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| Wednesday, April 24, 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On to this week and for those that read my thoughts on the art of laying up in last week's edition, I hope that my advice helped a little and that you were able to put some of those thoughts to good use. Club Selection To add to those ideas I’d like to speak about club selection and how important it is to choose the right club off the tee. This applies to both drives on par 4’s and 5’s, as well as your club choice on par 3’s. Again, I see it all too often where a player will select a club on a hole with the intention of staying short of a hazard, only to see the ball fly straight into the trouble they were trying to avoid. Understanding course conditions, such as wind and firmness of the turf, needs to form part of your plan before you execute the shot. If the wind is at your back and the ground is firm, then hitting your usual club is not going to keep you out of trouble. The other issue I see is where a player gets to close to the green with their approaches, especially on downwind holes, they often leave themselves with incredibly tricky short shots where spin becomes an issue because players simply cannot get enough speed into the shot. Remember that on those downwind holes, it’s better to have fuller shots into greens so you can hit the ball with more height and spin giving you more chance of holding the putting surface. Even the best players in the world struggle with short pitches downwind purely because they cannot get the spin they need. Again, if you can get into the habit of reading the conditions better you will start to hit better clubs off the tee that leave yourself easier shots into your targets.
When it comes to Par 3’s I think this is where I see most amateurs make the same mistake. The issue lies on the tee box when players are calculating the distance to the flag and in most cases completely forget about the green itself. What I mean by this is that most players measure the distance to the flag and then hit a club for that distance. Remember that the yardage is to the flag, so if the distance is 150m and you carry your 6 iron 150m, then a well struck shot will finish at least 10 to 15m past the flag. That could see your ball go over the green into a hazard or rough or even finish on the green but leave you with a long, tricky 2 putt. When you’re working out what to hit, remember to factor in how far the flag is on the green, how much space you have before and after the flag and again calculate the impact the wind will have and what type of bounce you will have once it hits the green. For those that watch the PGA Tour you would have noticed how the pros choose to hit such short irons into some of the par 3’s. Just this week I watched Jason Day hit a 9 iron into a par 3 that measured 190 yards. The commentators don’t give you the full picture either when they go on and on about how far these guys hit the ball, but if you really looked at it closely you would have noticed how Day was just simply calculating the conditions. The hole was slightly downhill with a slight tail wind. The flag was cut in the back portion of the green and the putting surface was starting to dry out and firm up. In reality, Day’s ball only needed to carry 165 to 170 yards which isn’t far off his stock shot. The conditions meant the ball would carry further than normal and once it landed on the green, the ball would bounce a little further and spin a little less due to the firmness of the greens. The other important factor to bear in mind is that pros are always aware of never short siding themselves and long on this occasion would have been a terrible mistake, so by taking less club off the tee he ensured that he took long out of the equation completely. Choosing the right club off the tee is an important part of playing the game and all too often I see amateurs just pull a club without really thinking about what comes next. I’m not advocating you play slower, but rather you play smarter (they are not the same thing) and whilst you’re walking to the next tee, have a look at the conditions and factor those in before pulling your club. Our Weekly Deal is an absolute no brainier this week with a buy 1 get 1 half price on the TaylorMade TP5 & TP5x balls. This ball has been one of the breakout products over the last 12 months and as a premium golf ball, they don’t get any better than this. We also have Anton Prinsloo with us all day today with the latest range of products from XXIO, so if you read this before the end of the day then make a plan to pop down to the store to see what they have to offer. Andy takes a look at the Volvik Vivid golf balls and shares his thoughts on golf's most colorful brand, so if you’re looking to try something new then maybe Volvik is the way to go. Until next week, Pete  The promotion on all our Peter Millar clothing is still running! So come down and take advantage of our buy-1-get-1-at-half-price deal.
Peter Millar does come with a slightly higher price tag than other brands, but always remember that you get what you pay for in this world, and with Peter Millar you only get excellence. 
Order yours today!  Hey Golfers! The first thing our customers notice when they walk into Scratch Golf these days is the nice display of Volvik Vivid golf balls which are displayed on our counter. The reason for them noticing the golf ball, is because they are full of color and look appealing. The question every customer has asked us is: “have we hit it and what do we think of the ball”. The answer is yes, I have, and this is what I think of it. The Volvik Vivid golf ball is like no other ball on the market today - it is a ball that is combined with neon colors and a matte finish to it. This ball is a 3 piece ball with a very good compression rate of 80 and the ball is designed with bright vivid colors to improve visibility of shots. This is the first ball in market that has a matte finish to it, which I feel is a nice touch.
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