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While sitting on an inflated Swiss ball, Leonard exercises his oblique abdominal muscles by rotating and tossing a 10-pound medicine ball to MacDonald at a 45-degree angle. By sitting on the unstable ball (instead of standing), Justin needs good posture and uses his torso for the throw instead of his legs.

You can sense his determination when he first strides into the gym and mounts a Schwinn Airdyne exercise bike to begin warming up. He may not grit those familiar GQ model teeth, and his manner is amiable and gentlemanly polite. But inside there’s a quiet fire, an intense belief that he can perform at the level of the big boys – Els, Singh, Love … even Woods.

As he moves around the cushioned floor from one exercise to the next, Justin Charles Garrett Leonard’s driving purpose is not merely to hit a golf ball a few yards farther. His intent is winning more tournaments, particularly more Majors, and rising considerably higher than his current No. 21 world ranking.

After he had won the British Open at age 25, after he had become the hero of the ’99 Ryder Cup, after he had won $7 million official dollars on the PGA Tour in only five years, Leonard decided it wasn’t good enough. “I was playing too inconsistently,” he says. “Maybe four weeks out of the year I felt pretty good. But the other 25 were pretty rough. I needed to make a change.”

So Justin switched swing coaches in late 2000, leaving longtime teacher Randy Smith of Dallas’ Royal Oaks Country Club in favor of Butch Harmon, the #1 peer-ranked instructor (according to Golf Digest) and Tiger Woods’ main sounding board at the time.

“I went to Butch to build a swing that would repeat under pressure,” JL explains. Harmon’s primary advice was a more upright set up with Justin’s weight toward the right side and a more complete backswing rotation. “I have a tendency to hang on my left side and not get fully behind the ball,” Leonard admits. “Justin's legs are much more quiet now, because they can be,” Harmon notes. “He's simply rotating through, not manipulating the club.”

“My new set up was so different that I felt like I was going to hit a foot behind the ball the first few weeks I tried it,” Leonard laughs. He made steady progress, though, winning the Texas Open in October 2001, the Worldcom (Heritage) Classic plus a personal best $2.7 million in 2002, and his eighth career victory – The Honda Classic – and $2.4 million for 17th on the Tour money list this past year.

He’s hitting the ball 20 yards farther than in 1997 – some of that thanks to the swing changes, some of it to ever-improving equipment. But Justin’s 279-yard average off the tee is only 150th on Tour, more than 40 yards behind Dallas bomber Hank Kuehne and 20 or more yards behind the fearsome foursome of Love, Woods, Els, and Singh. Perhaps worse, Leonard’s driving accuracy dropped to 68% in 2003 (61st) and his greens-in-regulation stat was at 65% (100th).

What was holding JL back, apparently, may have been physical – not something you would expect of a 31-year-old who appears to be in excellent shape and who only two years ago ran the White Rock Marathon in under four hours. Yet when Leonard first visited strength and conditioning coach Bob MacDonald in Dallas in late August, “Bob noticed that my rotator cuffs were tight and my hips were also a little tight. That was making it harder to get in the ‘loaded up’ position I want to be in.”

“Justin had a great fitness base – spine alignment, good core, strong back,” MacDonald says. “But he’s never really been challenged to be an athlete.”

MacDonald and Leonard designed a more dynamic workout program targeted at increasing Justin’s range of motion in the shoulders and hips, further strengthening his core (abdominals, lower back, hips, glutes), and training his body to react more quickly and explosively.

Leonard took an unusual eight-week break from competition in September and October to remain home in Dallas with wife Amanda and their new daughter, Reese (born September 14th). During that paternity hiatus, he also had the opportunity to work regularly with MacDonald – emerging stronger, lighter (by five pounds), and with slightly broader shoulders and narrower hips. Most significant, since returning to tournament action, Leonard is smacking the ball greater distances. And not just with his driver -- he’s about one club longer with the irons.

Vijay Singh commented on Leonard’s added length during their President’s Cup four-ball and foursomes matches in South Africa (Justin’s teams prevailed in both). “I was within five yards of Vijay off the tee, all day, both days,” JL recalls.

“Since starting to work with Bob, I’ve definitely gotten stronger,” Justin declares. “I also have a better idea what I need to feel with my golf swing. My set up’s gotten better, and I have an easier time making that turn.”

Leonard met MacDonald through Harrison Frazar, one of Bob’s other professional tour clients and Justin’s roommate at the University of Texas. “Harrison told me some of the things he and Bob were doing, how the program was not just about lifting weights, but how they worked together throughout the year on core, balance, footwork,” JL explains.

