Take a cue from Lucas Glover’s playbook, the 2009 US Open champion and not only save crucial strokes but win championships.
Lucas with a two strole lead hit a five or six iron off the 18 th tee on the last hole and made par to win his first US Open championship.
Now the 18 th was not a long hole but very short and tricky, and he could have blown the driver down to within 50-70 yds of the green but with pressure on the line, why take a chance and hit it a sand trap or deep rough and struggle to make a bogey or double and force a play-off. Ricky Barnes could have made birdie and there would be a two stroke swing very quickly. We would have had a three way playoff.
Does this remind anyone of the British Open several years ago where Jean Van der Velde had a similar two stroke lead and went with the driver on the last hole and ended up having to make an eight foot putt or so to make double bogey and get into a play-off, whch he ended up losing? Have you heard of him since?
I have a drill in my Ultimate Game of Golf book on pages 247-248 that has you hit two balls off the tee playing nine holes and judging from where you end up with the driver vs. the three or five wood. You can see the results of this “study” there. Knowing when to hit the right club is important and part of becoming a good player. You can see new my book at www.amazon.com. Click on books: and then “perfect balance” by Bob Cisco.
This also cost Phil Mickelson his fist open victory two years ago and allowed Geoff Oglivy to become the winner in 2006. He went with the driver and it cost him the championship.
So what I want you to do here is become more aware of the importance of keeeping the ball in play at all times and when you his an errant shot, to get the ball back in play right away. Hitting from thr fairway is far better than the rough or from behind a tree.
Experiment with this and let me know how your course management and strategy has improved from this. And your scores are lower on the score card.
This strategy will not only work for you but will shave strokes off your scores and win championships for you. Regardless of level of play.
Talk to you soon, Bob Cisco