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This article, written by Ozzie Carlson, appeared in the Bergen Record 2007 series
Fixing Your Game
Article 4: Title: The Toughest Test in Golf – Strategy vs. Ego
Winning the US Open has become the toughest test in golf. The USGA set up Oakmont to test not just driving accuracy, but the ability of the player to place approach shots where he wanted to putt from, i.e. setting up his birdie opportunities. And finally, when he failed to do so, to test his ability to recover from trouble.
To win the US Open, the most coveted trophy in all of golf, the player must fine tune his game for the shots he will need to play on this course, adjusting for daily dryness/wetness conditions and pin locations. Once the players arrive on site, they have but a week to prepare!
At Oakmont, all trouble was not created equal. As if a par 70 stretched out to 7230 yards weren’t enough, the speed and slope of the Oakmont greens makes them legendary in competitive golf lore. Putting into bunkers is a real possibility. Getting above the hole can be a near death sentence.
Strategy counts: This week we saw three different strategies employed on the very demanding 341 yard par four 2nd hole, where, in the 1994 US Open playoff, Ernie Els and Colin Montgomerie scored a 7 and 6. Players, early in the week took the trouble out of play by laying up with an iron from the tee. Then, when the USGA moved the tee markers up for the weekend, they all used drivers hoping, should they miss the green, to catch a good lie from short right of it. The 14th was also shortened to driving distance on Sunday, making for, along with the 17th, three drivable par fours and a high level of drama and entertainment.
The famous church pew bunkers (pictured hear) that line the left side of the 3rd, 4th and 15th fairways were to be avoided at all cost. Hookers beware! Do I trust my driving accuracy or lay-up short of the church pews and test my long iron game to arrive safely on the green?
Making choices: The most dangerous 313 yards in golf! The17th, a drivable par four, is severely guarded by no less than 15 well placed bunkers, surrounded by deep rough. Ouch! Do I try to lay-up to my favorite wedge distance onto this severely sloping fairway or go for it hoping, should I miss this tiny speck of a green, that I catch a good lie in the bunker? This dangerous little hole set up to be the swing hole in the final round of the championship. Both Cabrera and Furyk bogied it on Sunday and Tiger walked away with a disappointing par.
The US Open is certainly no place for ego. The player must know his game and choose his shots wisely. Nearly every hole at Oakmont offers options. The players who consistently made the best decisions for their game and then stepped up, confidently, to play each shot, Cabrera, Furyk and Tiger put themselves in position to win,. Then, as we saw, the winner still had to make the putts. Congratulations to Angel Cabrera for hanging tough after that bogie at 17.
For us, though our weekly test is not that of US Open caliber, learning to play to where we know we will like our next shot will save us a boo coo of strokes and help us to win matches and tournaments. When we learn to play the shots we have in our bag, putting our ego aside, we will avoid the big numbers. Sometimes bogey is a good score on a hole. Bubba Watson’s triple from the deep rough on the 9th Saturday may well have cost him the Open.
Golfstruck – Better Golf Right Now!
This article, written by Ozzie Carlson, appeared in the Bergen Record 2007 series
Fixing Your Game
Article 8: Playing from Deep Rough
In this age of power golf, tour players often seem willing to run the risk of playing from the rough for the reward of having a much shorter shot into the green. The combination of 4-piece ball construction and wider grooves allows players to significantly increase the spin on the ball, even from the rough. So there is at least a chance of stopping the ball on the green, somewhere near the hole.
If you decide to play this game, beware that playing from the high grass is risky business. Any two shots could come to rest a mere foot apart and create such different circumstances that one player would have a predictable ball flight lie, while the other might be lucky just to hack it back into the fairway. For most of us, a little shorter and in the fairway is still the far wiser choice.
However, when you do find yourself knee deep in the fescue there is a technique that is critical to extricating yourself from this predicament. Last week at the British Open at Carnoustie we had plenty of opportunity to see how well the players both avoided the rough and recovered from it.
