Damage Control Situation No. 3
A field-goal opportunity to a runaway green
Turn the magazine counterclockwise 90 degrees to get the best view of your stance and ball position. Turn the photo upright for your view of the target. The gap between the trees — like the uprights in football — gives you a chance, but the shot plays downhill to a green sloping left and away from you. The pin is back-right, and two elements of this problem you can't see from your vantage point are a slope down to a pond behind the green and a large tree trunk 3 feet behind your ball (you can see its shadow in the corner).
If you hit a shot between the trees pin-high, the ball will roll at least 30 feet left of the hole, leading to a probable bogey. You also have zero margin for an error long (because of the water). Play left of the trees and you'll end up in the sand, with a difficult downhill shot to the pin toward water. Playing right of the trees will leave a 140-foot chip with a right-to-left break of 20 feet. What should you do?
There are two ways to play this shot...
TOUR PLAYER SHOT
Set your body and swing to aim at the left tree, open your clubface to aim between the trees, and hit a cut shot that curves to the right and fights the slope.
EVERYDAY PLAYER SHOT
Play left of the trees and short of the green. You won't make par, but a bogey is a good bet and eliminates the possibility of a disaster into the water behind the green.
SET-UP-OLOGY
Lean forward
The tree behind your ball doesn't leave enough room for a normal backswing no matter where you aim. Lean forward, grip down on the shaft and play the ball back in your stance to gain a little more room.
SWING SHAPING
Shorten your backswing radius
If your backswing still won't fit, cock your wrists at address before swinging back. An early wrist cock shortens your backswing radius dramatically. Your downswing radius is always compact, and will fit easily inside the tree behind you.
BACKYARD PRACTICE DRILL
Launch direction and in-flight curve
Practice curving your Damage Control ball around a tree in your backyard to learn how much shots curve depending on how much you open the clubface.
• I hope these excerpts from my book Dave Pelz's Damage Control will help you learn how to escape from trouble and avoid disaster scores.
YOU CAN HAVE DAMAGE CONTROL IN YOUR GAME BY...
1. Hitting shots in your backyard with practice balls to internalize the three fundamentals of set-up-ology, swing shaping and hand-fire feel.
2. Playing a practice round on a course to develop red-flag touch and learn the relevance of escape-shot patterns.
3. Refining the Damage Control mentality to play complete 18-hole rounds without any disaster holes.
• Research says Damage Control is the best way to knock strokes off your handicap without taking years to totally change your swing. I hope you'll give it a try. Better scoring to you!
For more information on Dave Pelz's Scoring Game Schools, clinics and learning aids, visit pelzgolf.com or call 888-DAVE-PELZ.
