We are not all going to hit it over 300 yards or hit iron shots like Tiger Woods but we can learn to miss in one direction. It is nice to be able to draw the ball or fade the ball but for most of us if we just learn to curve the ball one direction we will score better.
Golf is a game of misses with occasional good shots. Hogan I believe said if you hit four good shots in a round of golf you have had a great round. So planning on hitting less than perfect shots is actually a sound strategy. If you understand where you missed shot go you can travel around the golf course avoiding big numbers. This is not only a plan for amateurs but also for tour players.
Over the past fifty years you may have noticed that many of the top players hit fade shots off the tee. This was natural for Nicklaus. When VJ Singh was moving to the #1 player in the world he became a fader of the ball off the tee. Again you see DJ start to fade the ball off the tee and reached the top. The point to this is that even the greatest players sometimes need to make their game simple. Make your game simple especially off the tee!
Here is the simple math. If a fairway is 30 yards wide and we aim for the middle we can only miss by 15 yards before ending in the rough. If we know we are only going to curve the ball one direction we can aim at the edge of the fairway and miss by 29 yards. The same principle applies to approach shots.
Next time you play try this strategy and see what happens to your scores?
Jim Hartnett
www.myhome4golf.com
