93rd PGA Championship 2011: Atlanta Athletic Club – A Tough Course Producing Many Trouble Shots
Trouble Shots come in all shapes and sizes. All the various bunkers shots and sand conditions, the uneven lies, shots from heavy rough or from out of the woods leave the average everyday golfer with just a gauntlet of obstacles to overcome during a normal round of golf.
That’s a lot of the ordinary golfer to deal with don’t you think? Yet it is what comes with this game we all love. Errant shots result in difficult lies usually creating the need to execute a solid recovery shot to keep a good round going or avoid a blow up hole. Heck, sometimes even a good shot ends up in a divot or an uneven lie. While that seems unfair ( it is unfair) if you know how to deal with them these unwanted lies can result in a decent result.
So have you noticed that this years PGA Championship from the Atlanta Athletic Club is producing more trouble shots for these pros daily than you would normally see from them for an entire tournament? More or the pros are failing at their attempt to hit a recovery shot too.
For most pros hitting out of bunkers is something they never worry themselves over. Not this week. The bunkers are a real penalty for them like it is for us. I kinda like seeing that. How about you?
There is something different about this bunker sand. It seems more fluffy, to use a technical term, than what they use normally. The ball is setting down in the sand more often than not rather than up on top of it. There was a lot of mention about how they raked the sand up the slopes of the bunkers being an issue for the golfers.
Something must be different because the ball plugs on the banks rather than trickle down the slope of the bunker into the center making for a nice flat bunker lie. The kind the pros just love to see because they just blast it out up close to the pin, make the putt and move on.
That’s not happening this week though. It is a bit shocking to see the pros leave the shot in the bunker. But I’ve seen it more than once already this week. It is embarrassing to me to leave one in the bunker so I just can’t even imagine how the pros feel about doing that.
The rough this week is more of a penalty than we see most weeks. Now I know this is a major championship so the officials toughen up the course but have you seen so many pros in one week suffer from the rough as they have this week? Shots are going hard left with a hook at the PGA out this stuff. I expect to see shots like this(and do) at my home course here in North Carolina. I mean the rough is thick and lush this time of year here and therefore it exacts a stiff penalty for the overly aggressive golfer.
But I at least am use to seeing pros, save the occasional flyer, reach the green consistently from the rough. Not so this week. Where the green is protected by water the pros are dunking a higher percentage of these shots than they care to remember I’m sure. And the normal bail out into a bunker is no longer the safe shot like the pros are accustomed to. Like I mentioned above, the bunkers here are particularly punishing this week.
Is this course more narrow than most? I think not but we seeing more shot from off the course, among the trees, shrubs and what not this week. Rory McIlroy’s now famous wrist injury occurred from a lie amongst the roots where his tee ball landed in the midst of the trees on his third hole on the first day of this tournament. Steve Striker took an unplayable on Saturday from the bushes. Tiger just punching back to the fairway is an unusual site too.
Surely golf trouble shots are a part of your game too. Maybe not the part you like to talk about or even admit to but I’d be willing to bet you’ve had your share. Do you know how to make the proper adjustments for those awkward lies, buried bunker shots or any of the wide assortment of trouble situations that golf can offer? What about punching it out of the woods or what to do when your deep down in the heavy rough? Do you what to do then?
I want you to know how to overcome those unusual circumstances. Having the knowledge is more than half the battle. That’s why I want to introduce you to an ebook I have written called “How to Conquer Golf’s Trouble Shots”. This ebook was written to share with you all the knowledge and experience I gained in more than 30 years of golf. Over that time and with the help of the tips and tricks included in the ebook I have reduced my handicap from well above 30 (scoring avg of 110+) to where it is now at 14.1.
Saving strokes, several strokes, because I know what changes in set up or swing to make to gain a good result from a bad situation is what has helped me significantly to improve my scoring and reduce my handicap. I want you to enjoy that same kind of success when you are facing a trouble shot.
Please just take a second to check this out: “How to Conquer Golf’s Trouble Shots”
Golf Trouble Shots: Trouble with Shots from Heavy Rough
Today we’re discussing a difficult lie that you are probably seeing more of here late in the summer months. So many courses are experiencing robust grass growth this time of year, especially those using Bermuda grass. That means the fairways are full and plush creating those near perfect lies we all hope for. But it also means that the rough is thicker and taller as well. That means more bad lies.
The wayward shot will have the golf ball settling down deep into the grass. Not only are they are hard to find in the first place, you have to be right on top of the ball to see, but there is so much grass nestled up close to the back of the ball makes the shot many times more difficult than usual.
Weekend golfers in particular have trouble striking the ball, creating the desired trajectory and controlling distance. Any one of those issues can create a poor shot adding a least one additional shot to the hole. Combine them all together as is more likely with these lies in heavy rough and more often than not the shot results in creating more trouble for us rather than a successful rescue shot.
And you can easily see why. Look at all that grass! It can really be a menace by slowing down the club head through the ball, grabbing the hosel and twisting the face way off line and getting between the clubface and the ball at impact.
Heavy rough will slow d
own your club speed through the ball at impact compared to that plush fairway shot. The golfer’s big challenge here is to determine how much speed will be lost due to the grass and then actually executing that swing. All while his brain is telling him if he swings that fast the ball will fly way over the target. So many of us then decelerate through impact and hitting a pathetic shot the just falls way short of target. That deep rough can sure make a golfer look bad, huh?
What can often occur in this heavy rough lie is the long, heavy grass can wrap around the hosel of the club. This quickly slow down the heal of the club allowing the toe to move faster. This shuts down the clubface a sends the shots way offline left (for righties) of the target. If the golfer accounted for the thickness of the rough in the swing speed then this shut clubface shot will be both long and left. On most courses designers don’t allow for a lot of room long and left. You are now paying double for the original bad shot that put you in the rough in the first place. That’s how double bogeys and worse happen.
At the very best the golfer can expect to deal with grass between the clubface and the golf ball at impact. Instead of the grooves in the club making clean contact and imparting the spin the club designers intended, they get filled up with the grass so that the ball comes out with far less spin than expected under normal conditions. The result is a golf shot that is difficult to control either the distance or the trajectory.
How are you at dealing with all of this in your game? Do you conquer this shot or does it conquer you more times than not?
I have written an ebook to help you be the victor when facing these shots from the deep rough and other unusual golf situations. How to Conquer Golf’s Trouble Shots is just the answer you’ve been looking for to help you improve your golf game, play better golf on a regular basis and lower your handicap too.
I want you to have all the tips and secrets to playing good golf in all situations like bad weather conditions, uneven lies, bunker play and a host of other trouble shots that those diabolical golf course designers include to give you so much trouble when you’re out there with your buddies. It takes a good eye and some golf know how to see and adjust to their attempts to derail your round.
That’s why I wrote How to Conquer Golf’s Trouble Shots and that’s why you should consider how knowing everything this ebook offers will help you feel so much more confident with every shot you make because you know you can handle the occasional missed fairway or green without a problem.
Dooley Duffer
You’ll run into all sorts of trouble on the course over time. Discover all the tricks to making the best of these bad situations here: How to Conquer Golf’s Trouble Shots