OK, so I've been watching "live @17" a lot yesterday and today, and as so many balls were hit in the water, it was comforting... you know, in a "I could do that, these guys aren't supermen" kinda way.

BUT... so many of them then just calmly moved to the drop area, knocked it tight, made their 4.  Or at worst they knocked it on, made 5.

So it got me to thinking... isn't this yet another way that tour pros are not like us average joe golfers?  Playing that hole and dunking it in the water, wouldn't we be so pissed off / unglued / depressed that we'd likely lose focus and dunk another one from the drop area?

OK, maybe it's just me.  But does this strike anyone else?

And what the hell - besides just hitting the ball more consistently well, what are some other ways tour pros differentiate themselves from us average joes in how they play the game?

On easy chips, they are truly trying to make it, not hoping to make it and REALLY hoping, if not, that it ends up close.

Tom: There is no question in my mind that the biggest difference between them and us is their absolute confidence in their ability. They get all the info and then they execute - they never second guess themselves.  This is especially true after they've hit their drive and are in a scoring position.  Sometimes they get a bit more relaxed with their drivers because they are confident that they will hit it far enough that barring absolute disaster, they will be able to get themselves into position to make birdie, etc.  This is why it is important to put themselves into position to win as often as possible so they don't second guess themselves when the time comes to execute.

Relating this to architecture - the features that intimidate us are nothing to them except in some rare circumstances.  What intimidates them more is conditions, espescially high winds, where a variable they can't control comes into play.  Water, sand, etc., are not a factor as they have confidence that they will execute the shot which will not bring that hazard into play.

All great stuff so far.

CONFIDENCE has to be the biggest one, wouldn't you think?  Or at least it is between them and ME, Tom Huckaby... I see them pulling off shots around the green that I would even think of trying, for fear of chunk or skull.  They at times also take the route requiring the MOST precision, but with the best upside... ie a hard-spinning pitch over a running 7iron.. because they don't have this fear.  That's why they're them and I'm me.  

JV:  yes!  That's what I'm witnessing on Live @ 17... and have seen before from pros.  And oh yes how we ams go the other way...

Phil - great stuff too - their curves ain't like our curves for sure... and their worst shots generally would be VERY acceptable by us.

Man I am just intrigued though by pro after pro who hits it in the ater on 17 just calmly getting the next one close, or at least on.  I guess I shouldn't be... it's only a 100 yard or so pitch from the drop area - perfect wedge distance... but still... the first dunking doesn't seem to faze these guys at all.  Maybe it would in 4th round?

I played with a really good senior last weekend - he lost in the second round in the Senior Am last year and has qualified at some point during his life for the USGA Junior, Amateur and mid-Am.  He really knows how to get his ball in the hole, so he tends to score close to where he ought to score given the way he's playing, whereas I (a 7 heading up) routinely waste 5 strokes or so every round through short-game breakdowns, weak wedge play or poor decisions.

The strength of my friend's game is his iron play.  He puts a lot of irons close.  But his driving is a real weakness relative to the competition he plays against - high level amateurs and senior amateurs.  He's not very long and less accurate than he would like to be.  He would have been better off playing my tee ball last week than his own, even though he outscored me by 10 strokes overall.

At the highest level - the PGA Tour - virtually no player has something in his game that we would consider a weakness relative to our own games (even the really good players on this site of whom I am not one).

TH: I think what you are seeing is a combination of Finchem keeping an eye on behavior at their home venue combined with the fact that part of attaining their level of play is knowing how to contain their emotions - you've played the shot, you can't do anything about it, it's over, now hit the next one better.  My 13 year old is getting much better but he hasn't learned to control his emotions and it hurts his game - it is a maturity that they need to develop.

Speaking as someone who played college golf and has carried a plus handicap for almost all of my adult life, the biggest differences are:

1. Short game
2. Short game
3. Short game

Yes the pros hit the ball better than top amatuers, perhaps it farther more consistently, their confidence is higher more often, etc. but it is the short game that separates the pros from everyone else. That's how they turn doubles into bogies and bogies into pars. At the 2005 U.S. Open I watched the 5th hole at Pinehurst all day. Only 25% of the players hit the green in reg. Many had to pitch out 75 yards or so short of the hole. The number of guys that got up and down from there was just sick.

I'm not sure if you any of have used the golf digest challenge web site, but I've been using it this year. For the last 14 years my handicap has been +2-1. According to the challenge my long game handicap is a +2 but my short game handicap is 5 or 6. I bet most regular golfers suffer a similar fate.

As far as pros sticking there wedges in tight all time, that's not really true. Try looking up the average distance from the pin the pros hit the ball from certain distances. The Tour keeps these stats but I'm not sure if they are online. I remember a few years seeing that from 100 to 125 yards Tiger's average distance to the pin was something like 15 or 18 ft. I wouldn't call that knocking down the flag all the time. Us TV viewers just think that because we see the guys who are on each week, not the guys "hacking" it up.

Steve makes a good point about how we tend to assume that everyone hits the ball the way the guys we see on the weekend - the leaders - do.  These are by definition the guys who are "on" that week.  I think that's one of the reasons why it surprises us when someone stinks up the joint in the Ryder Cup - there's only 12 guys and inevitably someone will be off that week.

If we are comparing your average single digit handicapper then there is a huge difference between us and the pros.  Let's look first at the courses they are playing, 7,000+ yards, lightning fast greens, and tall rough, then add the pressure of the cameras and the tee lined with people yelling you are the man and it's in the hole as soon as you make contact.  I would bet that any average single digit handicapper could not break 90 if they where in the pro's shoes.

Now to be more specific, I've been to a number of PGA tournaments and noticed that the golfers that are not playing well that are in the middle to the end of the pack are spraying their tee shots more and are missing more greens, but what sets them apart the most from us is their short game and their ability to score.  A very bad day for the average pro in the difficult conditions they play is still mid 70's.

As far as pros sticking there wedges in tight all time, that's not really true. Try looking up the average distance from the pin the pros hit the ball from certain distances. The Tour keeps these stats but I'm not sure if they are online. I remember a few years seeing that from 100 to 125 yards Tiger's average distance to the pin was something like 15 or 18 ft. I wouldn't call that knocking down the flag all the time. Us TV viewers just think that because we see the guys who are on each week, not the guys "hacking" it up.

I agree - if they really were that accurate from < 100 yds then they would all birdie #7 at Pebble Beach when it is not windy but that doesn't happen.

I think unconditional confidence in thier game and skills is a huge component of this.

I read an article years ago, where a reporter was aruging why big league baseball players get to where they are, and we mere mortals don't.  He was watching an infielder take ball after ball after ball in warmups before the game.  One of the balls got past him and went right thru his wickets.  He said the player took off his glove, looked at in amazement as if it had a gaping hole in it, scratched his head and went right back to it, not missing another grounder.  The implication was that because he was so sure of his skills, it couldn't have possibly been him that made the mistake, but the problem lie with "faulty equipment".  This really kind of stuck with me thru the years about just how much confidence the pros have in thier game.

I would imagine for alot of these guys on 17, they have the mindset that they didn't hit a bad shot, it was just the wind, or the fickle nature of trying to hit to such a demanding target.  Hence no big deal, nothing wrong with them, move on to the next shot.