Developing Your Technique: To develop your technique, try dropping a few balls in the tall grass, somewhere out of the normal area of play on your course. Grip firmly with the last three fingers of your glove hand with the clubface open to your line of flight. As you swing, try to lead with the heel of the club, so that the toe of the clubhead never passes the heel. Push down on the handle and try to take a heel-deep divot beyond the ball. Keep you weight on your front foot throughout this swing so that your angle of attack is really quite steep.
Alignment is Critical: For right-handers, your ball will still tend to come out slightly left of where you are aligned. So align to the right side of the fairway or the right side of the green, whichever is your target. And remember, the ball will travel a significantly shorter distance than normal because the tall grass will severely slow down the clubhead speed you can deliver.
Rule #1: One final word, when in trouble, rule # 1 is to get out of trouble. So regardless of how far you are from the green, this is a place for little more than a pitching wedge. A club of lower loft will not generally get the ball up quickly enough to avoid the tall grass on the way out. When this happens, the ball is severely slowed by the tall grass and its flight drops very suddenly to the ground. Result? You’re still in trouble, but with one more stroke added to your score.
Golfstruck – Better Golf Right Now!
This article, written by Ozzie Carlson, appeared in the Bergen Record 2008 series
The Winners Circle
Title – The Demands of Royal Birkdale
So what makes a links course special? And what kinds of shots are needed to beat the course? Host, this week, to the British Open for an historic ninth time, Royal Birkdale has been voted the # 1 English course in the Open rotation. Situated on the coast in the beautiful resort of Southport, England with each hole individually nestled among ribbons of rising sand dunes, Royal birkdale is one of the all-time favorites of the players.
For this year’s event the course has been lengthened some 155 yards, but more importantly shot values have been added in the form of slopes and undulations to certain greens and strategically placed fairway and greenside collection bunkers on 16 of the 18 holes.
The real beauty of a links course is that you never really know quite what you’ll get. The coastal weather can be very unstable and the wind direction can change with the ocean tide. The layout is treeless so the wind blows all the way down to ground level affecting even the roll of the players’ putts. Collection bunkers dot the landscape, often in seemingly strange places, at least until the wind direction changes. The half hidden greens are best approached from only one side of the fairway so an errant tee shot can quickly lead to a bogie or worse. So regardless of the weather, one thing is for sure; the revised Royal Birkdale will most certainly present a true test of shot making skills.
So strategically, what can we look for from the leaders this week? Though the course will play longer this year, nearing 7200 yards, driving accuracy rather than length off the tee will be the determining factor in scoring opportunities. The many new and well-placed fairway bunkers will force players, once in them, to lay-up to their favorite wedge distance. So if the wind blows, look for this year’s winner to come from among the best of the lay-up artists, most accurate wedge players, and the player who consistently converts his short putts.
The Successful Lay-Up: Always remember rule # 1: when in trouble, get out of trouble. In his last British Open at St. Andrews we saw none other than the great Jack Nicklaus take four strokes to get out of a fairway bunker, finally electing to play out sideways. The successful player this week must know his game and keep his ego in check.
When in trouble, a player needs to ask himself two important questions: where do I want to play my next shot from; and do I have the shot in my bag that will get my ball from here to there? When determining where you want to play your next shot from, consider your lie, what trajectory in required (to get over the bunker lip) and what type of shot you could successfully produce eight times out of ten tries. Also when laying-up – to where you will like your next shot – remember to figure how far your ball will roll after in lands so that you wind up with the best angle into today’s pin position.
The Wedge Game: Often a player fails to consider laying-up to get out of trouble because he doesn’t have confidence that he can get the ball close enough from lay-up position to one-putt, thus saving his par. On a links style course the players must prepare to play lower trajectory shots into sloping greens so firm that the ball may well run half way across the green. Those who can make this adjustment quickly and with accuracy will be left with makeable putts. The ability to play this approach shot well may be the single most important factor in Tom Watson’s five British Open victories, one of which was at Royal Birkdale. Yet, even the vast majority of tour players shortchange themselves on practice time devoted to the feel of successfully producing this all-important recovery shot.
Converting Makeable Putts: Finally, nothing is more discouraging in golf than failing to make our short putts. So we all must invest a significant % of our practice time learning to make these scoring putts. Those who learn to like practicing from six feet and in – win tournaments! Though getting off the tee well is important, that old adage, “drive for show and putt for dough,” still holds true.
