Instruction

Stick to a scoring strategy when you find trouble

Published

9 years ago

Oct 5, 2015

No matter how many lessons you take and how good your swing may be, the game of golf boils down to one thing: strategy.

Do you have a good plan when you go out to play and do you stick to your plan no matter what? Or when times things go awry, do you have to alter and improvise on the fly?

In season, I spend a lot of time advising my competitive players on how to manage their games when they get out of position on the golf course. Normally, that involves a tee shot that goes offline into a dark, bad place. What happens from there is usually a calamity of errors and ill-advised shots that escalate your score and blood pressure.

Recently, I watched several of my players play in a qualifier for the Florida Open. In one group there were two out of seven of my players, so I hung with them for a few holes. They were both even par through 10 holes.

On No. 11, one of them pulled it left on a dogleg left into the trees. The player then made a poor decision and tried to get the ball on the green from jail with a low-percentage shot. What followed were shots that came off tree trunks so solidly that they sounded like home run swings in the Major Leagues. After three of those, he played out wisely, and carded a smooth nine.

I am always amazed when this happens in a tournament, especially since we have covered this scenario numerous times at the academy. I liken a player doing this to someone who, while running through the house, breaks a crystal lamp. They then pick up a vase and break that too. The final act of insanity is that they then throw a chair through a bay window. No one would do actually do that in a house (I hope), but golfers do something similar on the course all the time.

To avoid bad numbers from bad places on the golf course, here are two thoughts to keep in mind when you find your ball out of position.

Select the easiest shot possible and get back in play

When you get out of position, forget what you see on TV. The saying “these guys are good” exists for a reason. All they do is practice making the impossible possible. When in trouble, hit a shot that you know you can hit. When you make a wrong turn, do you take the easiest, most direct route back to where you need to go? Or do you keep making wrong turns and end up more lost than you originally were.

Remember: Pick the easiest shot you can play!

Play the hole backward from the green

When you get out of position, play the hole backward, not forward. What I mean is that you should find a way to leave yourself a par putt inside of 10 feet. Set a plan from where you are that gets you to that putt. Start from the 10-foot putt and work the shots back in your mind. Sometimes that means admitting that it’s not possible to hit the green on a par-4 in two shots or a par-5 in three swings. On that par-5, you might have to leave yourself a wedge shot from 60 yards for your fourth shot to get to that magical inside-10-feet number. On a par-4 you might have to play out to 120 yards and hit a 9 iron.

Remember: Work backward from the green in your mind and you’ll have a better chance of only making a bogey and limiting the damage, rather than recording a snowman or worse and face disaster.

If you follow these two thoughts when you find yourself in the timber (or worse), you will find that you will make fewer big numbers and your scores will drop.

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Rob Strano

If you are an avid Golf Channel viewer you are familiar with Rob Strano the Director of Instruction for the Strano Golf Academy at Kelly Plantation Golf Club in Destin, FL. He has appeared in popular segments on Morning Drive and School of Golf and is known in studio as the “Pop Culture” coach for his fun and entertaining Golf Channel segments using things like movie scenes*, song lyrics* and familiar catch phrases to teach players. His Golf Channel Academy series "Where in the World is Rob?" showed him giving great tips from such historic landmarks as the Eiffel Tower, on a Gondola in Venice, Tuscany Winery, the Roman Colissum and several other European locations. Rob played professionally for 15 years, competing on the PGA, Nike/Buy.com/Nationwide and NGA/Hooters Tours. Shortly after embarking on a teaching career, he became a Lead Instructor with the golf schools at Pine Needles Resort in Pinehurst, NC, opening the Strano Golf Academy in 2003. A native of St. Louis, MO, Rob is a four time honorable mention U.S. Kids Golf Top 50 Youth Golf Instructor and has enjoyed great success with junior golfers, as more than 40 of his students have gone on to compete on the collegiate level at such established programs as Florida State, Florida and Southern Mississippi. During the 2017 season Coach Strano had a player win the DII National Championship and the prestigious Nicklaus Award. He has also taught a Super Bowl and Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, a two-time NCAA men’s basketball national championship coach, and several PGA Tour and LPGA Tour players. His PGA Tour players have led such statistical categories as Driving Accuracy, Total Driving and 3-Putt Avoidance, just to name a few. In 2003 Rob developed a nationwide outreach program for Deaf children teaching them how to play golf in sign language. As the Director of the United States Deaf Golf Camps, Rob travels the country conducting instruction clinics for the Deaf at various PGA and LPGA Tour events. Rob is also a Level 2 certified AimPoint Express Level 2 green reading instructor and a member of the FlightScope Advisory Board, and is the developer of the Fuzion Dyn-A-line putting training aid. * Golf Channel segments have included: Caddyshack Top Gun Final Countdown Gangnam Style The Carlton Playing Quarters Pump You Up

21 Comments

BD57

Oct 26, 2015 at 7:46 pm

The comments are good for some giggles …. 🙂

Let’s see – you just hit a bad shot to put yourself in trouble, so, obviously, the thing to do is plan on hitting a GREAT shot to get yourself out of it …. yeah, right.

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John

Oct 7, 2015 at 12:16 am

Play aggressive and look at a birdie…. Lol. Unfortunately, if you keep your score for real, and don’t ‘pick up’ when you get to double, you would more likely be looking at a quad as opposed to a birdie. The comments in this article are exactly why amateur golfers scores have not come down even with all the advancements in equipment. Poor course management, and guys ‘going for it’, with a much larger chance at snowman/quad than birdie. Most guys will blow up the hole, chalk it up to an anomaly like it didn’t really happen. But if they happen to pull it off, they falsely believe that miracle shot is their ‘true game’, but the blowup hole is some anomaly that really doesn’t count. Poor course management has negated any equipment gains that have come out. Continue to go for it, and continue to have the same handicap year after year, wondering why you never get better.

