Stroke Saver: Stop Taking Chances On Trouble Shots

When your game starts to have issues, the first thing that goes through most people’s minds is how to get back to the green on the green on the next shot. Whether that shot is s cut-punch through a bank of trees or a dangerous draw over the water to a tight pin, attempting those tough shots will usually lead to adding at least one shot to your score card, if not more. Instead, here’s a simple way to look at those impossible shots that you will probably only want to attempt when you have quite a bit of money or maybe a club championship riding on them.

When you are buried in the woods and need an out, find the safest path. Sometimes this will keep you moving forward, sometimes it will be sideways, and other times you will have to go backwards a bit in order to save your score. To put this example in perspective, let’s say you put your drive 250 yards out into the trees on the right. You have 120 left to the hole, which is an easy wedge for you, but you can’t clear the trees. You’re forced to punch out, but which way? Forward gives you the most trouble as the trees are directly blocking your path. Rotating around, you see that punching back into the fairway isn’t really an option unless you are shooting backwards about 10 yards. This is the safe shot. It will also only increase your approach shot one club. You can punch out from the trees and still have a very solid chance at saving your par instead of possibly hitting a tree and getting into more trouble by punching the shot forward.



Another challenge that is faced in many rounds is the water around the green to a tight pin. As you look at  your drive sailing down the fairway and  rolling out to about 3 yards short of the water, you realize that you just made this hole much harder than it had to be. Your approach needs to carry 150 yards over the water, but stop quickly on the 4 yards of green between the fringe and the bunker behind. Had  your tee shot drifted right, you’d be in the clear to attack the pin, but in this case, the safe play is to the center of the green for an easy two putt. Going after the pin in this scenario will bring a water hazard into play as well as the trouble behind the green. By eliminating the trouble on the hole, you stand a much better chance of surviving the poor position that your tee shot ended up in.

Finally, the last scenario I want to walk you through is the dreaded in-between club syndrome. You hit a spectacular drive to the center of the fairway that leaves you the perfect distance for an 8.5 iron. You’re too far to push an 8 iron and too close for a solid 7. Normally, everyone brings up the point of muscling up on an 8 or just playing a lighter 7. Funny enough, most of the time, this leads to a perfectly chunked 8 iron or a 7 iron that flies the green by 20 yards because you hit it perfect with good tempo. The half club issue is one that seems to come up about 3 to 5 times a round, and it should be one you are prepared for. By doing some homework before the round, you can really prepare yourself for these types of shots. The solution is simple enough, know your club ranges. The carry of a draw should be longer than the carry of a fade. We will use 150 yards for an example here.  Too short for my 8 iron and too long for my 9 iron. I have to hit between them. You see, I hit my 8 iron about 155 yards on a normal swing and my 9 iron goes about 145 yards on a normal swing. This white dot area in the fairway is a terrible spot for me to be, unless I know three things: Where is the pin? Where is the trouble? And where is the easiest place to putt to the hold from?



With these three simple piece of information, I can make a few decisions based on how I hit my clubs. With a strong draw, I will get an extra 5 yards out of each iron (though a bit more on longer irons.) With a fade, I will lose about 5 yards a club (a bit more with longer irons.) This means on that 150 yard shot, I will need to look to see where the trouble is on the hole. If there is trouble back left, I will opt to hit the longer club with a fade. If there is trouble short right, I’ll hit the shorter club with the draw. This will minimize my chances of hitting the ball into trouble. Of course, if there is trouble in both areas, I can dial in the longer club, in this case the 8 iron, with the shorter fade play and still work myself in pretty close to the hole. Again, knowing some distances for the differ kinds of shots that you may have in your bag can be key in playing out these tough sort of shots.

Ultimately, if you have to ‘think’ how to play the shot, you should probably go with the easier, or safe option every time. You can be cruising along with a plus 2 round and one hole can push you into the upper 70’s very quickly. Two bad decisions can lead to the 80’s in no time at all. In fact, if you look at your average score card throughout the year, how many over par are your worst 18 holes for the year? Eliminating those blow-up holes by playing the safer play and taking your medicine will only benefit you in the long run, even if hitting that shot from the edge of the pound may seem like a great idea at the time.