Commit to the Shot When Playing It Safe, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Commit to the Shot When Playing It Safe, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

There are a number of times I’ve been playing myself play with club golfers when they decided that they're going to take an iron for safety. We’re going to have a nice lofted club instead of driver to keep it safe and then proceeded to stand up there and play the iron for safety straight out of bounds or straight into the waters. I’ll be honest with you. I’ve done it myself occasionally. The problem is we lose focus. We think we've got a nice, easy shot down there. Nothing can go wrong. I’m only hitting a 5-iron instead of a driver. Bang! It splays off out of position. That's really because we don’t commit enough to the target when we’re hitting that safe shot. We think there’s a big landing area. We'll just play it down there and we end up in trouble. So the one thing I really want to focus on you doing is when you're playing the shot to safety, forget where the hole is, forget where the flag is and move the flag to the middle of your imaginary landing area or your safe zone. So rather than just hitting a 5-iron off the tee on a par 4 putting it into safety. Imagine you're playing a par 3 hole and the green is the landing area where the safe zone is and imagine you have a flag right in the dead center of that landing area and then really zone in on that flag. Really focus intently on the flag and then hit that shot with commitment, drilling it at the imaginary flag landing the safe zone and then play your second shot from there. The worst thing you could do is stand there, think, "Oh yeah, there’s a big area. Anywhere down there will do." On the top of the backswing your eye gets caught by the flag or the target or the danger that you don’t hit and then your mind gets taken by that and you end up knocking the ball into trouble. So really zone in on that single flag right in the middle of the safe zone. Imagine that's your target. Drill it straight into that position and I’m sure next time you're laying up or you're playing safe that will definitely pay dividends.

 2012-09-17

There are a number of times I’ve been playing myself play with club golfers when they decided that they're going to take an iron for safety. We’re going to have a nice lofted club instead of driver to keep it safe and then proceeded to stand up there and play the iron for safety straight out of bounds or straight into the waters. I’ll be honest with you. I’ve done it myself occasionally. The problem is we lose focus. We think we've got a nice, easy shot down there. Nothing can go wrong. I’m only hitting a 5-iron instead of a driver. Bang! It splays off out of position. That's really because we don’t commit enough to the target when we’re hitting that safe shot. We think there’s a big landing area. We'll just play it down there and we end up in trouble. So the one thing I really want to focus on you doing is when you're playing the shot to safety, forget where the hole is, forget where the flag is and move the flag to the middle of your imaginary landing area or your safe zone. So rather than just hitting a 5-iron off the tee on a par 4 putting it into safety. Imagine you're playing a par 3 hole and the green is the landing area where the safe zone is and imagine you have a flag right in the dead center of that landing area and then really zone in on that flag. Really focus intently on the flag and then hit that shot with commitment, drilling it at the imaginary flag landing the safe zone and then play your second shot from there. The worst thing you could do is stand there, think, “Oh yeah, there’s a big area. Anywhere down there will do.” On the top of the backswing your eye gets caught by the flag or the target or the danger that you don’t hit and then your mind gets taken by that and you end up knocking the ball into trouble. So really zone in on that single flag right in the middle of the safe zone. Imagine that's your target. Drill it straight into that position and I’m sure next time you're laying up or you're playing safe that will definitely pay dividends.