Making the Most of a Bad Round

Every golfer dreams of the “perfect round,” the day on the course when everything goes right.  But, in truth, this is fantast, even for us pros who make living from the game.  We get into some kind of trouble almost every time we play, although not nearly as often as the average amateur.  The good player learns how to cope with trouble and not let a bad round turn into a nightmare and—perhaps to a lesser extent—so can you.  It might be called stroke conversation, keeping one’s losses to par to a minimum when his game is sub-par.

            I could cite many examples from my own experience and that of many of my fellow pros in which we have converted potential disaster into respectable scores.  Let me just mention just one recent instance.  In the 1970 Heritage Classic I started with a 73 and the second day played a wild round that could easily have knocked me out of the tournament.  But, fortunately, I was able to keep my head, concentrate on the saving of strokes and, with some pretty good putting, managed a 70, went on to finish third and win more than $7,000.

            First and foremost, you must be able to adjust mentally to the day when you keep hitting the ball into the wrong places.  You must neither get very angry nor give up.  If you do either, you can forget about a decent score.  Stay calm, cool and collected when you get into trouble.  This doesn’t necessarily mean to give up strokes by taking the easy way out instead of flailing away.  You must consider the percentages every time.  I guess I have correctly come by the reputation of being a bold player and I feel there has to be an element of boldness in every golfer to be successful, but this boldness must be tempered by the player’s awareness of his own ability.  I have played many shots that observers felt were mighty risky, but, with rare exception, I have never taken them without feeling that I had a good chance of pulling them off.

            This conversation of strokes on the bad days can involve any part of your game, just about any club in your bag.  Let me touch on a few of the more common trouble-shot situations and how I suggest you go about saving shots when high scores loom.

            A lot of the trouble starts with errant tee shots.  The ball can wind up anywhere—in rough of all kinds, bushes and trees, sand traps and water.  In any appreciable rough, look at the lie of the ball before you choose the club.  You will usually have a choice and the right one can save you a stroke or two.  Suppose you are in heavy grass and at least a wood’s distance from the green.  Is the ball sitting up well enough that you can get at it with a three- of four-wood, providing you have the strength and confidence in your ability to play the shot with one of those clubs?  It may make more sense for the player of mediocre ability to sacrifice some of the distance and use an iron.  Gripped firmly, the iron will cut through the grass more easily and, because of its shorter length and arc, will not have as much of that grass to negotiate before contacting the ball.  If the ball is buried deeply in the heavy grass the logical move most of the time, even for the strongest of the pros, is to chop it out with his wedge or a short iron, sacrificing distance in the interest of getting the ball into the fairway rather than risking a muffed shot that leaves the ball in the rough.

            The most important stroke-savers among the clubs are the wedges and the putter, which will normally be involved in at least half of your shots in a round.  Putting is a subject in itself, so let’s dwell a bit on the wedges—the pitching wedge and the sand wedge, or as some call it, the sand iron.

            When we pros are not having particularly good days from tee to green, we often save pars with little pitches and sand shots close enough to the hole for one-putting.  From 120 yards in, the wedges is the club to loft the ball onto the green.  The shorter the range, the shorter the back stroke; but it must be a firm, crisp stroke to impart the braking, backspin action of the ball.

            Basically, the sand wedge is for use on “the beach.”  There is no reason why a player, with practice, need fear the sand shots once he masters the action of cutting into the sand behind, then under the ball.  Besides, the sand iron is often useful, unless the lie is particularly tight, in flipping those shots over some sort of hazard around the edges of greens.

            One final point.  So often I see the average players underclub themselves on their approaches and tee shots on the par-threes, coming up short of the green.  Then, it’s usually a shot wasted instead of saved.