Course Management in Matchplay

[Niall C]

Did anyone else think it odd that in the Ryder Cup when in some matches a single or pair would be say, 2 up with only 3 or 4 holes to play, and there opponent in trying to claw back the deficit hits their drive into the bundi, and then the player/pair in question proceed to hit drivers full tilt straight after them, often with poor results ? Surely taking a 3 wood/iron and putting the ball on the fairway would have been a better play in terms of keeping the pressure on the opponent ?

No doubt these guys have huge ability but I do question their tactical sense.

Thoughts ?

Niall

[Tom_Doak]

Niall:

I think most of the modern players would rather hit driver than anything else under pressure, because the driver has the biggest face and the most margin for error.  That part of the game has changed completely from 20 years ago.

I saw it first at the Kiwi Challenge in New Zealand ... four young players vying for a half-million-dollar difference between first and second prize.  They were all on a tough driving hole (15th) with severe trouble to both sides, a par-5 with no chance of hitting the green in two ... and they all four pulled driver and swung away!

[JMEvensky]

I think most of the modern players would rather hit driver than anything else under pressure, because the driver has the biggest face and the most margin for error.  That part of the game has changed completely from 20 years ago.

Agreed. Nowadays,full tilt with a driver is playing safe.

[David_Tepper]

Whenever I suggest to a better player that they might want to hit a 3-wood or long iron/hybrid on a tight or short hole, more often than not they reply, "my driver is my straightest club." 

[Tony_Muldoon]

Whenever I suggest to a better player that they might want to hit a 3-wood or long iron/hybrid on a tight or short hole, more often than not they reply, "my driver is my straightest club." 

I agree but there were few holes which narrowed at 280. You could be a lot wilder with a 3 wood and still be on the short stuff than trying to find the gap with a driver and being slightly off line.

[Carl Johnson]

What does the pod say?

[Bill Brightly]

Niall:

I think most of the modern players would rather hit driver than anything else under pressure, because the driver has the biggest face and the most margin for error.  That part of the game has changed completely from 20 years ago.

I saw it first at the Kiwi Challenge in New Zealand ... four young players vying for a half-million-dollar difference between first and second prize.  They were all on a tough driving hole (15th) with severe trouble to both sides, a par-5 with no chance of hitting the green in two ... and they all four pulled driver and swung away!

You are right that bomb and gouge is the way most touring pros play. I believe they have the mentality that they make money making birdies and they like their odds being as close to the green as possible, no matter where their ball ends up.

But Niall is right, that is a terrible match play strategy where losing a hole with a bogey is disastrous.

[Niall C]

Niall:

I think most of the modern players would rather hit driver than anything else under pressure, because the driver has the biggest face and the most margin for error.  That part of the game has changed completely from 20 years ago.

I saw it first at the Kiwi Challenge in New Zealand ... four young players vying for a half-million-dollar difference between first and second prize.  They were all on a tough driving hole (15th) with severe trouble to both sides, a par-5 with no chance of hitting the green in two ... and they all four pulled driver and swung away!

Tom

I hadn't considered that. I would have thought it was only hackers like me who would have thought like that. That said the point Tony makes about the narrowing of fairways at the 280 mark seems to beg for a shorter club when the main aim is to stay in play. As it happens the duo I had in mind were Westwood and the French man (correct, can't spell his name) who went on to win anyway.

Niall