10 Rules For Playing A Really Tough Course

By Corey Pavin
With Guy Yocom
Photo by Dom Furore August 2009

01 Bomb and gouge isn't for you.
You've heard how Tiger, Phil and a few other guys hit their drivers as hard as they can, giving up accuracy for distance and the opportunity to hit a wedge into the green -- even from the rough. I don't think one amateur in a thousand can make the bomb-and-gouge philosophy pay off in the long run, especially if the fairways are narrow and the rough is deep. The key to Tiger's effectiveness isn't just his power with the driver, it's his technique for controlling short irons from any lie, especially poor ones. You have to know exactly how to deliver the club to the ball to overcome thick rough or a flyer lie. Bottom line: If you choose to bomb it on a course with serious rough, count on doing a lot of gouging on your second shot. You'll make some big numbers. It's almost always better to play from the short grass with a longer club.

02 Stick with your "authentic swing."
A passage in the book The Legend of Bagger Vance really resonates with me. The author's premise is that the first time you pick up a club, you discover your "authentic swing," the one you'll have the rest of your life. You can refine it, improve it and do things with your equipment, physical conditioning and so on, but that swing is stamped in your DNA. It'll have limitations as well as strengths, and trying to squeeze more out of it or reshape it to deal with a tough course is dangerous. You'll often play much worse than if you'd stuck with your swing. Deal with a harder course through more practice and a careful strategy.

03 On long approaches, play safe.
It's always interesting to watch guys play the 18th hole at Augusta.You'll notice that when the hole is cut on the front-left, players often hit the ball into the right bunker or even farther right. That's where to make the mistake, because the third shot isn't complicated. On the other hand, look at what happened to Kenny Perry on the 72nd hole this year: He missed the green left, and although he was only 30 feet or so from the hole, he had almost no chance of getting the ball close. How do you as an amateur avoid getting short-sided? If I were caddieing for you, I wouldn't only make sure you aimed away from the hole to what I call the "tall" side of the green, I'd have you aim all the way to the edge of the green. That way, an error in one direction would leave you with an easy chip, and an error in the other direction would put you next to the hole. It's hard to deliberately aim that far from the hole, but smart players do it.

04 Focus on hitting the sweet spot.
When I was at UCLA, one of the things I was in awe of was Tom Watson's 69 in the second round of the 1979 Memorial. The temperature was in the 40s, it was raining, and the wind was blowing 35 miles per hour. The average score that day was over 77. Watson's round seemed almost inhuman, and I wondered how he did it. When I made it to the tour, I found out. Tom was (and is) an awesome competitor and loved tough conditions, but what impressed me was how he seemed to hit the ball more solidly on tough courses in tough conditions. He didn't swing harder; if anything, his swing looked more controlled. The lesson is, think only of hitting the ball on the sweet spot. You'll be surprised by the distance you'll get and how well the ball penetrates wind or rain.

05 Become a master of the par 3s.
Because I'm a short hitter, my strategy on the PGA Tour has always been the same: Birdie the par 5s, attack the short par 4s, hold my own on the long par 4s and excel on the par 3s. For me, the par 3s really are the key. They provide a chance for me to outplay the field. After all, I have a perfect lie, there's no guessing on distance, and the options are clear. I've quietly made the par 3s a focal point of my game plan, and I've been able to play them well -- I've ranked top 5 in the tour's par-3 scoring stat eight times during my career. No matter how tough the course is, the par 3s are ripe targets for pars and the occasional birdie.