I mentioned briefly in a comment in the Tiger Woods post from the weekend that I had played with a golf friend (I’ll just call him S) in a charity fundraising tournament on Sunday.
Playing best-ball (or whatever you call the format where each man hits a ball off the tee, and then each following shot is played from the preferred ball position by the players until the ball is in the hole), we shot a 6 under par 64, with no bogeys, and a fistful of missed birdie chances that had me nearly spitting with disgust as we finished the round.
The tournament leaders in the clubhouse were at 61 when we left the club, which was what annoyed me, as we really could have gone into the high 50′s with better putting (it’s funny how missing 6-8 footers can really raise your blood-pressure when you expect to make them) and a better strategy off the tee.
The strategy I talk about is to have simply had me not using Driver on most of the par-4 holes, and to have picked the club that would have gotten my ball at or around the 100 yard marker to take advantage of the fact that S and I are pretty handy with our wedges from the fairway.
With a 5-wood, rescue club or hybrid iron off the tee, I could have easily put my ball in that area on most holes, as S was trying to do with his Driver.
What we did instead was have S hit his tee shot to get us on the fairway around 230-260 yards out (he hits a very straight ball, though not very long at 62 years of age with a conventional swing), and then once we were in play, have me bomb the driver, which usually had me well within 100 yards, or even very close to the hole by hitting right over the dog legs if there was no water danger, or just going right at the holes that were 320-360 yards.
It wasn’t a bad strategy on a course that wasn’t very long, as we did make birdie on 1/3 of the holes and didn’t make any bogeys, but by playing my tee ball nearly every hole, we were now forced to rely on half-shots and pitches, usually out of short rough (you can’t really pick and choose a landing area with any degree of accuracy when you’re cutting corners and don’t really know the actual distance to a landing spot near the green).
We realized in hindsight that we would have been much better off with full shots from 90-140 yards where we could attack the pin without having to manufacture short-game magic.
There was more than one hole where a 30-60 yard shot to the hole was flubbed with a skulled wedge or fat shot or just a bad distance, where we worked harder than we should have had to just to salvage a par.
In the fairway with wedges, or even in the second cut at a wedge distance, based on how we did when that was the actual shot, we could have had a decent birdie chance on just about every hole.
Other than giving people watching the “Wow Factor,” there’s really no point in bombing a blind tee shot over a 390 yard dogleg, as I did on one hole, and then having a half-wedge shot to a front pin out of a side-hill lie in the second cut having overshot the fairway landing- especially after picking up S’s tee shot lying nicely in the fairway between the white and red stakes. We got greedy for short yardage, and it hurt our score.
It taught me a powerful lesson as well that I stubbornly refused to learn when I was playing the course where S and I met back in ’09.
Back then I used to say, having hit a ball into penalty areas by missing the line or hitting it too far, that I could simply hit irons off the tees and have a fairway wedge or short iron shot to nearly every green, and only have to use the driver on the par-5 holes and the reachable holes without hazards near the green. But I never did it, so in love with the big drive was I. I was always looking for the new “longest drive” when I should have realized after 350 yards that 350 yards was not only long enough, it was too long if not hit on the right line. I spent that summer chasing smoke instead of the best scores using course management and strategy.
Now, having played a round in best-ball and having walked away with a score I couldn’t dream of shooting on my own the way I’m used to playing, I have learned my lesson.
Strategy and course management, more than ball-striking, is what separates the weekend players from the elite players, with putting and a solid short game also factoring in.
When you play a hole backwards, as S and I did the last couple of holes, by determining what side of the fairway would give us the best wedge or short iron shot to the green for a good putt, and then hitting at that spot from the tee, the game becomes almost ridiculously easy to make no worse than par, and makes birdie a real possibility just about every time.
That’s how you score low, much more easily than bombing and hoping for a great pitch to get you where a full wedge shot would likely get you, if not even closer if it’s a tricky pin where even a good pitch has no chance unless perfectly stuck.
I’m going to keep loving my driver, and I’m still going to pound it on the range, but it’s time to put the pride on the shelf, and start playing for the smart shot from the fairway rather than the hero bomb-and-pitch that will get you in a jam as many times as it work out.
Shooting 6 under, and having that be just about the worst score you could have shot, whatever the format, will change the way you look at playing the game.
I was actually expecting and drooling for birdie on every hole, knowing that playing with S, a solid but shorter player, would keep us in play whatever tee shot I hit. And that we’d get multiple chances to the green, and more than one putt at the hole. It put me in a mindset I’ve never been in before, going from “I hope I par this hole and maybe birdie” to “how low can we go?”
To think that I’d be disappointed in a combined effort shooting 6 under was a revelation to me.