Golfstruck – Better Golf Right Now!
This article, written by Ozzie Carlson, appeared in the Bergen Record 2008 series
The Winners Circle
Article 11: Title: Conquering Oakland Hills “The Monster”
In 1951 Ben Hogan, returning to championship golf following a crippling and near life threatening head-on collision with a bus, conquered the course he termed “the monster” to win the US Open at Oakland Hills in Bloomfield Michigan. Mr. Hogan’s play was miraculous, not only because his doctors thought he would never walk again, but his closing 67 was one of only two sub-par rounds in the entire four days of play.
I was there! What I remember, as a 6 year old, was constantly crawling between legs to see Mr. Hogan tee off that final day, and then running to be the first to where he’d play his next shot. I saw every shot and near worried my poor searching mom to death. Dad was off too, not wanting to miss a single shot in what may have been the most perfect round of golf ever played.
And finally, one last crawl between legs put me right in front of Mr. Hogan and his picture on that big trophy cake that he was about to cut. Upon seeing my adoring face, Mr. Hogan cut the first piece of that cake, leaned over and handed it to me saying, I think my #1 fan should take the first bite. That was my first time in front of an applauding audience. Right then and there I was hooked. I was going to learn how to play like Mr. Hogan. I had to wait a whole year before I was old enough to get my library card, but when I did, the first book I checked out was Power Golf, by Ben Hogan.
This week Oakland Hills plays host to this year’s fourth major, the PGA Championship. The South Course has hosted two previous PGA’s and a record tying 5 US Opens, the US Amateur and the Ryder Cup. And once again the players are in store for one of the greatest and most challenging layouts in the game. But, just to make sure the course is up to snuff for today’s distances, Rees Jones has once again worked his magic with the addition of fairway bunkers in the landing areas and two new tees, as well as reshaping and deepening a few of the greenside bunkers. This layout is so good that it doesn’t need wind. But if the wind blows, look out – they may never finish!
What, you may ask, makes the South Course at Oakland Hills such a great test? For starters, players who fail to avoid the bunkers lining both sides of the fairways will seldom be able to reach the greens.
Next, and what I remember most about “the monster” as a college player, is Oakland’s undulating greens. They are double or triple tiered, severely sloping and often divided into quadrants by mounds. I have never seen such difficult targets to play to or to read. The pin positions are tough, tougher and near impossible.
Next are the all too numerous bunkers. Averaging nearly eight per hole, they are deep and will require skillful play to save pars. And finally the shaping of the holes create such varying images from the tee box that players tend to try to do too much shaping of their shots. The layout includes left and right doglegs, two strategically placed ponds, uphill and downhill holes, extreme greens, and then there is the 18th – that doglegs right and slopes left – the toughest hole in all of championship golf.
This year’s winner will need all the shots in his bag: he must hit fairways in order to hit the ball close enough to the hole to avoid three putting. He will need a great short game from the rough and from the bunkers. He will need nerve and focus. He will need patience and must be willing to accept a bogey now and then – and get over it.
Past champions here include Palmer, Nicklaus, Player and Andy North. But perhaps the most tragic shot in golf, when leading the US Open on Sunday, is the one most remembered here, the double-hit chip shot of T.C. Chen who went on to a quadruple bogie on the fifth hole, never to recover his nerves and never to be heard from again in championship circles.
If I were preparing for this tournament, I’d be working day and night on 6 foot breakers both left and right. Since there is currently no dominant tee to green player in the field (ala Hogan), it is very likely the winner will be the best strategist and the guy who makes his short putts. Par may be the score to beat.
Golfstruck – Better Golf Right Now!
This article, written by Ozzie Carlson, appeared in the Bergen Record 2008 series
Article 13: Title: How to Win At Ridgewood
Ridgewood Country Club, this week’s host to The Barclay’s and the first leg of the Fedex Cup Challenge, is an A.W. Tillinghast masterpiece. And that’s a mouthful considering such great championship courses as Winged Foot, Baltusrol and Beth Page Black also bear his signature.
As a young golf professional employed there in 1971, I played the course most every evening until darkness set in. I simply couldn’t get enough of the many great shot values Tillinghast designed into this spectacular 27 hole layout.
