Subtle Natural Factors in Golfing

In addition to obvious variables, you face subtle factors on the course that can affect the flight of the ball, its direction, and distance it travels. You may be so caught up in your yardage, hazards between you and the hole, and the target that you forget to consider how the more subtle conditions can affect your shot:

• Grass variations: If the grass is longer, the direction the grass grows, for instance, affects your ball flight. Does the grass lean in the same direction as you intend to hit the ball, or is it growing against you? Grass growing against you fights your club as it passes through. Is the grass tangled? Is it wet? Is the ball sitting up in the grass near the tips of the blades or has it nestled down in?
• Firmness of the ground: The ground may be soft or muddy due to rain, which can slow your ball when it lands. Or the ground may be hard and dry, which propels your ball forward faster when it hits the ground. Dry ground also affects ballstriking, because a swing that brings the clubhead down too far behind the ball can bounce off hard ground and cause the blade to mis-hit the ball or even completely miss it.
• Wind: Are you hitting a shot with the wind blowing behind you? Is the wind blowing in your face? Maybe the wind is blowing from one side to another, which pushes the ball offline after it leaves the clubface. You know how the wind affects a high-flying, long drive from the tee, but your highflying wedge shot, although it travels a shorter distance, spends a lot of time in the air and is therefore susceptible to the breeze. Check out the flag on the green. Is it dangling or whipping?
• Lay of the land: On some occasions, you may find yourself hitting a chip or a pitch uphill to an elevated green. Sometimes you can’t see the hole or the green if the elevation is severe enough. And sometimes, especially on mountain courses, you may have to hit shots down to a green from an elevated position or a downhill lie. The lay of the land and where the ball lies in relation to your feet can force you to change your stance and, in some cases, affect your club selection. The ball reacts differently when coming off an uphill, downhill, or sidehill lie than it does from a flat position.

You should take all variables, even subtle ones, into account before you play a short-game shot.

Terrain and other variables in golf

Outside of putting, where the surface of the green is typically uniform and the terrain subtle, your short-game shots become more complicated due to varying terrain and other variables, including:

• The immediate lie: What’s the length of the grass? Is your ball lying flat on the ground? Or is it in a divot or a depression? Is the ball lying on an uphill, downhill, or sidehill lie?
• Obstacles: Do you have to maneuver around trees and bushes? Do you have to hit the ball over water or a bunker?

Sure, sometimes you can chip a ball from short grass off a flat lie to an unguarded green. But sometimes you have to pitch a ball off the side of a hill from deep rough and fly it over a bunker. Much of the time, the mere fact that you need to play a short-game shot (chipping, pitching, or a bunker shot in this case) means that you missed the green with your approach shot, and missing the green almost always brings challenges — uphill, downhill, and sidehill slopes, bunkers, longer grass, bushes, and trees — into play. Shot variables demand your attention. Always take them into account when you analyze your situation, plan your strategy, and visualize the shot you’re about to hit.

Difficult shots on Golf

In the case of the difficult shot, the peril is usually evident in the form of a bunker, a water hazard, or a narrow green that slopes away from you. (Not to mention the peril involved if you’re competing in a match.) If you mis-hit the ball, it could end up in the bunker or the stream, fly across the green into the heavy rough, or run across the green into the woods. Dire consequences lie ahead! If you miss the shot, you may lose the hole to your opponent or even lose the match.
Less evident is the opportunity a difficult shot presents:

• Put your practice to work: A tough shot is an opportunity for you to test your skills and the techniques you’ve practiced. You have a chance to “show off.” And, if you can pull the shot off, it may stun your opponent!
• Build confidence: Making a successful shot from a perilous situation helps you build confidence for the next time you face one. Tough shots present an opportunity to improve and gain experience.

Be aware of the hidden peril that each difficult shot presents. Notice the break of the green, the length of the grass, and any obstacles between your ball and the hole, and know the consequences of hitting the shot too short or too long.

Easy shots in golf

The easy shot has plenty of evident opportunity. You feel comfortable over the shot, and no real obstacles stand between your ball and the hole. You should be able to get your ball up and down with relative ease.
The peril of the easy shot may be minimal, but its peril remains. Be wise enough to take the shot seriously, no matter how easy it seems. Keep your mind focused: The greater the opportunity, the worse the disappointment if you misplay the shot. If nothing else, you can damage your confidence by blowing a good scoring chance!

The Peril and the Opportunity in Golfing

Part of the joy of golf is that no two shots are alike, no two holes are identical, and the situations you face constantly challenge you. A round of golf contains many little decisions that compose a score.
Some folks say that the holes in a round of golf are like the links of a chain or a string of pearls — one bad link or one bad pearl can render the chain useless and rob the necklace of its value. A round of golf is more than a chain of unique holes, however. Think of a round of golf as a shot-by-shot test. The next shot you have to hit is what matters — not the previous shot (whether it was good or bad!) and not the putt that follows. Focus on the shot you’re sizing up right now.
Some shots seem easy: a little chip to the hole from three paces off the back of green, for instance, or a chip-and-run up from 10 yards in front. Some shots seem very difficult, like a flop shot from high grass over a yawning bunker to a hole cut close to the edge. You need to recognize both the peril and the opportunity in these shots.