Though he had plenty of booming 300-yard drives and 200-yard 5-irons, Henrik Stenson was able to win the Accenture World Match Play Championship because of key shots from difficult lies that required vision, touch and feel. He has said that Seve Ballesteros was one of his idols as he grew up, and the influence was quite evident on Sunday. Seve of course was known for just the kind of shots that Stenson was able to pull off that keyed his victory.
In the morning round, Stenson had battled back from being 2-down and was now 1-up going to the relatively easy par-4 12th. After his second shot, Stenson was still in a bit of a predicament. His ball was resting on the fringe but up against the collar of the rough, while Ogilvy had a short birdie putt ahead. Stenson seemed in danger of losing his momentum, and even more, the lead. From such a difficult lie there are several options that a player can choose from, which include using a fairway wood or hybrid to cut through the rough or, as Henrik did, you can "belly" a wedge. That shot requires a player to line-up the leading edge of a wedge with the middle of the ball and making a putting stroke. Many players opt to use their putting grip for this shot as well.
I would urge the average player who is not acquainted with this shot to do two things to increase their margin for error. One, opt to use a pitching wedge or 9-iron because their leading edges tend to be straighter and less rounded than a sand wedge. Second, make sure the club's leading edge is lined up at, or slightly below, the equator of the ball. Making contact above the ball's middle will impart overspin and make it hard to control the distance. Stenson executed to perfection and holed this shot for a birdie. A seemingly stunned Ogilvy missed his putt and Stenson won the hole.
By the 18th hole, Stenson was 2-up but drove into an awkward lie just outside a fairway bunker. He had to hit a shot that was well below his feet. Not too tough for the PGA TOUR player, but certainly a daunting task for most amateurs. The key here is to set up with increased knee flex and to maintain it during the swing. Fight the urge to bend more from the waist -- that will put your weight out on your toes, making it hard to keep your balance and that also changes your swing plane. Be very conscious about keeping you knees flexed and being a little more quiet from the waist down. This is exactly what Stenson did; he swung under control and hit a shot safely on to the green and kept his 2-up lead after the morning round.
Finally, at the par-5 10th hole in the afternoon, Stenson had his ball down in a "waste" area near the green. Again, the ball was below his feet, but this time it rested near the back edge of the waste area where grass could interfere with his backswing. This shot is tough, no matter who you are. To pull this shot off you have to hinge your wrists quickly and create a "V"-shaped swing. Here, the club must rise quickly on the backswing and descend sharply to avoid the grass behind the ball. These shots tend to come out a little low and you need to give them room to run once on the green. Again, Stenson displayed great skill and savvy, executing to perfection and making a birdie on the hole to maintain his lead.
One good way to learn all of these shots, and prepare for other difficult situations, is to spend some if your practice time playing "jungle" golf. That was a game I played many times with my buddies as a junior golfer. We would purposely place our balls in all kinds of awkward and horrendous lies around the putting green and see who could hit the best shot. If we had time on the course we'd discuss "what if my ball was here and I had to hit it left handed" or "with almost no backswing" or "with a ball in a bunker while you had to stand outside of the bunker". The possibilities are endless, but you get the point. This meant trying to visualize what shot was needed to recover and then invent a swing, stance and grip with whatever club chosen. This is where the game becomes more like an art than a science and a lot of fun. Remember, golf isn't always about great shots, it's often about how to recover from your less-than-great ones. Practice means more than teeing it up on the range, it might mean burying your ball in a bush or up against a bunker's lip. Your mind can be every bit as valuable to your golf game as any club in your bag. Just ask Henrik Stenson.
John Fiander has been the PGA Head Golf Professional at Sleepy Hollow Golf Course since 1992. He is a Master PGA Professional with a specialty teaching certification from the PGA. He was the 2003 Northern Ohio PGA Teacher of the Year and has been cited numerous times by various media publications for his teaching prowess. He has also written for several golf media outlets including USA Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and PGA.com. John can be reached at jsf@clevelandmetroparks.com.