For example: Running north to south right through the dead center of the layout is a spine or low mountain-like ridge, barely even noticeable. All greens east of the ridge break east, toward Rte. 17 and all greens west of the ridge break west, toward Bergen Community College. To consistently make proper reads here, the winner will need to be constantly aware of which side of the ridge he is on.
The layout selected for the Barclay’s represents holes selected from among each of the three nines, East, Center and West. The best birdie opportunities come on the least “spine influenced” greens: # 1, 2 & 4 East; #3 Center; and # 4, 6 & 7 West. The hardest to read and most “spine influenced” greens are #3, 5, 6 & 7 East, # 2 & 6 Center; and #’s 5 & 8 West – all great watching locations. These hardest to read holes for this tournament will play as numbers 3, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 17.
The next challenge on this Tillinghast layout will be understanding the subtleties of the various pin locations. For each pin position there is an easy and very makeable putt. The rest of the putts often present difficult challenges and are very three puttable. The player who really studies the greens will come to understand the shot he will need to play into the greens to give himself that makeable putt. Which, in turn, places emphasis on the placement of his tee shot. Those long tee shots that miss the fairway will do the players little good on this track.
The most difficult greens to approach are #’s 5, 8 & 9 West, # 3 East, and #’s 2 & 6 Center. The ball must be kept below the hole on these severely sloped greens. So even though two of these hard to approach holes are par 5’s, they will be tough to birdie.
# 6 Center, affectionately known by Ridgewood’s members as the five and dime, is perhaps the most fascinating hole on the course and one of the premiere spots to watch the action. The early bird can secure one of the few spots on the hill astride the left side of this very tiny but double-tiered green. As a drivable par four with an elevated shoestring of a green surrounded by very deep bunkers, the five and dime becomes a true test of strategy. Players will need to decide to go for it, or lay-up to full wedge distance based, hopefully, on what shots they have in their bag, rather than letting ego dictate.
During the senior PGA I watched all the old-time greats play through here. Those who laid up to 100 yards with their tee shots had many more birdies than those who tried to drive the green. But then, the older players tend to be better shotmakers with their short irons than today’s younger set. So I suspect we’ll see most of the players trying to drive this very narrow and angled target, trusting their luck to catching a good lie in a bunker should they miss.
Next in store for the players this week is the conversion of #’s 2 & 4 Center from par fives to par fours, making for extremely difficult holes to par. #2 Center will pose a tough par because of its length and its severely sloping green. A missed fairway here almost assuredly will lead to a bogie or worse. # 4 Center requires an uphill and blind second shot to the smallest green on the course, closely guarded by out-of-bounds right and trees left. Should the player miss this green in the rough, he will find the chip difficult as this almost flat, innocent looking green is hard and runs quickly away from front to back as it sits just over that nasty undetectable “spine.”
And finally, # 8 West, one of the great par fives in the game, could well determine the winner on the final day. Back in 1971 we could drive the ball over the tree tops on the left, cutting the corner so we could reach this green in two. Now the trees are thirty feet taller, making this a near suicidal strategy for this tournament.
The skilled player here will try to draw a 3 wood around the corner into a narrow opening between two pillarous trees, leaving himself another 3 wood up the right edge of the fairway to a smallish green that slopes severely from right to left and back to front A precisely played, and hammered, 3 wood here will funnel right down to a front-left pin location creating an eagle opportunity and great theater.
But beware of the tee shot that hooks a little too much or fails to draw. Both will be blocked by trees requiring an artfully played draw or fade to lay-up position atop a plateau at 135 yards from the green. Any attempt to get closer to the green will leave the player with a sidehill/downhill lie to this uphill and severely sloping green – a sure recipe for disaster.
Yes, Ridgewood is a shot makers golf course. It is very fair. And though it plays plenty long, it will require more strategy than brut force. Pin locations will dictate strategy from the tees day-to-day. The greens tend to be small targets so chip shots from thick rough to firm greens will present a true test of the players’ short games. Many of the greens present difficult approach shots. Missed fairways on these holes can lead to big numbers. The player who understands and can play the shots required by Tillinghast will find the birdie putts that are out there.
