FUN WITH WOODS - WITH A SERIOUS SIDE!
It is crunch time in a match or the chance of returning THAT card. Can you carry the bunker, the lake and stop the ball? Can you recover from a wayward drive in the middle of Sherwood forest? Or have you hit the perfect shot and oh joy! someone has blazed a trail before you and you are in their divot. Or there you are a few feet off the green in what I call the chough; just off the green and in clumpy rough cheating your good shot, and it is just about impossible to get your wedge to it cleanly.
This is when you don’t want to try a fancy shot for the first time, but in this winter ‘downtime’ why not try them out now? Practice can be fun but it can also be expensive so dig out all the balls you found but would not normally play with, in the boot of your car. I have only just bought a Rescue club to replace a loved but aged Callaway Warbird 5, so having carted it around not sure what to do with it, it is now going to pay for its keep, so I am going to use it to put my old tricks into practice myself [if I can drag myself away from lovely warm and sunny Lanzarote in a few week's time]
A. Todd Hamilton won the Open at Troon using a Rescue off the tee. Distance is dramatic and very glam, but there is a lot to be said for the short grass in the middle of the fairway. As my natural shot is a draw, which can duckhook in a heartbeat, I always liked to play the first few holes in a tournament with a 3 wood till I got the confidence going. Confidence is an adrenaline thing and I know one local lady who hits her 5 wood as far as most hit a driver. She loves the club and hits a smooth but aggressive swing an amazing distance. Wilma Aitken, from Old Ranfurly, and ex-Curtis Cup, always hit a 3 wood from the tee as she was on the small side too and was happiest with the shorter shafted 3. Did not do her any harm! Try it now from a low tee and imagine yourself playing the Railway Hole at Troon or placing it perfectly at that last hole at the Belfrey in the Ryder Cup. Or even down the 1st fairway at Brunston! Why make things harder?
B. Agnes McCall once said to me when I moaned about ‘playing off the surface of the moon’ - baked fairway and solid divots. She told me to imagine it was sitting up on a tee and sweep the ball from the middle of my stance. A week later she must have regretted this advice as I did what she told me and connected so well my ball ended up on the green ahead where she was in the middle of putting! Another ‘bare lie’ is a shallow fairway bunker. Just keep shoulders level, ball in centre of stance and try to get a long shallow swing back and sweep rather than ‘dig down’ at the ball. You just have to hit the ball first, and I like the thought of ‘painting the ball’ about a foot through my swing.
[forget the palm trees, the level shoulders and centre ball position are the keys here!]
C. Out of the rough is a little different. No sweeping here or you will get a lovely flop shot practically into your face which is not ideal with a wood! This time the ball is a little back from centre of stance so that all power is aimed at the ball, not the grass - and then you hope! With luck - and of course you are aiming back on to the fairway - the ball will rise and run. Men have the muscles to hack and smash for distance, we have to be crafty.
D. Sometimes being small has its advantages and especially if you are in the trees. Or actually under them. Hopefully you have an escape tunnel. An iron will usually lift the ball too high so hello hockey! with the rescue club or another little wood for your ‘Great Escape’. Going down the shaft for control and a hockey style low controlled swing hopefully will give the ball a good clout low under the branches and out of trouble and save a shot or two. It might also save a penalty; practice the shot now and don’t get caught out hitting the shrubbery, and quitting on the shot.
[grip and faith at work under the trees]
E. The shot made famous by Tiger Woods is another fun thing to do; the putt with a 3 wood. Up against the fringe of the apron, or in less than manicured rough close to the green, it is so hard to judge because you just cannot get your putter clean to the ball. My nephew does this shot beautifully normally playing parkland courses; he is 6’2”, so his control tells me this is easier when you are tall. I can do it from the rough with my 3 wood but will use the flat blade edge of a sand iron too as I am almost a foot smaller than him. Our ‘hustle’ winnings must be about even, so you pays your money ..........
[the Tiger putt]
F. My favourite ‘trick’ shot has always been the high drop shot with a 5/7/9 wood] I was advised on this shot by an American golfer called Susie Berning whom I played with in the 2 practice rounds of the Ladies’ British Open at Wentworth in 1980. She had this club - the original ‘rescue’ called a Ginty [a little metal wood with skis] and although I loved my 3 iron for the short holes [men’s tees!], she showed me how to tee this Ginty at varying heights, move up and down the shaft and having determined in these ways how far the ball would go, to give it a real smack but to think ‘throw’ and swing up and after the ball to cut down ‘run’ and get some ‘stop' from the height. I was a bit sceptical [and a shade scornful of this club, to be honest] till I read the Open Programme after our first round; she was 3 times US Open champion! My knees were knocking with fright the next morning, but she taught me more skills in those two rounds than in any other 36 hours in my life - as well as a wonderful exercise in generosity. The best players in my experience have never been jealous or nasty - just happy to share their love of the game. The 6th at Stranraer, the 12th at Royal Birkdale, the 5th at Brunston and the 9th on Gullane No 1 [into the wind] are my favourites for the real thing. The 'short' par 4 at Amen Corner at Augusta is my imaginary one! It is also interesting that it is now very hard to get a full set of irons for ladies; and that Susie’s Ginty’s ‘descendants’ are now in almost every club golfer’s bag in the country. Perhaps she was physic! She played out of Mauai in Hawaii, and told me to drop in any time I was passing - as one does!
Either playing one ball against the other, or hustling for 20 pences with a friend just adds a little spice to what is a actually practice session. Some of these shots are not for beginners but some might just give anyone the push to get that little bit better for next season!
