GOLF Tips, Trick and Guide

1. Play the shot that will put your ball in the best position for the next shot.
2. If you are not skilled enough to put the ball in that spot, choose a spot that you can play to which will still give you a workable next shot.

I played a round early one spring with a friend of mine, a middle-aged adult who picked up the game just a few years ago. It was a cool day, so the ball flew shorter, and the fairways were wet, which meant it was all carry off the tee. We both drove into the fairway on a long par 4, which under the day's conditions was playing as a par 5.

We got to his ball, about 190 yards from the tee, and he wondered out loud what to do. The green was more than 200 yards away, over a pond, and guarded by another pond on the left. I wouldn't try for the green from there on a good day. So I said, "How about taking out your wedge and pitching down the fairway past the 150-yard pole for a short iron into the green?" He said, "Yeah, I suppose. (Pause) Nah, I'm going for it." The next sounds we heard were his hybrid club slapping the soggy turf, followed by the rude splash of his ball entering the nearer pond.

We walked up 10 yards to my ball. I took out my wedge, pitched past the 150-yard pole, walked up to it again, and hit an 8-iron onto the green. He said, "Oh. That's what you meant." Rule 1, Rule 2.

By Bob E. Jones