Once again, if I wanted to win this event, I’d be practicing my breaking 6 – 15 footers. But just as importantly, I’d be out walking the course with putter in hand trying to learn the subtleties of the greens. Ten under par will be well earned here.
Golfstruck – Better Golf Right Now!
This article, written by Ozzie Carlson, appeared in the Bergen Record 2008 series
The Winners Circle
Article 14: A Rough Decision
The Barclays at Ridgewood Country Club was an absolute smash hit. If you attended, you marveled at the extensive preparation that goes into hosting an event of this magnitude. Hats off to the volunteers who made your journey through this wonderland of a golf course most enjoyable, and without whom these tournaments would not generate the thousands of dollars that go to charities.
In Ridgewood Country Club you found a course in the best of shape and the variety of delicious food choices nearly beyond belief. Hats off to both the course and kitchen staffs. And finally, you found players, to a man, who developed a healthy respect for this Tillinghast masterpiece.
Early on, my prediction of a winning score of 10 under par seemed in jeopardy. But, in spite of an all-world first round 62 by Hunter Mayhan and a second round 64 by Steve Stricker, the Ridgewood Country Club bared its teeth and the players succumbed to the subtle nuances and shot values designed into this beauty of a layout.
In his design of the greens, Tillinghast created great targets, each with its own unique challenge. Each demanding a well thought out approach shot. And for those who unlocked the secret of where to putt from and how to get there, birdies were there for the taking. But for those who dared to approach the pins from a wrong position, disaster lurked.
All too often we saw players who missed fairways attempting the nearly impossible recovery from the rough. Yes these players have egos, too. Like so many of us, they fail to take their medicine when in trouble. They have such confidence in their ability to pull off remarkable saves that they sometimes forget that they could alternatively take advantage of how good they are at saving par from a 100 or 150 yards in the fairway.
For example: Steve Sticker’s second shot decision and poor execution from the rough on the 12th hole on Saturday lead to a lost ball and a triple bogey. Which, in turn, caused him such agita that, slump shouldered, he went on a subsequent bogey binge that in the course of seven holes dropped him from a four shot lead at 11 under par to an eight way tie for 11th at 4 under. From just one bad decision he threw the tournament wide open, bringing some 20 players back into the mix on Sunday.
On the other hand, on at least three occasions I did see players make the sensible choice, hit back into the fairway, play the wedge to within ten feet and make the putt for par. And you may be surprised to learn that these players included both Mickelson (on the 7th on Friday) and a maturing Sergio Garcia (on the 16th on Saturday).
So lets talk about the rough and how we must go about deciding what shot we should play and how to pull it off. First of all, rule # 1 is: when in trouble – get out of trouble. So how do we know if we really are in trouble? The test is this: could you pull off the recovery shot you are considering, successfully, 8 times out of ten attempts. Alternatively, we should consider where we are likely to have to play our next shot from if we don’t pull off the hero shot we are considering.
When in the rough, your lie dictates. So take a good look at how your ball is sitting in the grass. Is it sitting up on top of the grass, halfway down or fully nested at the bottom of the rough? If on top of the grass, your ball will tend to come out hot (a flier) and running. So you will need to take less club than if you were in the fairway.
When partially down in the rough, look to see if the grass is laying with, against or across your line. When laying with, you have a good chance of reaching the green if you are within 7 iron distance. But you must account for the fact that you are likely to catch grass between the clubface and the ball, thus reducing backspin, so the ball will seldom check up for you. So again, take less club because your ball will release when it lands.
When the grass is laying against, you will need at least one extra club depending on the thickness of the rough. You may also need to open the face and cut across the ball slightly, leading with the heel of the clubhead so that you can “knife” your way through the thick grass. This type of shot will check up even though it is coming out of the rough.
When the ball is nested at the bottom of thick rough, you will need a high lofted club to get it up and out of there. So take no more than an eight iron, but more likely your gap wedge and get it back into the fairway.
Remember, heroes are not those who defy the odds, but those who make smart decisions in the heat of battle.
Golfstruck – Better Golf Right Now!
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!