At a practice round for The International in Denver in early August, Bob and Justin were able to share ideas for the first time. Two weeks later, after the NEC Invitational, Leonard visited MacDonald’s gym for the initial evaluation that revealed the shoulder and hip restrictions. “Justin hadn’t made up his mind yet about working together,” MacDonald remembers. “We talked about his goals in terms of his game and his swing. Basically, he wants to take his game to the next level.”

“Bob’s knowledge about the swing is really in tune,” Leonard states. “That kind of knowledge is what makes this work really well.”

JL’s new strength and conditioning program includes both in-season workouts when he’s traveling on Tour regularly and off-season workouts geared more to developing additional strength and quickness. For example, Leonard is now doing Olympic-style lifts which require very quick control-type movements. “If a player is capable of doing these lifts, they’re very beneficial for building explosive power,” MacDonald explains. But he also cautions, “These can be dangerous moves if not done properly under supervision.”

MacDonald’s training philosophy for golfers is adamantly anti-bodybuilding, however. “Bodybuilding is about using larger muscles to lift heavy weights at low numbers of repetitions. This builds ‘slow twitch’ muscle fibers, and is great for football lineman whose primary duty is to push people around. But that’s the exact opposite of what you want in the golf swing where you use finer, ‘fast twitch’ motor muscle skills for stabilization, control, and firing off in proper sequence. For that you use lighter weights and higher repetitions.”

Occasionally, as an example of golf’s emerging interest in fitness, you’ll hear about some young Tour pro who can “bench” a surprising amount of weight. “The bench press is a nonsensical lift for golf,” MacDonald opines. “Its purpose is to build a big chest, which is fine for guys posing in Speedos. But it’s not an attribute you want for swinging a golf club.”

A proper conditioning program need not be time-consuming and physically exhausting. Leonard’s time in the gym is typically less than an hour per session, and each exercise lasts no more than 35 or 40 seconds. Some of the exercises are obviously golf-related, such as tugging on a cable pulley in a simulated downswing action. Other routines using balance boards, inflated Swiss balls, a medicine ball, and a torso training machine might puzzle the uninitiated. “Justin’s training on a performance level,” MacDonald explains. “Yes, we’re working on his shoulder turn and hips, but you can’t neglect the rest of the body. To train the total athlete, everything has to be integrated.”

Some amateur golfers are looking for an easy fix for their game. “Just write me a program of three or four exercises,” MacDonald chuckles at the concept. “Strength and conditioning is a science. It’s not just picking up a dumbbell and moving it over your head. There are hundreds of possible exercises, and you need the right combination, in a certain sequence, with appropriate weights, intensity and repetitions for your individual condition.”

As Leonard performs each exercise, MacDonald, notes in hand, monitors the drill, counting the repetitions and carefully observing JL’s execution, sometimes first demonstrating how to perform a move. “You don’t have to show him how to do an exercise more than once. Justin picks it up the first time.”

MacDonald has been studying biomechanics and sports conditioning for nearly 14 years. He’s specialized in golf dynamics the past eight years, and is now based at the Performance Playground on Cole Avenue, just north of downtown Dallas. “Anybody who plays golf and knows fitness knows Bob,” Leonard states.

The workout concludes at the indoor practice net where Bob demonstrates the hip rotation action he wants Leonard to work on. Other golfers are now drifting in for their early morning workouts, and Justin flashes a friendly smile and “Hi, how are ya?” On a television in the corner of the room, Tiger Woods is being interviewed on ESPN, saying he “worked his butt off” to surpass Byron Nelson’s consecutive cut streak, but JL pays no attention to the tube.

As he drills balls into the net with a 5-iron, Leonard says he’s now within 2-3 inches of where Harmon wants him to be at the apex of the backswing. “Butch wants me to be here,” he demonstrates. “I’m not quite there, but the improvement in the past few weeks is incredible. At Lanny’s tournament (Wadkins’ annual charity benefit at Preston Trail), I was hitting my drives to places I’ve never been before.”

In addition to the gym workouts, Leonard and MacDonald work on swing mechanics at Justin’s private range at Brook Hollow Country Club. Recently the emphasis has been on contracting the abdominals at the start of the downswing to enable the left hip to clear more easily. They’ve also been experimenting with a delayed hinging of the wrists on the backswing to increase shoulder turn.

After we snap some final photos, JL rifles a few more balls into the center of the net. Precursors to the precision shots he expects to hit in a few months at places like Shinnecock Hills and Royal Troon, site of his Open triumph. The rotation looks good. The ball contact sounds like a well-tuned machine. Justin pauses from his ball-striking and grins at MacDonald. “That heel’s coming up naturally now,” he says, casually jabbing Bob in the arm. “Thanks.”

Justin Leonard Turns on the Power