I was late in watching The Big Break II on the Golf Channel again this week. These baseball playoff games lasting until midnight and later are killing me and my regular viewing schedule. Anyhow, I wanted to note something about this week’s competition. My absolute favorite challenge so far in this whole series was the elimination challenge from this episode.
In this challenge, each player had to hit four shots from 146 yards and the person with the lowest cumulative distance from the pin wins. Sounds simple, right? Not so fast. The catch here was that they had to use a different club for each shot. Finally – a real challege! The way I looked at it was this challenge served to emphasize control over different clubs in varying situations. We weren’t given exact information during the show, but I’m assuming most of these guys hit 9I, 8I, 7I and 6I.
This situation reminds me of challenges I face every time I play disc golf. Yes, frisbee golf, frolf, whatever you want to call it. Moreso in disc golf than in ball golf, but important to note just the same, players are presented with shots that have multiple flights to the hole. Take it down the fairway and let it fall towards the hole. Use a longer-flying disc and put some strong spin on it to skip it up to the hole. Go out to the left with either a forehand turnover or a sidearm/backhand shot. Even roll one to the hole (yep, you’re allowed to roll the disc). All of these instances would normally call for a different disc, yet the distance between the lie and the hole is the same.
A well-rounded player has his or her choice among these shots and right there is the big advantage. Back to ball golf and the 146 yard shot, what if there’s wind in the face? Take another club and knock it underneath. Wind at the back? Take a lower club and shoot it up there and let the wind help. Ball in a divot, a muddy lie, playing off the cart path, the list goes on and on. It seems like every round I encounter a new situation.
The bottom line here is that there’s more to the shot than just the yardage and I certainly hope the player that wins The Big Break II displays this kind of awareness and creativity.