This article, written by Ozzie Carlson, appeared in the Bergen Record in the 2009 series
ONE MOVE TO BETTER GOLF
Article 8: Title: Judging Your Distance in Hilly Terrain
This past week we were treated to the spectacular views of Saucon Valley, site of the 2009 Women’s US Open. The Old Course, also previously host to the US Amateur, US Junior Amateur, US Senior Amateur and two US Senior Opens, presents the player with a host of very challenging uphill and downhill shots, not the least of which are the four finishing holes, into very fast, multi-tiered, severely sloped, undulating greens.
The 15th green rises some 17+ feet above the fairway. The 16th is a 3 tiered, severely sloping, very deep green rising some 12 – 20 feet from the fairway, depending on which tier we are trying to reach. The 17th is a 172 yard par three downhill some 15 feet, and the 18th is a 435 yard, +15 foot uphill par four. What makes this Herbert Strong and Perry Maxwell layout, recently modified by The Fazio Group such a great and fair test is that the lies hitting into these demanding greens, are superbly level. Yet, we saw that bogies could come in bunches when the players failed to adjust their distance properly to account for the severity of the change in elevation from ball to target. The Old Course, then, is a wonderful testament to great course design – the shot value of the approach iron to the green.
So how do we adjust properly for distance to uphill or downhill greens? If we use the simple formula of one foot change in elevation equals one yard change in distance, we’re off to a good start. So, taking the picturesque 345 yard 15th hole as an example, the severely back/left to front/right sloping green is a good 17+ feet above the fairway. So our short iron approach shot (from let’s say 120 yards) will play 17+ yards longer (137 yards) to reach the green.
But just reaching the green is not quite good enough. We want to wind up just below the hole to give ourselves a good chance at birdie. And just as importantly, on this green, we absolutely must avoid leaving the ball above the hole, which is potential 3-putt territory.
So, next, we have to account for the pin position and the likely bounce and roll of our ball once it lands on the green? Since this green slopes severely back/left to front/right, our ball will bite quickly and zip or trickle back down the dependent upon the type of shot we play.
The good player selects from two different types of shots. If we want to minimize the distance our ball trickles back down this slope, we would do well to hit a soft (dead hands) shot with a little too much club – choking down on the grip, i.e. a ¾ power shot. Alternatively, we could take a full hard swing with a shorter club, which generates more backspin; thus spinning the ball significantly farther back down the slope. While this latter type of shot is both fun to watch and to perform, it is by far the more risky shot to play into severely sloped greens; as we run the risk of sucking the ball all the way back down and off the front of the green or to a lower tier.
If the pin is 12 yards short of middle, our distance is then calculated as 120 yards – 12 yards for pin position + 17 yards for the uphill + 10 feet beyond the hole
( 3+ yards) and 10 feet left of the hole to (3+ yards), which nets out to a shot of 128 yards aimed 10 feet left of the hole to account for the bite and trickle of our 3/4 dead hands shot. Gauging the distance between clubs as 10 yards per club, this shot then is almost one full club extra distance (128 vs. 120 yards) or a soft, choked down ¾ power shot with two clubs difference – 9 iron or dead hands ¾ 8 vs. a pitching wedge.
Alternatively, if the pin were +15 yards beyond middle, our target distance might not be beyond the pin, but rather pin high. We don’t want to run the risk of getting caught up in the back fringe or having to chip from behind the green, down a steep slope. In this case our target distance would be 120 yards + 15 yards for pin position + 17 yards uphill, which nets out to 152 yards, aimed slightly left of the pin. At 10 yards per club, this equates to a full three club adjustment (120 yards to 152 yards), or a ¾ power choked down, four club difference – a 7 iron or dead hands ¾ 6 iron vs. a pitching wedge!!
Now, just think if we also had to adjust for wind! Next week, with the British Open coming up, will be a good time to talk about wind and the difference temperature can make on the influence of the wind on the ball flight.
Golfstruck – Better Golf Right Now!
