Well, following Kevin Week's analysis from last week's A Lesson Learned, I think it's safe to say that one thing holds true on the PGA TOUR; if Tiger Woods is on his game, the rest of the field is playing for second place. I certainly do not want to diminish the incredible talent that the rest of the world's best players possess. They are amazing. But if everyone plays their best, Tiger's best always seems to rise a little higher. Well, in this week's case, a lot higher.
There was considerable attention paid to East Lake Golf Club's greens prior to this past week's THE TOUR Championship. Obviously, with record-setting scores, they couldn't have been too detrimental to the players. Give the staff at East Lake a lot of credit for getting the course in such great playing condition given what they were looking at just one week earlier.
Once they learned that the greens were going to be an issue, there were some tough decisions to be made. Practice rounds were limited, the pro-am was cancelled. And then, maybe just as important, they decided that they would not cut the greens during the tournament and that instead of the normal greens speed of 11 or 12 for this tournament, the course would play with green speeds of 9 to 9.5 on the stimpmeter.
With low scores all week, the TOUR players certainly had no problems adjusting to the slower greens. But if you were going to play on slower greens, what adjustments should you make?
- Be more aggressive on your approach shots. The ball will not bounce or roll away as far and so you can take a little more direct route to the flag. And short-siding yourself isn't as harmful when conditions are slow.
- Use one more club. Amateurs tend to come up short on their approach shots anyway. When the greens are soft and slow, you should be sure to take one more club. Again, the shots will not bounce or roll through the greens when the conditions are slow.
- On putts, think of hitting your putts into the back of the cup. Dying your putts into the hole will of course be less effective, you want to stroke your putts with a little more firmness and think of the back of the hole as your target.
When the greens are slow and soft like they were this past week, there is just no stopping the best TOUR players in the world. What an incredible display of skill all the players showed this week. I was able to watch the action on Saturday on the 18th hole, and these guys are playing a 235 yard par three like it was a wedge shot. Simply awesome.
And long par 3s might never play that easy for you, but if you find yourself playing in similar conditions, take a lesson from THE TOUR Championship and get a little more aggressive in your mindset. Maybe you'll surprise yourself with some of your best scores as well.
PGA Professional Tom Ness has long been considered one of the top teaching professionals in the country. The author of several articles in numerous golf media, Ness has been recognized by Golf Digest as a Top 50 teacher in the U.S. and by Golf magazine as a top 100 instructor. Ness has taught players of all levels including those on every professional tour. Ness is the Head of Golf Instruction at Chateau Elan Golf Club in Braselton, Ga.
