no.7: Par 3

Many golfers approach the short seventh with fear and trepidation, for on the right-hand side of this hole, tide and stones and bracken wait to claim the sliced tee shot. So, on the tee, I line up my tee shot well to the right and close to where the trouble lies. The idea behind this is basically so that I can aim away from the trouble, and not have to attempt to steer away from trouble. At this hole we will assume that I have dropped my tee shot short and that the ball is lying in the hollow, below and to the right of the green. If the grass here is fairly long, use a wedge or sand iron to pitch on to the green. If the grass is short, it is advisable to use a club with little loft, say a 3 or 4 iron. The object of using one of these clubs is to run the ball up on to the green with an action similar to that of a long putt. The ball should not be hit with the strength normally used when a pitching iron is played. An iron like a 6 or 7 should not be used in these circumstances for the pitch, since its loft will be more inclined to pitch the ball into the bank running up to the green (see pictures left), and will stop it too quickly. In issue No 95 I described the action for the lofted shot, should this shot be more acceptable at this hole.

no.8: Par 4

From now on we will cover two holes each issue instead of one. This will enable us to complete the round before the end of the forthcoming golf season.

As with the previous hole, I tee up close to the right side of the tee where penalties await the sliced drive, so that I can aim the ball away from the out of bounds. When hitting off this tee do not attempt to PULL the ball away to the left (as in the picture below far left), as this only aggravates a slice. Concentrate on carrying the follow-through straight on out (below centre) as this tends to draw or hook the ball away from trouble. On this hole the shorter hitter will have little chance of reaching the green with his second, so I would advise the shorter hitter to select a safe club and hit along the basic dotted line (below), so as to leave a simple pitch to the green. The shorter hitter should not attempt to sacrifice accuracy and swing in an attempt to hit further than he knows he can hit, when with a safe club he can drop his ball to a position on the right, leaving an easy shot to the green for 3.