Dont’ Shoot at the Hole
When you’re golfing, why should you shoot for the hole? Sounds ridiculous right. Wrong.
Most golfers I play with or see have high handicaps. Like me they’re working down from around 100 and can’t seem to get anywhere. One of the biggest obstacles that I’ve had to overcome is shooting for the hole. What I mean is playing every shoot towards the hole. Since I don’t have a controllable fade or draw I cringe at going for spot right of the hole or left of the hole. My guess is so do you.
Playing on island courses and some of the most difficult in the world (slope and rating wise) I have learned you don’t always need to go for the hole. A lot of times the smart shot is to the right away from the bunkers 150 yards short! Most of the time I would take out my 3 wood and go for the glory. It was hard for me to justify hitting the ball short on my second shot into a par four and then trying to chip the ball close. That isn’t even laying up in most golfers books.
But it works! My scores have dropped quite a bit since I began to shot for a wide open patch rather than between two trees. Here’s some of the thoughts I go through when selecting a shot.
Play It Short on a Par Four
- One of the most helpful things I’ve done to improve my scores is to not go for the hole every shot on every hole. On Par fours where my tee shot has left me a horrible angle into the hole, or in a position where if I over shoot the hole it’s going to go long, dribble down a hill and end up OB, I lay it up. Of course I have worked also on improving my short game in the process, but laying up has shaved at least three strokes off some rounds.
Too often us duffers hit a tee shot to the left and leave ourselves behind a patch of trees that we need to either draw the ball around or shoot a perfectly straight shot dropping, with backspin. Both shots I don’t have in my repertoire quite yet. Instead, why not pull out a 4 iron take a half swing and pooch the ball low under the tree and out in the middle of the fairway. Chip the ball close you could save par, two putt and you get bogey. On your way to a 90!
Why Not Roll it Up
- Another shot that you should add to your bag-o-tricks is the seven or eight iron from 40 yards away. If there aren’t any bunkers in front of you why do you need so much air under the ball? Do you have the skill to drop the ball next to the hole? If I am within about 10-20 yards of the fringe with nothing in front of me I often take out my eight iron and look to get the ball just high enough to create some roll and get it on the green going towards the hole.
My guess is that most of you take out those brand new wedges you bought and skull the ball shooting it straight over the green and into the bunker on the other side. If you watch Big Break IV you noticed that a lot of them shot old English pitch shots where the ball would land 10 yards from the green but roll up in a good position. If you have no obstacles, some decent fairway in front of you, don’t work on your short game. Pull out the 8 or even 9 iron and use the much easier controllable pitch shot.
Long and Straight or Short and Open
- If you are like most you pull out your driver and go for the glory of hitting the long ball dead down the center of the fairway. Unless your playing from the back tees, you don’t need to let the big dog eat every single time. Especially if there is a patch of trees hanging over the right or left edge of the fairway.
On a lot of the island courses here in Hawaii there are short par fours but the designers placed a few trees about 100 yards out from the tee box blocking your route to the hole. You could hug the trees and go over them long or take out a 5 wood and shoot short to a big open patch. Hmm. I usually go hugging trees and shooting long, or at least try. Too often I find myself in the bushes trying to punch my ball at the hole (see previous). Might I suggest the 5 wood next time. 150-170 out is a lot better than 200 out and under a bush.
The biggest take away you should have from this is to not always go for the glory. Trust me. Look ahead to where your shot could be and then look at what some other options are. Start playing for bogey’s on every hole rather than playing for pars. You’ll begin to see the game in a hole new way and look towards scratch golfing like a reality instead of a dream.