This is the first article in a new series here at Toronto Golf Reviews called "How to Play Smart Golf". The goal of these articles is to educate golfers of all skill level about the mental side of the game and, in a way, show them how to think about golf.
The mental side of the game is perhaps the most important. A golfer can drive the ball super far, or be super accurate with their irons, but if they make bad golfing decisions, their score and ultimately their confidence level, will suffer.
I should preface these articles by saying that I'm not an expert golfer; I currently play to a 15 handicap. But I have been around the game for long time and know what to do and what not to do in certain situations (even if I do find difficulty in the execution).
With further ado, the first topic in this series is how to not compound errors on the golf course.
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Making a mistake on a golf course is very common. Nobody's perfect, it's as simple as that. Even at the professional level, we see week after week players making mistakes. The main difference between us everyday golfers and the pros, is how we deal with our mistakes.
If a golfer hits a wayward tee shot that finds a fairway bunker, often times they are left with two decisions: a chip back onto the fairway or an attempt to go for the green, say on a par 4. There are risks and rewards to both decisions but the key is knowing your skill level and using this to make an informed decision about what to do.
This brings us to the topic at hand: do not compound errors on a golf course. It's a relatively straightforward idea, in principle. When faced with trouble on a golf course, don't make a decision that will make your situation worse.
Going back to our scenario above, suppose the golfer decides to go for the green. They have a mid to long iron in hand and take their shot. Unfortunately, it hits the front edge of the bunker and stays inside, closer to the edge, in a worse position. They have just made their situation, and ultimately their score, exponentially worse.
On the other hand, they could have chipped out with a wedge or short iron, onto the fairway, leaving them a chance to save the hole.
So how do we as golfers know what the right decision is and when to make it? It's a two part thought process, I believe, that involves first assessing the situation you are in, then making a decision based on your physical skill level. Let's explore this a bit more.
STEP 1: ASSESS THE SITUATION
Let's talk about risk assessment first. For better understanding I'll keep using our example above. Our golfer arrives at the bunker that their tee shot landed in. Immediately, they should being assessing. Is the ball plugged in the bunker? Is it close to an edge? How is the quality of the sand? Will I have an awkward stance? These are the types of questions golfers should be asking themselves when they find trouble. Doing this will allow you to establish if the shot you want to attempt (going for the green in this case) is a high or low risk shot.
STEP 2: BE HONEST ABOUT YOUR SKILLS AND MAKE A DECISION BASED ON THEM
So the golfer has now established the risk level of going for the green, now they need to make a decision based on their skill level. Golfers must use their judgement of their skill and be honest with themselves, can I really get out of this bunker and make it to the green? If I need my 4-iron to get to the green, will I get enough height at the beginning of the shot to make it out? Can I alter my shot to add more height? Is this long-iron bunker shot something I have confidence in?
This is where things get tricky, as ego may come into play. As golfers, we always want to hit the "hero" shot. Maybe it's because we see so many of them in professional golf and think its easy, or maybe it's something else. But the bottom line is that we need to be honest when we assess our skill level. If a golfer knows that they cannot execute a particular shot or has trouble doing so, don't hit that kind of shot. Don't compound the error and make things worse by going for the "hero" shot.
The best part about this thought process is that it scales with skill level. As you get better as a golfer, you will be able to more accurately assess the risks of a shot and you will be able to hit tougher shots with more confidence. This all adds up to being able to take riskier shots, with less chance of making another mistake and compounding the errors.
A CLASSIC CASE STUDY: JEAN VAN DE VELDE
Even on the professional tours today, we see players struggle with this type of decision-making. A player who currently gets ridiculed for this is Bryson DeChambeau, who has made many interesting decisions in tournaments past. To be fair to Bryson however, a good portion of these decisions have actually paid off and led to much success for him.
Perhaps the most famous case study though is Jean Van de Velde at the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie.
Jean walked onto the 18th tee box with three shot lead. After landing his tee shot in the fairway, he decided to go for the green. His shot was wayward, hitting the grandstands then a stone wall bordering a water hazard, before landing 50 yards back in deep rough.
Things would get worse for Jean though. Deep in the rough and with a water hazard in front of him, as well as a large greenside bunker, Jean decided to go for the green for his third shot. But, his club got tangled in the rough on his downswing, causing him to mis-hit the ball, directly into the water hazard. Luckily, he decided against playing the shot from the hazard and dropped. His next shot landed in the greenside bunker. A chip and a great putt later, he finished with a triple-bogey. He would go on to lose to Peter Lawrie in the ensuing playoff.
It's tough to say exactly what the best decision in that situation would have been, but its clear that his decision to go for the green with his third shot was super high-risk, given the rough he was in, obstacles he needed to go over and his three-shot lead. In an alternate reality, suppose Jean decided not to go over the water hazard with his third shot and instead chip it back to the fairway. He would have been left with an easier approach into the green and have a putt for par. Even a two or three putt would have still resulted in a win. Jean's collapse is a lesson to all golfers about the struggles of accurate decision-making in the toughest of moments.
Jean Van de Velde assessing his fourth shot on the 18th hole at Carnoustie during the 1999 British Opem
FINAL THOUGHTS
Developing the ability to assess the condition of your ball after you have hit an errant or off-target shot is an asset to all golfers. It allows you to make an informed decision as to what your next shot should be. Likewise, being honest about your skill level and ability to hit certain shots with confidence can have numerous rewards. Combining these abilities can ultimately allow you to make less errors on the golf course and not compound errors when you do make one; one more step towards playing smarter golf and lowering your scores.
Like this article? Check out some of our other golfing tips too.
Also, let us know in the comments below about crazy golf situations you have been in,
-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews
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