Jayson Tatum bends at the waist then leans to his right, holding his follow through the whole time. Like Paul Pierce on a long jump shot, Tatum is trying to will the ball to its intended target, wielding body language as his weapon.

When the ball finally drops, Tatum raises his hand in a muted celebration. On a basketball court, he might have skipped or pounded his chest. But here, on a putting green, he acts like the golfer he’s hoping to become. Casual. Just like many of the pros.

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Though not nearly at that level yet, Tatum is picking up the game quickly. Just three years ago, before his rookie season, he was filmed whiffing on a swing at Top Golf. Now, says instructor Daniel Boisvert, the Celtics All-Star is making rapid progress during regular lessons. Though he rarely swung a golf club before the NBA shutdown in March, Tatum developed the itch during the league hiatus and has been working diligently on his game since.

Boisvert said he has worked with Tatum’s stepfather, Jake Barnes, for the past three years. Barnes often urged Tatum to take up golf, but Tatum never had much time to invest into the sport until recently. During a trip to Florida after the NBA shutdown, Barnes talked Tatum into hitting some balls with him and heading out to a course.

“And he kind of got hooked,” said Boisvert.

Since Tatum returned to the Boston area, Boisvert said he has worked on his star pupil’s swing over approximately 10 lessons. At the KOHR Golf Center in Natick, Boisvert will set aside one section of the facility so Tatum can have a little bit of privacy from fans. The two will spend about an hour per session working on swings, then a bit more time on drivers and short game work. Tatum is still in the beginning stages of building a lasting swing, but already shows rare natural talent. In a video Boisvert posted to Instagram, he claimed that Tatum hit a “bunt driver” 315 yards. Boisvert said Tatum has already eclipsed the average swing speed of PGA tour players: about 114 MPH.

“He makes half swings at 118 MPH,” Boisvert said. “But with a wingspan and the physics of it, he’s got a very, very long lever to create speed for him. So it doesn’t even look like he’s swinging and he’s swinging 118 MPH. So he’s well ahead of (the PGA Tour average) without even really going at it.”

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For reference, a swing speed of 118 MPH off the tee would have ranked 38th among PGA Tour players during 2019. When he opens up the throttle a little bit more, Tatum can swing his club at a velocity even some of the PGA’s longest hitters don’t touch. Boisvert said that when he asked Tatum to hit one a little harder, he swung the club 125 MPH. That’s faster than Bubba Watson ever swung his driver throughout the 2019 season, according to the PGA Tour’s website. Tatum, like so many other golfers, needs to harness his swing, develop better tempo and consistency, and iron out what can be an overly inside-out swing plane. Still, he can already smack the ball when he gets a hold of it.

“Basketball players are very, very explosive,” Boisvert said. “They know how to use the ground very, very well. In golf, if you can use the ground and you have some long levers, you can create a tremendous amount of speed with a very little amount of effort just by getting your body to move the right way.”

Boisvert said he tries to remind Tatum he won’t become a great golfer immediately. If he holds himself to the same standards he does in basketball, he will set himself up for a frustrating experience, since very few people ever reach that level. To establish more realistic expectations, Boisvert said he tells Tatum to remember all the progress he needed to make when he was learning how to play basketball and the importance of practice and repetition. For the time being, Boisvert said he has Tatum work mostly on half swings. He needs to build up his fundamentals before progressing to full swings. On the course, Boisvert said Tatum should not keep score yet because that matters far less than the repetitions he’s getting.

“When he first started, there was a lot of inconsistency,” Boisvert said. “Every once in a while he would square one up and he’d hit the crap out of it because he’s got a 7-foot wingspan so he creates a tremendous amount of speed. So when we started, we worked on a lot of the basics: setup, posture, grip, all those things which make everything else a little easier. And for him the biggest thing I’d say is repetition. There’s nothing super fancy I’m doing with him. I’m just trying to push him in the right direction. If he hits and practices, he’ll get better.”

How good could Tatum eventually be at golf? Boisvert said if the 22-year-old sticks with the game for a while, he could one day progress to the level of Stephen Curry and Ray Allen – two of the more famous and talented basketball-playing golfers. Like other professional athletes he has worked with, Boisvert said, Tatum picks things up quickly.

“He’s obviously a very, very, very good athlete,” Boisvert said. “And his practice disciplines are world class. So a guy like that’s going to learn at a pretty good rate.

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“The big thing that I’ll see with him is he’s pretty meticulous about his routine. So he’s really good about standing behind the ball, reading his line, going through the same motion. That’s what builds consistency. Too many golfers that come through the door, they maybe make a practice swing once and then they don’t later. Then they make two later, then none again. So there’s a lot of inconsistency with how they approach a shot. He seems to be a lot more organized with his approach. I would say most athletes are the same exact way. There are probably a handful of guys that aren’t, but most of these world-class athletes I’d say are pretty meticulous about their process.”

During the NBA hiatus, golf has emerged as a competitive outlet for Tatum when he’s not working on his basketball skills and conditioning. Over time, Boisvert hopes Tatum can use the sport as a way to maximize his rare free time with people he enjoys. As amateur golfers everywhere know, the game can be addicting. Tatum’s just a bit more physically talented than most other people who fall in love with the game in their 20s.

“I’d say in the 10 sessions we’ve had, he’s probably made the progress I would see somebody make in 40 sessions, somewhere around there,” Boisvert said. “I tell him that and I think he thinks I’m just blowing steam at him. But a lot of the other coaches and the other guys around my facility, they’re like, ‘Holy smokes, man. He’s come a long way.’”

(Photo: Chris Elise / NBAE via Getty Images)