having fun. And isn’t that what golf is supposed to be about?

An interesting side story to this LPGA major was the fact that PGA Tour player Bubba Watson had reached out to Nelly Korda to encourage her to keep golf in perspective, even offering to be her mental coach. Bubba’s struggles with the mental side of golf are well-documented, and it was super-generous and kind for him to offer to help. Even when you play the game for a living, Bubba extolled, golf still IS NOT LIFE. It’s not nearly as important as faith and family, Bubba coached. And what happens on the course does not determine WHO you are, or your REAL WORTH as a person.

That’s a lesson we can all take to heart.

Yes, I think we all can learn from watching golf on TV, but please don’t discount the quality of talent and skill on the LPGA Tour — these ladies put on a helluva show.