Note: I know that this is painfully obvious to most people who play decent golf, but I am still in the learning stages of how to actually play golf. Those who have been with my blogs over the years know that I played golf for only a very short period, about three years starting in my mid-20′s.
And, while I managed by some miracle to break 80 in that time, that I walked away from golf in frustration over trying to learn a proper swing. After years away, I returned to the range to figure it out, and that means that I am still in the learning stages of what it takes to play good golf and go low.
This past weekend was an eye-opener, and I finally saw the light and realized what will take me from where I am now going really low on the scorecard- stop worshipping the long bomb, keep it in play and go for the easy shots, full swings from the fairway at distances I can dial in on the range.
It’ll be interesting to see how this goes for you.
I know Pros that play both strategies – some bomb and gouge it and others are more conservative and lay back to certain distances or full shots in to greens (similarly some guys fire at almost all flags vs guys that almost always play away from flags). I’ve shot in the 60s both ways in tournaments. I guess you just have to find out which one works best for you and play to your own strengths.
Personally, I used to do the lay back to full shots when I didn’t know how to control the distance of my partial pitches. Once I learned how to do that, I began to prefer getting up as close to the green as possible (as long as I wasn’t putting myself in trouble, the greens were receptive to short pitches, etc).
Now since I can do both I go with whatever I’m feeling in the situation. I find bomb and gouge to be more of an emotional roller coaster. It fun sometimes but can also be stressful. Keeping the driver in the bag is a bit more boring and I have to be more patient, but it’s nice to hardly ever even flirt with trouble.
All the greats always said to keep it simple, they most always played a full shot into a green. Even Tigers book talks about how he learned to play from green to tee, makes sense really.
The only person that didn’t talk about that was Sam Snead, he always preferred to “powder” the ball as he called it, because regardless of the lie he almost always found it easier to hit a wedge into the green than a longer iron, and he rated his pitching wedge his best club, then his putter, and here is a quote from his book:
“Delivering the long ball is important, but if you can’t place it safe from trouble on the fairway and in the best spot to open the green for your second shot, you can’t call yourself a pro or even a good amateur.”
I appear to have contradicted myself there
, what I meant was he always preferred to hit the ball long because it gave him a shorter shot into the green, although he also believed in placement!
What a lucky guy I am. I rarely have to fear to be left with partial pitches. It’ll rather be something between full 4 hybrid and full GW. If I skip the driver, I will find the fairway more often, but sometimes be left with too long of an approach. I prefer hitting a short iron from the 2nd cut than long iron from the fairway.
Anyway, with the length and control you guys have, it makes perfect sense to avoid tricky partial pitches were possible. Thinking from green to tee is a nice concept. Lesson learned!
T.
Amusing as always, Torben. In response to Seb and Jaacob as well, I would still use Driver off the tee where warranted.
But on a 360 yard par-4, for example, it simply isn’t worth the risk, as I would be as likely to miss the line and end up short-sided, in a bunker or even in big trouble as I would be to hit the lucky straight drive down the line and have a straight-forward pitch from the fairway to a pin with lots of green to work with.
Odds are, I’d get closer to the pin by hitting a full 5-wood or even a very soft Driver to around the 100 yard marker and going at the hole with a wedge, with anything from lob to gap depending on yardage and the spin I want. Before the weekend, I would have just bombed away and more often than not have regretted the decision, and yet still done the same the next time around.
As Jaacob mentioned, he can play both ways. I certainly have bombed and gouged, but perhaps it’s time to see how I score playing conservatively and seeing what happens. Then, as my short game improves, my confidence in rescuing a wayward drive increases, leading to a smoother swing off the tee, and then I have the luxury of decing which way to go, probably depending on how I’m driving the ball that day.
I have a feeling that, given enough decent birdie putts by leaving myself a full wedge shot to the green, I would be become as enamoured of scoring playing safely as I would rescuing par from awkward bomb and gouge locations. I found out that the lower score is more exhilerating than hitting a 340 yard drive and wasting it with a poor or average second shot that leaves me with a par or worse!!
I would add, friends, that the bomb and pitch method is also more attractive the better you know the course and locations to miss, yards to landing areas, etc. Playing in the tournament on the weekend, I have never seen this course, and didn’t have the luxury of a caddie to tell me what line to take over the doglegs, where to best miss, etc.
The conservative and smarter approach would have been to aim for the closest spot to the red marker or the area between the red and white markers, giving ample opportunity for approach shots between 150-90 yards out in the fairway, and having a stress-free swing to the green. Even without knowing the exact pin location while on the tee box, one could fairly gauge what side of the fairway left the best angle to the green by the shape of the hole. Playing this way essentially makes par the worst score instead of the best one, barring something not related to strategy such as a simply bad swing or other error just as alignment to the target, or poor subsequent putts, etc.
