CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Carl Lohren sat in a folding chair behind Ryan Gerard before Friday’s second round of the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship and studied his warmup. He didn’t say a word because he didn’t have to. He had already imparted enough wisdom to his pupil that Gerard, a 23-year-old who earned Special Temporary membership on the PGA Tour last month, didn’t need any handholding.
“This kid is exceptional,” Lohren crowed. “His swing reminds me of Jon Rahm in that it’s fast and he doesn’t take it way back. He’s got the lower body going forward before the club gets to the top which I think is symbolic of a great swing.”
It had been 40 years since Lohren, 85, has worked with a pro at a PGA Tour stop – in 1983 he spent time with Gary Hallberg at Pebble Beach and later that same year at Butler National near Chicago during the Western Open with Marty Fleckman. Lohren’s heyday as an instructor to PGA Tour pros took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the likes of Deane Beman, Babe Hiskey and Dave Hill. (Among his disciples was club pro, Gene Borek, who, in addition to passing on his methods to students such as yours truly, dominated the Met PGA section for years and once shot a course-record 65 at Oakmont in the second round of the 1973 U.S. Open that stood for 48 hours until Johnny Miller did what he did.) During Beman’s rookie season on Tour in 1968, he was mired in a slump and called Lohren and said, “Are you ready to do some weaving because I’m a basket case.”
To be back inside the ropes with a player support badge for an up-and-coming pro more than 50 years later, well, it’s not unheard of – the best comparison may be Bob Toski, who worked with the likes of Tom Kite, Bruce Crampton, Judy Rankin and Pat Bradley during their primes and had a second act late in life with Birdie Kim, who won the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open, and Ken Duke, who won the 2013 Travelers – but it’s almost as rare as spotting Halley’s Comet and speaks to his incredible longevity in the game while confirming his teaching techniques are as relevant as ever.
Swing coach Carl Lohren returned to a PGA Tour driving range with one of his pupils on May 5, 2023, for the first time in four decades. Here he watches Ryan Gerard before his second round tee time at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte. (Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports)
Lohren credits Ben Hogan’s swing to leading him to “the move,” and a better way to strike the golf…
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