Article #6
Featured Teacher: Mr. Vaughn
(to meet this week's teacher go to www.oneputtpress.com/teachers_vaughn.cfm)
People got it all wrong.
See, most folks think that great rounds are made up of a succession of great shots. But, it simply ain't so.
Let me tell you something. If you happened to get paired with Ben Hogan-supposin' he was still alive and in his prime-you'd have no idea he was the greatest player they ever was.
He'd hit his first ball somewhere in the fairway, and his next shot somewhere on the green. He'd then either make the putt, or more likely, miss the first putt and tap in for par. He'd do the same thing on the next hole, the next hole, and just about every hole after.
On the way home after your round you'd say to yourself, "Hmmm, that ol' boy I played with today wasn't too bad. If he could just get rid of that weak-lookin' fade, and spend more time at the range, he'd be a darn good player."
That's right! You'd never know the difference because Mr. Hogan wouldn't hit a great shot all day.
The same should be true for the rest of us; we shouldn't have to hit great shots. I mean, the only time a great shot is required is when you get yourself in trouble with a bad shot. A simple B+ shot off the tee works very well with a B+ approach shot. Play the entire hole at B+ and you're looking at par.
But, if you hit a D- shot off tee (a ball deep in the woods, for example), now you gotta hit a shot that goes over one tree and under another, hooks hard and balloons high before landing softly on the green. An A++++ kinda shot! Of course, attempting such a shot, more often than not, leads to disaster, and the age-old self-pardon, "See, if it weren't for those two or three blow-up holes I could shoot some low scores."
Look, as far as I can tell there really are only two things important to scoring: First, put your tee shot where you can hit it again. Not right behind a tree, or directly in the water, or immediately out of bounds; just somewhere north-and-south where you can get a club on it. If that means 5-iron off the tee, it's worth it.
And second, you gotta be able to perform magic around the green. That's it! If you can keep the ball going in the general direction of the green, and get it in the hole once you're there, you can look forward to playing some pretty good golf.
So, if you're one of these people convinced that the true, deeper meaning of golf is revealed only after you can draw a teed up one-iron high around a dogleg…well, give it some more thought.
Mr. Vaughn