|
|
Post by Richie3Jack on Jan 17, 2014 10:18:56 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by pavaveda on Jan 17, 2014 12:28:25 GMT -5
Good stuff. Congrats on the recognition!
|
|
|
|
Post by Richie3Jack on Jan 17, 2014 13:35:29 GMT -5
Thank you, Russ!
|
|
|
|
Post by golfbaka on Jan 17, 2014 18:35:53 GMT -5
Congrats Richie. It's been a pleasure reading your blog over the years...
|
|
|
|
Post by ericpaul2 on Jan 20, 2014 11:55:41 GMT -5
What did you think of what the author highlighted? I thought it was good overall...focused on the important things and seemed accurate to what you wrote.
|
|
|
|
Post by Richie3Jack on Jan 20, 2014 13:47:07 GMT -5
I'm happy with it.
A few things:
1. Avoiding Bogeys also shows how well the golfer is striking the ball. The best way to avoid bogeys is to put yourself in position where making bogey is unlikely. If I leave myself with 15 birdie putts inside 20 feet and 3 easy up-and-downs, I got there because of my ballstriking and I'm not likely to make bogeys. And if I can get my putter going, then I'm bound to have a great round sooner or later.
2. Laying up should be considered your last option. It's still a perfectly reasonable option, but it should be the golfer's last option. A poor lie in the rough on a par-5 and the golfer should start considering laying up. But the main point is that this 'laying up to have a full swing into the hole' is poor strategy if you can knock it say 40-50 yards closer.
3. The less power one has the better they will have to putt, in general. Some guys like Tim Clark can get away with being an average putter, but he's a phenomenal iron player (when he's healthy).
4. Part of the reason why golfers don't have to hit it long and straight anymore is that fewer golfers are attempting to hit it long and straight. They are more worried about the 'bomb-n-gouge' strategy. My essay 'The Death of Great Driving' shows the great years driving the ball based on what the 'average' Tour player was doing. I believe that many players are leaving a lot of strokes out on the course by using the bomb-n-gouge strategy instead of trying to do what guys like Nicklaus, Lietzke and Duval did....hit it long and accurately.
5. Great rounds feature the golfer getting a ton of birdie opportunities inside 20 feet. Furyk's 59 at Conway Farms had 13 birdie opportunities inside 20 feet and that does not include him jarring one from about 125 yards for eagle.
6. I remember one time Bill James wrote about the correlation between baseball pitchers that record a lot of strikeouts and career longevity. James concluded that 'noticing that pitchers that record a lot of strikeouts tend to have longer careers is like noticing NBA players tend to be tall.' The same applies for young Tour players with club head speed.
7. More courses on Tour these days favor high ball hitters because of forced carries and more elevated greens. Torrey Pines is a prime example. So it's not about 'when in doubt, hit it high'...it's more about if you want to become more effective on more golf courses, you need to hit it fairly high.
8. Hitting it low in itself is not the problem as much as increasing the attack angle with the driver. However, the 2nd type of golfer on Tour that tends to lose their driving is the one that starts hitting too much upward.
9. Birdie putts are more difficult because the golfer doesn't have a feel for the green and how the putt will break and they are more likely to be sidehill and downhill than a par putt.
10. The best short game players are the best from inside 20 yards (and in particular from 10-20 yards). Longer than 20 yards is more about luck than anything. So a player can be great from 20-30 yards, but be an overall terrible Short Game player if they are terrible from inside 20 yards.
3JACK
|
|
|
|
Post by gmbtempe on Jan 24, 2014 9:05:26 GMT -5
Congrats Richie!
|
|
