Golf: Fault No. 4

The 4th most common fault has nothing to do with the golf swing. It is an on-course problem. It is not properly evaluating your current shot. Even though I rank it no. 4, it may be the most important. I say this because the tour pro spends so much time evaluating their shots. This can be the reason the regular golfer may be given a pass on this problem. If we spent this much time trying to figure out each shot, a round of golf would be much longer. It could actually take 6 hours. These are the factors that need to be considered on every golf shot, in no particular order: the wind, the temperature, the lie of the land, how the ball is resting on the ground, the distance you want to hit the ball, the trajectory of the ball, the curvature of the ball, where the trouble spots are, and where the pin is. There is no way you can take all of this into consideration in the course of a round and play golf at a reasonable pace. However, when the pace of play is so ungodly slow, you can think about the shot a lot more. I put these in no particular order, but here are the ones that are the most important.

The most important factors on any golf shot are the lie of the land and how the ball is lying on the ground. This can make as much as a 20-yard difference in how far the shot is going to fly. Anytime your ball is on some kind of a slope, uphill, downhill, or sidehill above or below your feet, you are not going to hit the ball as far. The distance could be as much as 20 yards shorter depending on the severity of the slope. This is not a blog about how to play these uneven lies; you can easily look them up. The bottom line is this: you are not going to hit the ball as far. There are two reasons. One, you are going to have to swing easier just to maintain your balance. Second, the technique required for hitting some of these lies reduces your distance. The way the ball lies on the ground is also critical. Shorter fairway grass decreases your distance. A tighter lie can reduce your distance by about 5 to 10 yards. On the other hand, if your ball is lying in the rough, it will add some distance. If the ball is sitting up fairly well, it can add about 5 to 20 yards. The other important factor is pin location. This is overlooked the most on tee shots on par 4s. You want to try to get your tee shot on the side of the fairway that is opposite of where the pin is. You can try and factor in other considerations of the shot as time allows. If you really pay attention to how your ball is sitting and how the slope of the land is, you should be able to take about 2 to 3 shots off your score per round.