Why you keep making the same mistakes on the same holes

By Laird Small
with Ron Kaspriske
Photos By J.D. Cuban September 2008

Wherever you play most of your golf, I bet there's that one hole that brings out the worst in your game. You've triple-bogeyed it so many times, you find yourself thinking about it in the middle of the night before your next round. You're not alone. Even the best in the world have a blowup hole. My advice: Next time you play the hole, try a different strategy. If you're still having problems, then ask a teaching pro for a playing lesson, and go out and confront that situation. You have to face your fears. Still stuck? Here are some tips on five common situations where amateurs run into trouble again and again.

DOWNHILL HOLES
Change the target in your mind's eye

I teach and play most of my golf at Pebble Beach, so I've come to realize that the par-3 seventh hole is a great example of why downhill holes give players problems. Elevation changes can throw you off balance. And when you take your address on a downhill hole, instead of tilting your head, you tend to look down and to the left (for right-handers), which subconsciously makes you guide the ball in that direction. You might even find that your shoulders open slightly because you're looking left, and that tends to make you pull the ball. To beat this problem, the final thing you should do before swinging is look a little to the right of your target and swing as if that's where you want the ball to go.

DOGLEG HOLES
Don't bite off too much from the tee

The water and woods are full of golf balls from players who tried to be heroes on doglegs. Your goal should be to put the ball in play off the tee and have a decent second shot -- that's it. Here on Pebble's par-5 18th, aiming left of the trees in the fairway is a risky play, even though it might give you a chance to reach the green in two. Hit the ball in the water, and you're probably going to have to re-tee. Instead, take a club that will put your ball in play right of the trees. If you miss the shot to the right, there's room to recover. And if you pull it, you'll likely still be dry.

BLIND SHOTS
Adjust for your normal shot

The mistake most people make with blind shots -- such as the drive here on the eighth hole at Pebble -- is that they don't allow for their normal shot shape when aiming.

Someone might tell you to aim at the rock from this tee, and your drive will end up in good position. But if you play a fade or slice, aiming at the rock will actually put you in jeopardy of hitting your ball over a cliff. What you should be thinking is, you want your drive to end up in line with the rock. For a fader, that means aiming well left of it.