How to bias your game

I am in favor of bias over balance. The main tradeoff in golf is between power and accuracy. The simple truth is undeniable...the faster the clubhead is moving, the harder it is to meet the ball with the percussive center of the clubface, better known as the sweetspot. 

Now some of us are gifted with the talent to get the clubhead moving faster than average, some of us are only averagely talented, and some of us -- about a third of all golfers -- can generate significantly less clubhead speed than the average player.

Long ago, in the wood & balata era, the USGA designated the distance a male scratch or zero-handicap player, the mythical par shooter, can hit the ball with a driver as 250 yards; female scratch players were presumed to be able to move it out there 220 yards. The male was also presumed to be able to hit his longest fairway wood (a spoon, or 3-wood) 220 yards, so the maximum length of a par-three hole was set at 250 yards (driver for a scratch player) and 470 yards as the maximum length of a par-four (driver and spoon).

Let's say there's a male golfer today who can manage an average drive of about 240 yards -- below average ability. There are two schools of thought:

1. Below average distance - correct by body-building, training, equipment changes, practice, effort. In other words, shore up your weakness.

2. Below average distance - compensate by working on accuracy, short-game, game-management, trajectory control.

If you read the popular magazines, the front cover most months promises something inside that will give "10 more yards" or "15 yards further" or "gain 25 yards in 25 minutes" or something else along that line. It amounts to some change in technique, equipment, or conditioning that will give you more clubhead speed.

And reduce your accuracy.

Well, that's all well and good if your concern is selling magazines, books, training aids, conditioning programs, technical 'breakthroughs', golf clubs and balls. As Charles Revson, of the Revlon cosmetics company used to tell his employees, "we're not selling cosmetics, we're selling hope". Hope you can believe in...works for some.

But, if your goal as an individual is to lower your golf score and get 10 more smiles/round, and put your friends' money in your pocket, you need to embrace the suck. You don't have the talent to hit it significantly further than you already do. NOTHING will give you so much as ONE FREE YARD. You are like everyone else who plays golf, from beginners to the best players in the world. There is no free yardage. It costs accuracy.

Who cares how fast he or she can swing a clubhead when you're on the green faced with a 20-foot putt? Or facing a pitch over water, or an escape from a bunker? My mother, if she hadn't died 35 years ago in her 70s, was strong enough to make any of those shots. She never played golf, but she had enough strength. So does my 10-year old grand-daughter. She doesn't play golf either, but she can dance, each with utensils...

There is only ONE longest hitter in the world at any time. That's the guy who wins the latest long-drive contest. His need for accuracy is minimal.

There is only ONE best player in the world at any time. It's the guy who wins the latest professional golf tournament. It doesn't matter if he scores 10 under or 10 over par for four rounds, so long as he turns in the lowest score, he's the "Champion Golfer of the Moment."

As of today, that's Dustin Johnson, winner of the 2009 Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Tomorrow, he may be the champion again, because today is Saturday and the 2009 Los Angeles/Riviera C.C. tournament is scheduled to finish on Sunday, and he's in the field.

No, you don't really expect to add 10 or 20 or more yards, do you? Even if you understand that you can't get them for free?

The way to lower your scores is the same for you, me, Tiger Woods or Dustin Johnson. You have to use whatever tools you own, including your physical endowment, or talent, and play each hole as efficiently as possible, making the lowest score you can and avoiding making any large scores.

That means you have to learn to maneuver the ball; you can hit with any given club at average height, higher or lower; you can hit straight, left-to-right or right-to-left. Combine the three heights with the three trajectories and you have three times three, or nine different shots you can hit with any club.

Let's take the 7-iron for example. If I hit a shot at "normal" height and straight, I can carry that shot about 125 yards and watch it roll out another 10...135 in all. If I hit it higher, it will carry 5 yards less and roll 5 yards less, 125 in all. Lower, and it will carry about 130 and roll 15, 145 in all.  If I hit it right-to-left, my draw or hook shot, I can count on adding 5 yards each of carry and roll to the straight distance, and if I hit it left-to-right, I can subtract 5 yards each of carry and roll. So, a straight shot will be at a minimum of 125 yards carry and roll, and a maximum of 145.

A draw will push the maximum up to 155, a fade or slice will cut the minimum to 115. 

THAT'S 40 FUCKING YARDS, PEOPLE. And that says nothing about the lie, the wind, the elevation change, rain, heat, cold...or, for that matter, variation in expended energy.

OHANDBYTHEWAY, the stronger a player is, the wider the gap between the maximum and the minimum. 

The next post will present the algorithm to lower your scores.