This article, written by Ozzie Carlson, appeared in the Bergen Record in the 2009 series
ONE MOVE TO BETTER GOLF
Article 9: Title: Calculating the Effect of the Wind
Once again this past week, we were treated to the great theatre of golf, The Open Championship. After 53 year old Greg Norman’s nostalgic comeback last year, could we possibly be seeing this year’s drama being created by 59 year-old Tom Watson, the same player who out-dueled Jack Nicklaus for three consecutive and spectacular rounds here at Turnberry some 32 years ago?
Wasn’t it great to see what may well be the greatest links player of all time, this 5 time British Open Champion, out-wit and out-play the young guns with that seemingly ageless swing? He lead but for one miraculous putt after the first round. He lead again after the second and third rounds.
Adding to the drama, the wind blew again on Sunday and rain threatened to alter the speed of the greens in yet another way. This day the wind would come off the Firth of Clyde moisture laiden, making the air heavier, thus having an even greater effect on the flight of the ball.
So how do we calculate the effect of the wind? At temperatures between 60 and 80 degrees we can generally figure our in-air distance to be effected by one yard for each one mph of wind velocity. A tailwind takes the backspin off the ball so the ball will run when it lands. So we see downwind shots at Turnberry landing short of the greens. Therefore, to adjust our distance for a 20 mph tailwind, we have to figure that the ball will fly an extra 20 yards and then roll as much as another 20 to thirty yards depending on the firmness of the terrain. So we have to adjust our club selection by up to 50 yards or 5 full clubs.
Conversely, when playing into the wind, backspin is increased causing the ball to balloon higher and drop short with the potential to suck back even farther. So we would have to take an extra three full clubs into this same 20 mph wind. However, the good players try to play under the wind whenever possible. So they choke down and play a ¾ power low trajectory, knockdown shot.
Diagonal crosswinds are even tougher to decipher. We have to figure how much the wind will help or hurt our distance and also figure how we will account for the directional component. Again, the crosswind effect is approximately one yard per one mph of wind velocity.
Each player must know his own game, his tendency to draw or fade the ball. Then, taking today’s wind direction into consideration, develop his hole-by-hole game plan to: a) avoid the penalizing pot bunkers that dot these links fairways; b) plan his approach shots to pin positions; c) know when and where to lay-up when in trouble to avoid that one disastrous hole that could cost him the championship, and finally d) prepare his short game to get up and down over hillocks and hummocks that demand both great imagination and a deft touch.
So, as we awoke on Sunday morning, we all wondered what would it take on this Sunday for Tom Watson to pull off this miracle in sports history. We wondered, even prayed, that Tom could somehow get through just one more day without his putter deserting him as the wind blew short putts off line and the rain threatened to change the speed of the greens in yet another way. As the day unfolded, we hung with Tom on every one of those 6 foot putts, trying somehow to help him will the ball into the cup. We were there, with him, every step of the way, using all the body English we could to help this likeable Huck Finn of golf, make history.
There, clustered atop the leader board on Sunday morning were Britain’s hopes for a local son to bring the Claret Jug home for the first time since 1992; Ross Fisher (papa to be) who all but won the US Open at Bethpage and grizzled veteran Lee Westwood. There was a young nerveless putter, Aussie Matthew Goggin, and US Open winners Retief Goosen and Jim Furyk; great ball striker Stewart Cink and young Bryce Molder who shot the low round in Saturday’s wind. And, within six shots a host of great players, any one of whom could make a run at “the old geezer.”
With each player’s totally frayed nerves openly exposed to a worldwide audience, who would manage to calmly and deliberately execute his shots, one-by-one over the course of a five hour stretch? Who could manage his swing well enough to dangerously aim into trouble, trusting his judgment of the wind to blow the ball back on line? Who could trust in his ability to deliver the amount of fade or draw required to effectively counter the wind? Who would get up and down to save enough pars to hold off his competitors? Would Tom make enough of those knee knockers to pull off this one for the ages?
Yes, The Open Championship is great theatre. No wonder they call the winner of the British Open, Stewart Cink, in a playoff against Watson, The Champion Golfer of 2009!
Congratulations Tom, your journey this week gave a lot of us “old geezers” hope!
