Part 2 When thinking about strategy, plan for your best and prepare for your miss (Part 1 of a two-part series) In Part 1 of this series, we talked about how filling our brains with the right thoughts will clear our mind to make the shot. Now the question becomes “What should I think about?” The answer lies in a simple axiom: Plan for your best shot, prepare for the miss. Plan for your best shot First, ask yourself the question, “If I hit this shot perfectly, where will it end up?” This question isn’t as simple as it might seem. From the tee, we might automatically say, “The perfect shot will end up in the middle of the fairway.” But what if the pin is tucked to the right side of the green. In that case, the left side of the fairway is better. The key here is the word “perfect.” In other words, if you could walk to the spot where you’d like your ball to be and drop it there, where would it be? Remember, the perfect shot sets up the next shot. It’s always about the next shot. That sets us up for the second part of the equation. Prepare for the miss Now that you know exactly where you’d like your shot to end up, the next part is very important. Where is the best place to miss? Almost every hole has a place that is a bad miss. For example, the fourth hole at Toad Valley has out-of-bounds along the entire left-hand side. On that hole, the worst miss is obvious. So if you’re going to miss, you want to miss right. The miss on other holes isn’t as obvious. For example, the first hole I navigated during my playing lesson with Rob Randall was a par-5 that had a huge bunker down the left side, about 260 yards from the tee. At first glance, it’s tempting to think, “Don’t want to miss left.” But looking at the right side was even more harrowing. About 5 yards off the fairway, the ground dropped off steeply, at least 20 feet straight down, into some trees and extremely long grass. You could play from there, but you’re going to be in trouble. In this case, “preparing for the miss” meant that if I was going to miss, it was going to be in the bunker. I could still make par from the bunker. The chances of making par from the gully on the right were very small. The perfect shot in this case was middle of the fairway. The best miss was left. So I lined up on the right side of the tee box and aimed it toward the right side of the bunker. If I hit it perfectly, I’d be in the fairway. But if I missed a little right, I’d be in the fairway. But what about a miss to the left? That brings me to the most important part of “preparing for the miss.” You have to know your own swing. In other words, how do you normally miss? I know that for my game, my misses off the tee are usually to the right. I rarely pull the ball, and I almost never hook it. The chances of missing left were probably less than 10%. So I felt confident that my ball would not end up in the sand. That’s the way you need to think through your shots. Fill your brain with shot strategy, and you’ll clear your mind from swing mechanics. You can play freely. In my case, I hit the ball just a hair thin, but right on line. I ended up about 5 yards to the right of the large bunker on the left, setting up a fairly easy second shot. So to summarize: Plan for the perfect shot Look at the shot in front of you. Where will the perfect shot end up? Remember, the perfect shot is the one that sets up the easiest next shot. What’s my normal miss? When I’m off target, where does it usually go? Prepare for the miss Where would I need to aim the ball in order for my miss to leave me in the least amount of trouble? Do the same for each shot, and you’ll be well on your way to lower scores – and more fun!

(Part 1 of a two-part series) Recently I took a series of lessons from Rob Randall, the teaching professional at Legacy Golf Club in Norwalk. The main objective? Bring my practice game to the course. Maybe you’re like me – Jack Nicklaus on the range, Jack Daniels on the course. Locked in a frustrating cycle. Practice well, play poorly, practice some more in order to play better, then play poorly again. What can we do to hit our best shots on the fairways? The answer may lie in what’s in your brain. When we’re on the range, we can focus on our swing mechanics. We can tweak our grip, stance, takeaway, follow-through, and anything else we want. If it doesn’t work, we simply pull another ball from the bucket and try again. If it works, we repeat it. On the course, however, it’s nearly impossible do that. Each shot gives us just one try. If we’re thinking about swing mechanics, we’re doomed. But since it’s all we’ve thought about on the range, it’s almost impossible to stop on the course. What’s a person to do? Turn off the brain? That brings me to the advice Rob gave me. Instead of turning off the brain, we need to fill it – with the right things. Wait a minute! Fill the brain? Yes, exactly. Rob, who does a lot of on-course work with top amateurs and local pros, says the best players take time before they hit their shot. And they ask some important questions. Where will my perfect shot go? Where is the best place to miss? How will my lie affect the shot? What about the wind? Where do I want to hit the next shot from? Now for the real key. Once you’ve nailed down the strategy you’re going to play, simply step up to the ball and go. Now is not the time to be thinking about swing mechanics. You’ve done the work on the range. Now simply do what you’ve repeated hundreds of times. Fortunately, your brain is full, which means it’s almost impossible to think about swing mechanics. It truly works! The proof was in the pudding for me. Rob gave me an on-course playing lesson that day. He took me out to four of the toughest holes in central Iowa, where I made four stress-free pars. Believe me when I tell you, that hasn’t happened often this year. And the best part? I didn’t strike a single shot perfectly. But they were all good enough, entirely because I wasn’t thinking about mechanics. In short, filling the brain clears the mind. And that’s when we can play our best! So … what should a person think about? I’ll go into more detail about that with my next post.

Have trouble hitting your drive straight?  Give this drill a try the next time you’re on the driving range. Take spin off your drives to hit it straighter While a downward blow is great for your irons, it’s a killer off the tee. Hitting down on the ball adds spin, and spin is the mortal enemy of the driver. With today’s drivers, striking the ball with a slightly upward blow reduces spin and increases carry. But how do we pull that off on a consistent basis? Here’s a nice drill for the practice tee that will definitely help if you’ll use it regularly. The drill requires one ball and three tees. Here’s how it works. Set up your ball on the tee the way you normally would. Then take two more tees and stick them in the ground about 6-8 inches in front of the ball, about 1-2 inches apart. The most important part of this drill is to make the two tees slightly higher than your ball. The rest is amazingly simple. Set up with your back shoulder slightly lower than your front shoulder. Now hit your drive, but DON’T hit the two tees in front of the ball. The only way you can do this is to hit slightly up on the ball. Practice this shot every time you hit the range, and you’ll soon be driving the ball with less spin and more accuracy. Good luck!