Out on tour, a lot of the fellas will play practice rounds together.
Usually the same guys will play with each other week in week out no matter where the tour is that week.
It’s a chance to scout the course, get a feel for conditions, have a little friendly competition and also put a little work into your game.
Now what makes this game great, especially at the top level, is the willingness of pro’s to help other pro’s out with their game.
Can’t think of too many other sports where opponents will help each other out.
Never mind.
Back in the day Jack Nicklaus used to play a lot practice rounds with Arnold Palmer, and Jack tells a good story.
They were out in the desert one winter, getting ready for a tournament and playing their usual Wednesday practice round.
Jack had just joined the tour the previous year and was still very green to the ways of the professional game, but was clearly a player of tremendous potential.
On about the 14th hole for about the fourth time that day, Jack found himself just off the green about three feet.
He reached for an iron and decided to chip the ball.
As it rolled past the hole by five feet, Arnie was shaking his head and then proceeded to give Jack a lecture about not making the game harder than it need to be.
Arnie’s advice was to putt instead of chip in that situation, and he even told Jack that sometimes he would putt from the rough if the lie was good enough and he was close enough to the green.
Arnie figured a bad putt was far better than a bad chip, and you know what, he was right.
Jack credit’s that little piece of advice as having a big effect on his career as it taught him the emphasis that’s got to be placed on playing the right shot at the right time, especially around the green.
Now onto business, there’s a little e-book that’s all the rage at the moment on these here pages, “9 ways to Lower Your Handicap and Shoot Your Best Round Ever”, if your looking to take a few strokes off the score you could do worse than cast your eyes over it’s pristine pages.
A word of warning though, most will read through it and never implement any of the points within, the book isn’t long, doesn’t have to be, what it lacks in sheer volume of content it makes up for in substance.
As the old saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water”,
So to take a sip of the good stuff check it out at this righteous link.
Bob James PGA