You are close to the green.
Five yards from the fringe, even.
Grab a club and chip away.
Not so fast skippy :-)
Before you hit your shot you need to
look at three things before you choose your club.
1: What is between you and the green?
2: What is between you and the pin?
3: How far is it to your target landing area?
Let's look at each of these factors.
If you have played a bit of golf on a few
different courses, you now know that the area
around the green is not always a nice
flat safe place to chip from.
In fact, many greens are 'protected' so you are
forced to hit a good shot from the right
approach in order to tame it.
Alas, many of us don't have the control to
choose exactly how we get close to the green.
We are just happy we are close :-)
You will also find that greens have sand,
trees, walls, hills, slopes, and water
surrounding them.
(makes you want to have a little chat with
the golf course designer, eh?)
So make a mental note of what terrain is
between you and the green.
Hold that thought.
Now look at the green.
They ain't all round. They ain't all flat.
They move the pin all over the place.
Where is the pin relative to you.
Is it right close to your edge or is
it waaaaay at the other end?
Is there a slope up or down? Or two tiers?
Is there even a straight line between you
and the green or is the pin around a corner?
Here is where you have to make your
first decision. Lob or roll?
As an example. You are 5 feet from the fringe,
the pin is 30 feet away at the other end
of a flat green. You can safely hit
a long iron over the 5 feet and let the ball
roll the distance to the pin.
Getting the distance right is your goal here.
Or. You are 5 feet away from the fringe and
the pin is 4 feet away from that.
A long iron won't work here since you'll roll
well past the pin.
You need to hit the ball up in the air and plan
for no roll. This is the time you need to be comfortable
with a 60 degree lob wedge.
Every approach shot you make from around the
green think about these factors.
What if you are 5 feet away from the fringe
and the pin is 10 feet away on a green
that slopes away from you.
Getting the ball rolling on that surface
will sent it well past the hole so a long iron
chip won't be a good choice.
Once you have this decision made, the next step
is to pick your target landing zone.
Look at it. Make a mental note of it.
And plan to hit your shot into it.
If it is 3 feet or 30 yards away.
You must see the spot.
Imagine you are putting from that spot.
What will the ball do? Break left or right?
Pick up speed? Stop cold.
Now you are set to hit your shot.
You'll have better luck if you think
these thoughts before you even hit the shot.
------------------------------------------------------------
Hit em straight!
JJ
Woods opens world against Micheel
LONDON, England -- Tiger Woods will face fellow-American Shaun Micheel in the first round of the World Match Play Championship at Wentworth on Thursday.
World number one Woods is bidding to extend his spectacular winning streak to six successive tournaments.
New Zealand's Michael Campbell begins the defense of his title against Simon Khan
The first round pairings have also thrown together European Ryder Cup team-mates Colin Montgomerie and David Howell.
New world number two Jim Furyk starts against Ryder rival Robert Karlsson.
Woods lost in the final to his close friend Mark O'Meara in his only previous appearance at Wentworth in 1998.
If the world number one beats 2003 U.S. PGA champion Micheel, he will meet Briton Luke Donald or Tim Clark of South Africa in the quarterfinals.
South African Ernie Els starts his quest for a record seventh World Match Play trophy by taking on big-hitting Argentine Angel Cabrera.
The elite 16-man field will be chasing the richest first prize in golf, one million pounds ($1.87 million).
Draw for 36-hole matches (prefix number denotes seedings; tee off times local (GMT + 1):
1-Michael Campbell (New Zealand) v 16-Simon Khan (Britain)
Tee off times 0736 & 1206
8-David Howell (Britain) v 9-Colin Montgomerie (Britain)
0748 & 1218
5-Retief Goosen (South Africa) v 12-Paul Casey (Britain)
0800 & 1230
4-Adam Scott (Australia) v 13-Mike Weir (Canada)
0812 & 1242
3-Jim Furyk (U.S.) v 14-Robert Karlsson (Sweden)
0824 & 1254
6-Ernie Els (South Africa) v 11-Angel Cabrera (Argentina)
0836 & 1306
7-Luke Donald (Britain) v 10-Tim Clark (South Africa)
0848 & 1318
2-Tiger Woods (U.S.) v 15-Shaun Micheel (U.S.)
0900 & 1330
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