2 DON’T HIT THE SHOTS YOU
CAN’T HIT
As a course designer I am quite aware of how hard
to make a shot. It’s easy to ask too much of the average
player, to make shots so hard that not many players can hit
them. I am trying to paint a beautiful picture but a lot of
architects end up losing sight of that because everyone
seems to want drama, a course that can take a great photo.
My mantra, the thing I am always asking myself, is how
does an 18-handicapper play this hole? How does he or
she hit this particular shot? So many courses make serious
demands of these players and often they don’t give them
anywhere else to hit it. You have to give them an option, a
chance of making a pitch and a putt for par. It’s a good way
to think, too. You don’t always have to play the shot you
think the course is demanding of you. It’s amazing how
many amateurs go for a costly shot they know they have
no chance of making. Often, bailing out still gives you a
chance of making par.
3 FOCUS ON PRACTICE TIME
I need to practise. I just don’t have the kind of swing
that will just be good without working on it and
I’ve never been the type of player who can just put the
clubs away one day and take them out the following week
and automatically play well. I have to work at it but I’m
fortunate to have the time to do so. For the amateur who
usually practises very little, the short game is the quickest
fi x you can make, It’s much quicker than learning how to
drive the ball straighter. If you can improve around the
Below: Lehman
celebrates his
Open win at
Royal Lytham in
1996.
greens it can really help your scores. Over the long term
though, you really need to work on the rest of your game
too and put in the time to make real improvements.
4 DON’T FORGET YOUR IRONS
Consistently hitting my irons well has made my
career. When I was playing well, playing at my
best, I hit the ball close a lot. It didn’t matter if it was a
1-iron, a 5-iron, a 7-iron or a wedge, I just hit it close. I had
a lot of weeks where my iron game was on and the game
seemed pretty simple whenever that happened. People talk
so much about driving and short game, and it is massively
important, but if you don’t hit greens your wedge play and
putting can only save you so many times. That’s how I
won my singles match with Seve (in 1995). He was hitting
it everywhere but kept producing miracle shots to save
himself. Put anyone else in the positions where Seve went
and I’d have won 8&7, but that was Seve. Somehow I was
only 1-up at the turn but I knew that even he couldn’t
sustain that sort of play over the entire round. I just kept
on hitting greens and eventually I wore him down and
won.
5
REAL GOLF IS SHOTMAKING, NOT
POWER
Tom Watson’s performance at Turnberry back in
2009 was no surprise to me. He is so talented and so
experienced that I knew he could fi nd a way to shoot a
number. Of course, the course makes a difference. That
couldn’t have happened at some place like Bethpage, where
it’s just ridiculous and impossible and almost isn’t golf.
Places like Turnberry give you real golf. Having to hit
every shot in the bag is real golf. If a guy like Tom can do
that it makes a mockery of the courses they set up at 7,700
yards where only those who can hit it 350 have a chance.
When it came to shotmaking, nobody could touch Tom,
and he was 59 years old. There’s something in that.
6PUTTING RULES
The turning point of my career came on the Hogan
Tour (in the early ’90s) when I realised I needed to
work on my putting. Low scores were shot all the time,
and if you didn’t putt well you didn’t have a chance. I had
a great year in 1991 and was the leading money winner: I
won three times and had three seconds and 13 top-10s. If
I was putting well, I could putt as well as anybody. I just
didn’t do that frequently enough. Good putting is what
wins tournaments. You can’t ever hit it good enough to
win unless you’re making your share of putts. That’s just
the way it is.
7
BAD BREAK? DEAL WITH IT
It took me an age to meet [motivational speaker] Tom
Day once. He was in a car crash and was paralysed
from the neck down. For several years he called and wrote
to me saying he thought he could help my game. Of course,
I never did call him back. One day I was in a San Diego
shop and I heard his name mentioned. I said, “You mean
the guy from Fargo?” “Yeah, he’s an amazing person,” was
the reply. So I called him. I was intrigued. I don’t know
28 GolfPlus JULY 2020