JPsuff

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The worst "accident" I ever had also turned out to be the best lesson I ever learned and it just happened this past season as well.


I was playing very poorly - my drives were all over the place and I was really messing up my short irons due to "pressing" in an attempt to compensate for my poor drives. I teed off on the eigth hole, (a short par 3), and I chunked yet another short iron. I was really pissed off and I flung my eight iron at my bag and scored a direct hit on my driver shaft, snapping it in two.

I played the rest of the round teeing off with a three-wood and I was hitting it rather well. I noticed that many of my tee shots were leaving me with decent approaches but since the round was shot to pieces on the front nine, I paid little attention beyond that. I ended up shooting something like 88 which is really poor by my standards.

It was early and the course was empty and I began to think about those three-wood tee shots. So I signed up for another eighteen and off I went.
I played the entire round teeing off with that three wood and I was amazed at how accurately I could place my drives. This sparked a renewed interest in scoring and I began to focus more clearly and began to execute more precisely.

Well, I ended up shooting 75 with only three bogeys and I hit 11 greens and the ones I didn't actually hit were just off the edge leaving easy chips. I even had a beautiful sand-save on a par three. This was easily the best round I'd played in months and if it weren't for a balky putter, I might have broken par.
This happened not too long after Tiger won the Open using only his three wood for tee shots and I guess that must have been in the back of my mind.

The lesson I learned was that accuracy is far more important than distance. Mind you, my three wood distance isn't too shabby, but what amazed me was the control I had. After a few holes, I actually began to think in terms of shaping tee shots. This is something I haven't thought of for quite a while because I was having so many issues with my driver - probably because I was more concerned with distance than anything else.

So I have a whole new way of looking at things now. I still acknowledge the need for being able to hit a driver properly, but I only use it now on holes where I really need the distance and the risk/reward ratios are good.
This single adjustment has worked wonders for my approach to the game.

So while distance may impress people and boost one's ego, accuracy and placement will produce lower scores.


I'll take that anyday!




-JP




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