His average greens in regulation put him at 6th on the tour prior to BellSouth. Because of this one tournament he's jumped up to number one which is a big jump just for one tournament. That doesn't mean he'd score better (but obviously he did ) but he was able to reach greens and give himself more chances to birdie or better, even without the scoring wedge.
If you are hitting 80% to 90% greens in regulation, taking a wedge out your bag is NOT going to hurt your game. When your game is on that level it's essentially a putting contest that will determine how well you score.
I wonder how many people really appreciate Phil's performance last week. It was a display of real mastery of his swing, and the golf course?
I also wonder given the context of playing a major where the mental pressure are entirely different as well as the course setup how he handles it?
Great players can hit a draw or fade with the same club .
But can they do it without changing their swings?
A lot of pros get themselves in trouble trying to hit cuts, fades and draws when it's not the natural shape of their shots. I don't care how great a golfer you are when you do something that you don't normally do you increase the error factor.
And skill.
Using two clubs to play the same shot a different way seems to be deskilling the process.
Golf is a game of skill but it's also a game of strategy. Using a different club to achieve the effect of hitting a different type of shot is just a strategy change.
Whether it's changing your swing or changing the club YOU STILL HAVE TO EXECUTE THE SHOT.
Wasn't it Tommy Amour that said "Play the shot that give you the best opporturnity to score"?
Two drivers?
One to fade one to draw, good idea, but you do need to know which is which.
Did Phil pick the wrong ones at 11 & 13 today?
Still IN THERE with a 70 though.
Apparently he started picking out the Draw driver in preference every time as it was gettin him a few extra yards when it mattered, on holes he would tactically should otherwise have picked the Fade driver. The fact he's good enough to work either club to the desired flight path is testement to his skill
Players have been doing the same thing for years with wedges, especially out of the sand. Yes, you can use one sand wedge for all your greenside shots, but most on the tour are now electing to use the lob so they don't have to open it up so much. Same thing from 100 and in. 30 years ago everyone played that shot with just a sand wedge, now they have gap and lob wedges to compliment it so they can use full swings and get the extra spin.
I really can't understand why Phil made the switch to 2 drivers instead of 1. You've gotta weigh the benefits and opportunity costs of doing it both ways.
Method 1: Traditional
Most players will learn how to work the ball so that when they want to hit a fade, they simply adjust their grip, stance, etc. and when they want to hit a draw, vice versa. Phil is capable of doing this, as is pretty much everybody on Tour. Using this method, the player can create any number of shots, giving up only the risk of not pulling it off.
Method 2: Phil's Way
Getting a new driver means eliminating 1/14th of your possible arsenal of clubs. Considering that 99.5% of the time a player will carry a putter, at least a wedge at or over 50*, a driver and at least 6 irons (5-6-7-8-9-PW) - as well as whatever other clubs he/she chooses, be it hybrids, long irons, FWs or additional wedges. So 9 clubs are already accounted for, leaving 5 clubs for creativity. Phil has effectively eliminated 1/5th of his flexibility in club set-up when all he has to do is change his grip pressure and stance in order to achieve the same result.
Method 1 makes so much more sense, IMO. But, in light of the past two weekends, you can't really argue with results.
Phil is a master at his wedges and always has been due to having a green in his backyard when he was a kid in San Diego and back in the day (For some of us older folks) we use to simply open the face to increase the degrees of loft because we did not have the luxury of 3-4 wedges. They were just not thought of at the time until late eighties when Tom Kite introduced a new loft. So for a skilled players like Phil who has the confidence and ability to do that, it is not such a bad thing to remove that wedge. I am sure he has more conifidence in his wedges then trying to manipulate a flight pattern with 1 driver. He may have needed that help and that is what it took.
I really can't understand why Phil made the switch to 2 drivers instead of 1. You've gotta weigh the benefits and opportunity costs of doing it both ways.
Method 1: Traditional
Most players will learn how to work the ball so that when they want to hit a fade, they simply adjust their grip, stance, etc. and when they want to hit a draw, vice versa. Phil is capable of doing this, as is pretty much everybody on Tour. Using this method, the player can create any number of shots, giving up only the risk of not pulling it off.
Method 1 makes so much more sense, IMO. But, in light of the past two weekends, you can't really argue with results.
I think a lot of people give the pros too much credit for the ability described in method 1. Sure they know how to shape a shot either way, but most will admit that they're not comfortable doing so, especially under tournament pressure. They all prefer to stick with their natural shot shape & swing and as you said it's hard to argue with the results.
April 6th, 2006, 05:38 PM
) but he was able to reach greens and give himself more chances to birdie or better, even without the scoring wedge.
Linear Mode
Similar Threads
