This article, written by Ozzie Carlson, appeared in the Bergen Record 2009 series
ONE MOVE TO BETTER GOLF
Title: The Game Plan for Wet Conditions
Well, here we are, one round yet to play in the Open – that nearly drowned. But this is New York! And there is just no way New Yorkers are going let a little weather stifle their indomitable spirit, the grounds crew included! The roars just keep coming as the players show us, time and again, just how good they really are.
The great thing about the US Open is there are so many reasons to root for so many different players – the amateurs (Nick Taylor, Drew Weaver), the qualifiers (Ricky Barnes, Lucas Glover), the comebackers (David Duval, Rocco Mediate), the favorites (Tiger, Phil) the journeymen (Steve Stricker, Mike Weir) and the young guns (Anthony Kim, Rory McIlroy, Azuma Yano, Hunter Mahan). And then there’s The Black – the toughest test, tee to green, in the game. The players are absolutely wearing out their long irons and their hybrids this week.
So let’s get to that test and how the rain and turf saturation have changed the players’ approach to their shotmaking this week at Beth Page. First, the soft fairways keep the tee shots from running away into the rough, thus making them, in effect, wider targets. Huge advantage to those driving the ball well. Next, the soft greens change the game in two ways: the players can hold the greens from the rough, and fire right at the pins from the fairways. So far, the softness of the turf seems to be an advantage. For example, the leaders in fairways and greens hit are non-coincidentally, also leading the tournament
But is it? The soft turf makes an already long course even longer. But the real difference with the wet grass comes in playing shots from the rough, both from off the fairway and from around the greens. We could make a highlight real just using Mike Weir’s second shots. He’s been in the rough all week and still has managed to keep himself in the tournament. Amazing!
So what adjustments do we have to make in our shotmaking when the grass is wet and thick? There are two major factors to consider: the added resistance we feel as we swing through the wet grass; and the water that gets trapped between the ball and the clubface. While it is difficult to predict the combined effect on the ball flight, of these two opposing factors, there are a couple techniques we can use that will help is to do just that.
When the ball is sitting up (in the first cut of rough) where we can get the clubface fairly cleanly on the ball, it will generally come out a little hot. We refer to these types of shots as “fliers.” The ball will often fly as much as a full club farther than normal. This happens when we get a few blades of grass and water trapped between the ball and the clubface causing the ball to come out of the rough with very little (back)spin.
When faced with this type of lie, we adjust in two ways: take one less club (7 iron instead of 6) and play the ball a little more back toward the middle of the stance so we deliver from a slightly steeper angle of attack.
Alternatively, when the ball is sitting slightly down in the rough (second cut), we will meet more resistance as we try to “knife” it out of the grass. Here we need to take one more club (5 iron instead of 6), play it back toward the middle of our stance, choke down about an inch on the grip, aim slightly left and swing steeply down and slightly across the line, holding on hard with the last three fingers of the left hand to hold the clubface square through impact.
Notice how important it is that we properly judge the nature of the lie and therefore its influence on the ball flight. In one instance we are taking one less club and in the other we are choking down a bit on one more club.
When in the deep rough or tall fescue take a wide stance with your wedge and hack down steeply to get it back into the fairway. You must guard against letting the grass wrap around the hosel (the clubface closing abruptly upon impact) by leading with the heel of the left hand to get the ball up quickly out of this tall stuff. Don’t try this with a lower lofted club. When in trouble, get out of trouble!
Finally, around the greens, you must open the face slightly and aim a little left of target, swing a little steeper down and focus totally on the feel of getting to your intended finish position. You cannot allow the wet/thick grass stop you club at the ball.
Let’s enjoy today’s final round at the world’s greatest golf tournament.
Golfstruck – Better Golf Right Now!
