A Lesson Learned

This week's PGA Tour event at Disney is always of special interest to me because it is where I had the biggest win of my uneventful professional playing career. I was the PGA Club Professional on the winning 1996 Oldsmobile Scramble National Championship team. It was a big deal for me and my team both in prestige (it was the largest tournament in the world) and exposure (the event aired on ESPN). I hope you watched it! Anyway, the event was played on the Palm and Magnolia courses at Disney as was this week's Tour event.

It is always interesting when you happen to have a Tour event played on a course you have played. You get the chance to compare yourself to the best players in the world and you also get a better understanding of what the players are experiencing. I'll try to share some of this with you.

One thing you see over and over on the PGA Tour is the player who puts the ball in the best position on the greens to make putts wins. Often times 20 feet from the correct place on the green is easier than 10 feet from the wrong place. This is very true at the Magnolia course. During the 1996 Olds Scramble we had 5 shots into the greens so we had 3 to 5 shots to choose from on most holes. There were several times that we did not play the ball closest to the hole. We would choose the "easiest" putt to play, not the closest. What makes a putt "easy"? Up hill, into the grain, into the wind, little or no break. On the Magnolia course you can get some putts that are down hill, down wind, down grain with some break in them and it will be so fast there is almost no way to make it. It can play faster than the greens at the Masters or the US Open. But with the right putt we saw tour players making putts hole after hole. This was the case with the 12th hole today on the Magnolia course. The hole was located on the right side of the green over near a bunker and the water. A player could play to the center of the green and have a 20 foot birdie put but the put from there was super fast with a lot of break. We saw a lot of players playing to the right or "short side" of the hole even if it meant having a chip shot but it was up hill with little break and not very fast. I rarely see amateurs consider this when hitting into a green. Even on chip shots and pitch shots you should always consider what side of the hole you want to put from. Most players just aim and the flag stick and hit and end up with what ever putt luck gives them. Put a little thought into your approach shots and you will improve your putting stats.

As is the case about half the time you play in middle Florida the players have had to deal with some wind. Shots into the wind seem to give amateur golfers fits. This is because they try to do the wrong things to fight the wind. I see amateurs play the ball way back in their stance, hit down on the ball, try to hit the ball hard, tighten up, keep their arms stiff, so on and so on. Does this sound like you? It use to be me too. So here is what to do. First thing to know is we want to get as much back spin off of the shot as we can. Back spin causes the ball to climb up in the air and into the wind it will climb too much and not go forward enough causing the ball to come up short of the target. Watch what the tour players do to get the spin off of the shot. They move the ball forward in their stance so they don't hit down too much on the ball. They take a lot of extra club into the wind, sometimes 3 to 4 clubs extra so they can swing easy, not hard. And they keep their arms soft not stiff. This helps release the club face over the ball to hit it low and reduce spin even more. Next time you are facing a windy day hit some balls on the range this way before the round. It will help get you into the wind playing mode. Try it, it will work.

Also of interest is how tour players don't get discouraged over a bad shot or two. They don't panic and start trying to figure out what is wrong. They understand that golf is not a perfect game and a couple poor shots is just part of the game. Some one once told me that your not as bad as your worst shots and your not a good as your best shots. I think this is very true and good advice for amateurs. I see amateurs get so down on themselves and give up after one or two bad shots. Bad shots are part of the game even when you are playing well. Today on the 11th hole Steven Ames hit a poor approach to the green with only a wedge in his hands and then played two poorly played putts in a row to three putt and make a bogey on a hole he was thinking birdie. He did not get down or mad, he put it behind him and went on to play well and win.

I hope you have learned a few lessons this year from the "A lesson learned" series. I know I learn something every time I watch the PGA Tour. See you next year!

John Crumbley is a certified PGA Professional and Head Professional at Mystery Valley Golf Club in Lithonia, Ga. He is active in many areas of the Georgia Section including serving on the Rules Committee and is also a Rules Consultant for PGA.com. Crumbley also received the 2006 Growth of the Game Award from the Georgia Section, in large part due to his efforts of hosting the first ever Play Golf America Day in the Georgia Section. He is also the Rules Expert for PGA.com. He can be reached at crumbley@pga.com.