Golfstruck – Better Golf Right Now
This article, written by Ozzie Carlson, appeared in the Bergen Record in the 2009 series
ONE MOVE TO BETTER GOLF
Article 12: Title: Fit Your Game Plan to the Nuances of the Course
The stage is set for the “last chance” Major of the season as the PGA Championship returns this week to a Hazeltine in Chaska, Minnesota. Yesterday we had Padrig Harrington, last year’s winner paired with Tiger in the final group at Firestone, with all the big guns lined up behind them. It’s August, and if a players game is not ready now, when will it be?
So what will the players be trying to learn about Hazeltine prior to the fireworks beginning on Thursday? As you prepare to play your competitive rounds, how do you develop your game plan? Let’s take a look at Hazeltine and develop a game plan for the winner, then watch carefully, to see how the leaders play the key holes in this championship.
Upon arrival, the players will find the course quite different than in 2002 when Tiger’s 4 consecutive birdie finish, the best in a Major, left him one shot short of Rich Beem’s victory. Rees Jones has moved and added bunkers and significantly lengthened several holes. What was a fairly short course for the US Open in 1983, now stretches to a full, very demanding and generally windy 7676 yards.
The four par 5’s measure 633, 572, 606 and 642 respectively. The 633 yard 3rd runs off severely left to right in front of the green but has flat lay-up area at full wedge distance that the players would be well advised to use. The 7th is the shortest but sports a dangerous pond front left. The 606 yard 11th has a new bunker placed squarely in front of the green and the 642 yard 16th plays into the prevailing wind. Look for the winner to play all four of these holes conservatively and relaxed by laying up to his favorite wedge distance. That’s 16 times over four days that he gets to hit from his favorite wedge distance. Sounds like a lot of birdies to me, while taking bogey out of play.
The 12th, already the toughest hole on the course in 2002 at 468 yards, will play a full 50 yards longer this year, brutal! For good measure Rees added a cross bunker in front of the reachable 14th, just to play with the players’ psyche. And on the 16th, the players must carry water but stay short of a creek left on this dogleg right with the green bordered on the right by water. 14 and 16 appear to be two more holes for favorite wedge distance lay-ups. Now we are up to 24 favorite wedges over the four days.
Numbers 2 (433 yards), 6 (405 yards) and 9 (432 yards) can also be played to favorite wedge distance from the tee. We are now up to 36 favorite wedges over 72 holes. That means that fully half of the holes can be played from favorite wedge distance if the player can play both his tee shots (with drivers, 3 woods, hybrids and irons) and his lay-up shots accurately to his favorite wedge distance. How many birdies do you think the winner should be able to make if he plays to 36 of the greens from favorite wedge distance?
The par 3’s measure 210, 176, 248 and 182 respectively. The tough green on the 210 yard par three 4th hole and the water surrounding the right side of the 176 yard 8th caused both these holes to play slightly over par in the 2002 PGA. The 248 yard 13th and the182 yard 17th each averaged slightly under par. Players would do well in their practice rounds to zero in on playing shots to specific pin positions, but also to practice putting through the trough on 4 and up and down the shelves on 17. But on the 8th hole, the center of the green is the right play regardless of pin position. You must take the water out of play on # 8.
So what shots will the winner need in his bag this week? He should invest a good deal of his practice time playing lay-up shots and groove his favorite wedge shot. Then he should practice making putts from 6, 10 and 15 feet. Given the potential for windy conditions, these should include straight as well as sloped and breaking putts until he gets his speed right.
The stretch of holes from 11 through 16 may well determine this year’s winner. They include two par 5’s, the toughest hole on the course: the 518 yard, into the wind par 4 twelfth, followed by the 248 yard par three 13th , the reachable 352 yard 14th that Billy Casper called one of the best short par 4’s in golf and the 402 yard 16th dubbed by Johnny Miller as the hardest par four he’s ever played.
The winner should play the two par 5’s and the two short par fours in this stretch as lay-up holes – to favorite wedge distance and hope to play 12 and 13 in no more than 3 over for the week. If he is good with his wedge and can make some 6 – 15 foot putts he should come through this stretch of holes 2 – 3 under for the week.
If the wind doesn’t howl, the winner should plan to play the rest of the course in 8 – 12 under, unless he plays the grip it and rip it power game – a bad strategy for this layout.
Golfstruck – Better Golf Right Now!
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