At any rate, I can alway choose to bomb it, but the weekend made me a believer in putting one’s faith in a good approach shot to the green from a smart location in the fairway and then taking one’s chances with the putter rather than the pitch or chip shot!!
Not only choosing the right location on the fairway but also when approaching the green, because there are usually several “sucker” pin locations, i.e. pins close to the edge of a green that slopes away will get those people that attack the pins running off the green and left with a very difficult up and down, much better to go for the fat of the green or use the contours to bring the ball back around to the pin. The same actually could be said of tee shots, if the fairway is sloping left to right you want to draw the ball (or if shaping proves tricky play it up the left side) as the contours will help hold the fairway.
Snead said that if you dropped a ball in the centre of the green most people would be able to get the ball in the hole in two shots, I don’t doubt that.
BTW, Anyone that is interested in strategy should take a look at this site, it has some quite good tips, most are common sense but its free to sign up. Remember to take the tick out of the box that says “please spam me with marketing material”
.
http://www.golfacademytv.com/strategy-tv/
I just relearned the same lesson this past week. I hadn’t played with a competitive mind set in awhile to shoot low. I also don’t have the control since I am not playing as much. The course I played was short and somewhat tree lined but you couldn’t lose your ball except on a couple of holes where the woods had white stakes.
I shot 5 over on 9 with 4 strokes due to a lost ball and being behind trees on 2 holes. These were all due to hitting driver when I didn’t need to and brought the trouble into play.
I played the same nine again with a different mind set and shot 4 over. 3 strokes due to hitting out of bounds when I knew that was the only “risk” on the hole. I was even on the tee saying I should just hit a safe 200-220 iron/hybrid. I didn’t.
I have been as low as 4 handicap with a bad swing. I started moving to an “Austin” swing but am currently at a 8-10 handicap. I haven’t been able to play or practice much but have a much better swing. Based on relearning what I forgot, a 2 handicap playing “backwards” is probably very realistic.
I have found playing “backwards” from green-to-tee in the past always returned better scores. This always rings true for me when i am not playing regularly, because I don’t have the ability to execute on half shots consistently. When I think about it, I don’t have the ability to hit full shots consistently and middle of the green is always a good option.
As we know though, when we get out there and aren’t playing much…”Ah just go for it, it doesn’t matter” seems to be the ruling thought.
JimTee, that just about sums it up for when I was playing regularly – “Ah, just go for it, it doesn’t matter!” When of course, it did matter very much as I was looking for my ball in knee-high gunch 30 yards from the green- while my retired playing partners were lying one less than 150 yards out, perfectly in the fairway!!
Remember, when playing to win, sometimes it’s not all about YOUR shots. Example: We had a So-Cal club pro partner event yesterday, and the team we are paired with is -9 with 3 to play (we figured they were in the lead so we need to catch them). Me and my pards are -5. We par 16 and they bogey, now 3 behind. 17 is a par 5 and I am on the fringe is 2 (my pards is in his pocket) and the other team is on the fringe in 3. I roll it close and tap in my birdie. Their 1st player rolls it up to 4ft and misses, bogey. Their 2nd player rolls it up to 18 inches….steps up….draws back the blade….and just as he is ready to tap it in I flip my belt buckle (the kind that open and closes with a ball mark inside) and he flinches and misses! BOGEY! Now we are 1 back with one to play. My partner meets me at the golf cart before we proceed to #18 tee and says, “I didn’t know you had that in ya! Good work!” My parnter birdies #18 and they par. We tie at -7. Unfortunately, another team came in at -9 to beat us both.
Post script: My belt buckle was broken and it had flipped down. I just happen to flip it back up (makes a big clicking noise) just as he was ready to strike the putt, it was NOT on purpose. but the guy is quite the hoser, so I didn’t feel too bad and it was funny.
You would have made Seve proud, BT
Played 18 today, one putted 3 first holes for par. lip out for par on fourth, made birdie from 7yards on next. became tad tired made 3 doublebogey from 100y and in.
got back a little on the last holes but iron game was off. tee shot was dead on all day.
Fixed the iron shot at the end, last 3 holes went, spoon to long wet grass long, next went 5 yards, and the following next shot into the water, dropped, hit 4i onto green, made the putt from 6y bogie.
driver on next, to long rough and the 9i came up 2 y short missed the chip and putt lipped out bogie.
smoked the spoon and hit it where I normally hit driver, 4i right side and 52w dead on flag short.
8y putt almost made it. 29putts today with one 3 putt, had 5 lip outs or so. so even with bad iron game, it was almost perfect. missed the cut for 9 hole match with one shot.
was happy anyhow, game is the best ever felt I could shoot under par.
with great power comes great responsibility…
You are correct Peter Parker
Stan Lee wrote it first
Welcome to Golf btw DJ