Fall - 2022

TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT B Y L A I RD SMA L L Approach Shots nce your tee shot finds the fairway, your work is far from over.Your next shot, whether it be a lay-up or an approach into the green, can mean the difference between a good score and a disaster. Yet so many golfers relax on their second shot—they don’t put as much preparation or focus into it as they do their tee ball—and they pay a steeper penalty when they misfire and leave themselves with an impos- sible up and down. There is nothing more frustrating than carding a bogey—or worse—after hitting a perfect drive, especially when you know it could have been avoided. The following ideas can help your approach shots. Rehearse a Preshot Checklist: When I watch golfers hit balls on the driving range, they almost never practice their preshot routine—if they have one at all. They hit shot after shot without changing targets, checking their alignment or taking a moment to visualize the type of shot they want to play.They’re in rapid-fire mode. If you watch the Tour pros, they’ll take time between shots. They’ll observe what the ball is doing in the air and process this information before they start their routine for the next shot. On average, they go 30 seconds to a minute between shots, whereas the average golfer takes about 10 seconds. On the course, you’re going to have a few minutes before you play your next ball, so it makes sense to build in time between shots on the practice range. Because he hasn’t practiced a preshot routine, the average golfer has no cadence—or series of checks—to help him process all of the infor- mation he needs to execute the shot properly. That’s why you see so many golfers tense up over the ball: either they’re unsure if they have the right club in their hands or they’re running through various outcomes, usually negative, in their head.They have no idea what shot they want to play, and many times they’ll hit the one they’re most trying to avoid. The preshot routine is one aspect of the game that is easily transfer- able from the range to the course, if you practice it. Here are five ques- tions you want to ask yourself when preparing to hit a shot. 1) What is my lie? The lie of the ball is going to dictate what you can and cannot do with the golf ball. Is the ball sitting up in the rough or well down in the grass? 2) What is the slope of the fairway? Is it uphill or downhill? Is the ball above or below my feet? The ball is going to have a tendency to curve in the direction of the slope. For example, the fairway on the par-4 10th hole at Pebble Beach slopes from left to right, toward the ocean, the ball will tend to move in that direction. Uphill, the ball has a tendency to fly higher and curve to the left; downhill, it does the opposite, so you want to adjust your club selection and aim to compensate. 3) What is the wind doing? Pay attention to the treetops and which direction they’re blowing because the wind has greater effect on the ball at its altitude up in the air than at ground level. 4) What type of shot do I want to play? Using No. 10 as an example once again, because the ball is below your feet, it’s going to want to curve from left to right.Therefore, the best play is to start the ball at the left greenside bunker and allow the slope to move it toward the center of the green. If you aim directly at the flag, chances are it’s going to wind up in the ocean. Golfers never see that coming. 5) How is the ball going to react on the green? Are the greens firm or soft, what is the slope of the green? Most greens slope front to back, so leaving the ball in the front of the green will leave an uphill putt or chip. In her book, “Golf Annika’s Way,” Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam wrote: “Golf is not just a game of great shots. It’s a game of bad shots too. The champions are the ones who hit the fewest bad shots—and who are smart enough to keep their bad shots from being terrible.” Great advice. If every time you missed the green you left the ball in a If every time you missed the green you left the ball in a spot where you still had an oppor tunity to get up and down, you’d eliminate the big number and keep your scores low. O 92 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 2