On the other hand, if you want the challenge of athletic skills with the touch of billiards and the strategy of chess, you have to get off the Bunny Hill and take on the mountain!
This past April we were again treated to the Masters, with all the scenery, slopes, and lightning fast greens to which we’re accustomed. Though Bubba Watson’s great play made the final 9 holes somewhat less dramatic, he took on the mountain and while others crashed, Bubba won!
Just like downhill skiing, golf has a Bunny Hill: It’s called the Driving Range. Everything about a range is made to be consistent: the range mats, the range tees, and even the 100, 150, 200, and 250 yard markers are the same. So it stands to reason that consistent performance is what you want.
But the only place you are to find consistency really is on the range. Nothing about the course is the same, just as nothing on the mountain is the same as the Bunny Hill. On the bunny hill the slope is so easy you can practically go straight down hill, but on the mountain that would virtually insure a crash.
The real goal is to get off the bunny hill – er r, driving range, get on the course and not crash. Funny thing about golf is, everybody crashes. So what’s different about the golf course? Everything!
1) Slope: It always changes on the course, and the driving range doesn’t have any. This means that your best opportunity to hit the ball solid and straight is on the range. When the ball is above your feet there is an influence to pull or hook, and below your feet to push or slice. Also, when the ball is on an uphill lie there is a tendency to pull or hook, and on a downslope to push or slice. Slopes are the main influences at Augusta National in the Masters.
2) Grass: It always changes on the course. Fortunately you have 18 times each round to place the ball on a tee or on the grass if you like. But more than 40% of the game is not on the tee and not on the green. Grass has more of an influence than it’s given credit: Tight lies – which means a lack of grass – have a tendency to push or slice, and thick rough has a tendency to grab the club and close the face leading to a pull or hook. The grass conditions at Augusta are pretty darned good for the players, and with very little rough this is less of an issue for the players.
Grass – or lack of grass – is definitely an issue on the greens though, as they cut the greens very short, making your intended approach locations even more important.
3) Wind: It always changeson the course. The effects of wind are pretty obvious with cross-winds, into the wind, and down wind. The funny thing about wind is, it is not a constant force! So sometimes you gauge the wind and it doesn’t affect your ball flight, and other times it makes your ball go crazy! Even small changes in wind have big effects on flight – at Augusta you’ll see the players being very indecisive at times, especially on the par 3 #12.
If the driving range is the bunny hill, then Augusta National is the ultimate mountain that the tour players are striving for. Slopes are the biggest key that the players must negotiate, and especially on the greens. Television doesn’t do the slopes justice, as there is as much as 12 degrees of slope in some of the fairways – especially on #13 as in the image.
Sometimes we just don’t know how difficult the shot is: On this shot, the Chinese player Tianlang Guan was faced with a severe slope of at least 10 degrees influencing the ball to pull or hook, and 220 yards over a creek to a green on which it is very difficult to stop a ball. In this case he actually did hit it in the creek and had to take a drop with a penalty shot.
With the design of the right-to-left doglegs and slopes at Augusta, it’s no wonder long-hitting left-handed players have made their mark on the course: A fade for a left-handed player plays with many of the slopes and stops better on the greens, while a similar right-to-left curve for a righty has less tendency to stop on the greens and is more difficult to control.
A big lesson to take away from all this is that you learn a certain level of performance and expectation on the driving range or bunny hill, but then there are vastly more influences and tendencies on the course and mountain. Many of your ‘misses’ and mis-directions – even crashes! – are actually because of these influences.
This is great information because it is very difficult to hit the ball straight with so many influences – yet these influences can be predictable. On the mountain it is much harder to go straight when the slope is to the left or right, and so it is on the course.
Bob Duncan is a PGA Life Member and developer of the Golfer Positioning System, an on-course performance program designed to predict and enhance performance. Visit Bob’s website at golfecoach.com and contact Bob for lessons at Golfsavvy@msn.com.
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