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Conrad

Oct 6, 2015 at 1:19 pm

I have always been great at hitting shots from tough areas. IMO there is no better feeling from making birdie from the trees!

Reply Report comment
- John
  
  Oct 7, 2015 at 12:03 am
  
  This article is not about whether you are good or not at tough shots, or how good it feels to pull it off. It’s in reference to smart tournament play and taking away the chance at the big number.
  
  Reply Report comment
Arkie

Oct 6, 2015 at 10:10 am

Great article. Too often I’ve found myself in trouble with a small window and I try to make that “hero” shot. I look at it this way – there’s not a paycheck on the line for me so I might as well just punch out to the short grass and go to work from there.

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- Scooter McGavin
  
  Oct 6, 2015 at 8:35 pm
  
  You could actually look at it from the other side the same way. There’s not a paycheck at risk for you, so go for it! 🙂
  
  Reply Report comment
  - christian
    
    Oct 6, 2015 at 11:42 pm
    
    Exactly what I was thinking
    
    Reply Report comment
  - John
    
    Oct 7, 2015 at 12:05 am
    
    Apparently you guys don’t play any tournament golf.
    
    Reply Report comment
Doc Todd

Oct 6, 2015 at 7:40 am

Good reminder article, Rob. I should have read this as reinforcement before my round yesterday. I pushed a tee shot into the trees on a short par 4 and told myself to chip back out the whole time I was heading to look for my ball. I find the tee shot, and hallelujah I think I can snake a little 6i up and over some trees to get on in regulation. WRONG! Its like that old commercial…just chip it out!

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other paul

Oct 5, 2015 at 9:25 pm

I was playing a short par 4 with some friends the other day. 320 yards. My strategy for the day was to aim for a easy pitching wedge in. So instead of pulling driver, I grabbed my 9 iron for the tee shot. My friend looks at me and says “I’m hitting driver, you?”
Me “9iron I think”
Him “What the hell are you thinking?”
Me “Course management, you?”
Him “uhhhhhh”

I hit 9i 170 and ended up hitting gap wedge to 10′ for birdie. He double bogeyed it when he swung so hard it went almost as far right as forward.

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- Double Mocha Man
  
  Oct 6, 2015 at 11:27 am
  
  170 yard 9 iron! Downhill, downwind, concrete-like fairways?
  
  Reply Report comment
- Sam
  
  Oct 6, 2015 at 11:30 am
  
  I think you were looking at a “6” upside down when you hit your “9i” 170 yards. To top it off you hit a 150y Gap Wedge? Please tell me how it’s like playing on the PGA tour.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Scooter McGavin
    
    Oct 6, 2015 at 8:38 pm
    
    It’s not unheard of to have a really long amateur. I know a guy that’s probably a scratch or 1hdcp and drives it about 320, and hits his 6 iron 210-215. These guys are the minority, but they’re out there.
    
    Reply Report comment
Joey5Picks

Oct 5, 2015 at 5:09 pm

…Says the 18-handicapper

Reply Report comment
Snowman

Oct 5, 2015 at 3:20 pm

Good strategy for most Handicap players is: “Bogeys are ok; Doubles are not” This will serve to give perspective when you are out of position. For Higher Handicaps, maybe “Doubles are OK, but “Others” are not…….”

Reply Report comment
Mike

Oct 5, 2015 at 3:20 pm

Thanks for this article. Plenty of people reading it on a Monday could use it after replaying bad decisions over the weekend.

What country club did you grow up at? I’m from St. Louis.

Reply Report comment
- Rob Strano
  
  Oct 5, 2015 at 4:55 pm
  
  Mike –
  
  Thanks for the comment and you made me laugh thinking about all the bad over the weekend decisions on the golf course! I grew up at St. Clair Country Club in Belleville just across the river from St. Louis.
  Go Redbirds!!!
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Double Mocha Man
    
    Oct 6, 2015 at 11:31 am
    
    I played college golf near Belleville, at Sunset Hills Country Club. Go Cards!
    
    Reply Report comment
Philip

Oct 5, 2015 at 2:57 pm

I’m getting better at this thanks to way too much practice from trouble situations. I actually think and survey my options for the highest percentage shot before walking up and pulling the trigger, and as a result, I’m able to get my recovery shot in play 80-90% of the time and walk away with a boogie, while still having a chance for a par.

Reply Report comment
Ian

Oct 5, 2015 at 2:43 pm

Thanks for the advice Rob. I often find that I loose my cool when I realize I can’t make a green in regulation (coz it generally means a dropped shot). I then go for the hero shot, fail, find myself in heaps more trouble and ultimately wish I had only dropped one shot… Lol

Reply Report comment
- Rob Strano
  
  Oct 5, 2015 at 4:58 pm
  
  Ian-
  
  Thanks for the comment and you hit the nail on the head with why folks struggle to choose the right option. They lose their cool! I call this the “Bogey from the tee” mentality. We know that because of one swing we are going to struggle and have to work hard to make a par, so that makes us mad and we then choose the too risky aggressive approach. I can tell you from playing professionally. When I got in trouble, and took a deep breath and calmed my mind down, I normally played a really smart “aggressive” shot and made par the hard way!
  
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Instruction

Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?

Published

1 day ago

Apr 24, 2024

Shawn Clement

Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic

Published

4 weeks ago

Mar 29, 2024

Terry Koehler

My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.

As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.

The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.

Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:

Mis-aligned hands

By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.

The position of the grip in the upper/left hand

I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.

To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.

Too much lower (right) hand on the club

It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.

Gripping too tightly

Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.

So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

Published

2 months ago

Mar 4, 2024

Shawn Clement

Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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