Author: Erik J. Barzeski

When you miss the fairway and find yourself in some trouble, concentrate on getting out and back into safety. The hard bump and run sideways out of deep rough is a difficult shot – stay down on the ball and power through the shot. Often, looking up to see where the ball is going before you’ve hit the shot result in a thin shot that gets caught up in the rough, going nowhere. Stay down, watch your club pass powerfully through the rough, to get out safely.

Learn to love your 3-wood. Many people’s drivers are hit or miss, but the 3W is a far more consistent club. If your driver is misbehaving, your 3W may consistently get you in the fairway 235 yards from the tee. The higher loft on a 3W decreases sidespin, and the 3W can be hit from light rough as well as the fairway. The 3W will hit the ball over trees, letting you cut corners on shorter doglegs. Practice power draws and fades, and the 3W may become your favorite club.

Gripping the club in the fingers – not the palm – frees up tension in the hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders. It allows for a smoother motion and a faster uncocking of the wrists, adding power and accuracy. Sam Snead once said that you should grip the club as if it was a baby bird: tight enough to keep the bird safe, but light enough that you don’t crush it. Keep the club light and in your fingers for better shots.

Practice fades and draws on the range. If your normal shot is a draw, experiment until you find the smallest possible change that provides a fade. Note the difference in distances (fades tend to go higher and a bit shorter) and how different clubs react to the same swing (the longer clubs tend to impart more sidespin than the shorter ones). Practice punched three-quarter and half 3I slices and some huge bending 7I hooks. You never know when you’ll need a slight fade to a back-right pin position or a huge hook to get you out of trouble.

Many players hit thin lobs and pitches when they try to help the ball into the air. Your pitching wedge has about 50° of loft, and your lob wedge around 60°. Believe us, they’ll hit the ball in the air. Swinging down and through the ball and the ball will pop up with some spin. Trust the loft on your clubs and stop thinning the ball over the back of the green.

Too many golfers believe that raw power = distance from the tee. If the power is misdirected, then you may as well spend the energy forking over cash to your buddies at the end of the round. Rhythm promotes balance, and balance promotes clean ballstriking. Nick Price and Tom Watson may have a fast tempo, but they’ve maintained the same rhythm for 30 years. You get a lot more power making solid contact with the ball at the right moment in your swing than you do lashing wildly at the infuriating little white ball.

On tight holes, get the ball into the fairway. Let’s pretend that hole #4 at your club is a 450 yard hole with water right and OB left. You could hit driver or 3W, but if you hit into trouble even 50% of the time you may be better off playing 5I, 5I, PW and leaving yourself two putts for bogey – a far better average than triple, bogey, par, triple, quadruple, bogey, double. Get the ball in the fairway off the tee, and keep the ball there to score well on psych-out holes.