By Annika Sorenstam
December 14 2004 1. TEE SHOTS: Play Short of Trouble
If I can carry a hazard, I will. But if I might reach the hazard with a driver, I'll take less club and play it safe.
As I played the 72nd hole of the 2003 McDonald's LPGA Championship, I was tied with Grace Park at 6-under par. The course was soaked from days of rain, so it was essential to keep my tee shot in the fairway. I chose my 4-wood off the tee. My tee shot sailed to the right, but it landed several yards short of disaster. Had I hit driver, I would have certainly been in the tall, wet grass, and probably out of a playoff -- a playoff I would go on to win 20 minutes later.
It's better to be conservative and hit in the fairway than to risk going into the rough or behind a tree. As long as I'm in the short grass, I have a chance to make birdie.
2. APPROACH SHOTS: Play to your "Carry" Distance
Before every tournament, my caddie, Terry McNamara, walks the course to get a feel for how it's playing. Then he and I devise a strategy for how I'll attack. I know precisely where I want to land the ball and where I don't want to hit it.
Terry gives me the yardage to the front of the green, as well as the distance from there to the pin. Then we determine how far I want to carry the ball. That's the yardage I play to -- where I want to land the ball. If the green is flat and firm, I'll try to land the ball halfway between the front edge and the pin. If the green is soft, I might carry the ball the full distance.
3. TUCKED PIN: Learn to Borrow
I'm not going to hit the ball perfectly straight every time, so it helps to have a little margin for error on either side of the pin. For example, if there's 15 yards of green to the right of the flag, but only five yards to the left -- where a deep greenside bunker lurks -- I'll "borrow" a few yards to the right of the hole and aim there.
Remember, golf is not just a game of great shots. It's a game of bad shots too. The champions are the ones who hit the fewest bad shots -- and who are smart enough to keep their bad shots from being terrible.
4. MY GOLDEN RULE: Six out of 10 If you're uncertain about a specific shot, ask yourself how many times out of 10 you can realistically pull it off. If I can execute it six times out of 10, I'll consider going for it. Anything less and I'll leave it for the practice range. The only exception is if I'm back in the pack and need to make up ground in a hurry -- that's when it's time to get aggressive.
The first time I played Trump International in 2001, I never considered cutting the dogleg and driving the green on the 335-yard sixth hole. But after adding 13 yards to my average drive, I decided to go for it in 2002. I knew I could carry the water (240 yards) about nine times out of 10. It was worth the risk because if I cleared the hazard, I had two shots left to make birdie and three to make par. Even if I put it in the water, I could still get up and down from the drop zone for par.
5. STRATEGY: Play Smart, Not Afraid
Everything felt so easy the day I shot 59 in March 2001. That's how it is when you're "in the zone." You look at a putt and read it perfectly. You choose a club and you know it's the right one. You could swing with your eyes closed and the ball would go dead straight.
If there's a lesson to be learned from being in this elusive zone, it's simply this: Don't fear any consequences. Sure, you want to play smart, but you can't play afraid. I see a lot of my pro-am playing partners glance at the target, then fix their eyes on the sand traps, water, hazards and other trouble all around. That only sends stress signals to the brain.
If your last thought before taking the club back is, Don't hit it in the water, then your brain will focus on the water, not your target. Instead of stressing about the water, try carrying a single positive thought or image into your swing, like, Follow through to a complete finish. You'll be surprised how easy it is to be brave.
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