I like watching Jason Day. Effortless power, great short game, precision iron player. His personal history makes you route for him. And yet, when he gets off the rails, it's a train wreck. Just finished watching the third round of the PGA and I'm sure I'm not the only one who can't believe what happened on the 54th hole of the tournament for Jason. He'd been pulling the ball left for most of the afternoon, and I guess to prevent going into a 10-ft wide stream that runs down the 18th, he parked his tee shot in a dense grove of trees along the right-hand side of the fairway. He'd just wrung off three straight birdies before a par on #17, so maybe he thought he could pull off a miracle shot. Sound familiar?
How often do we think - "I could punch out and take my medicine, maybe make bogey, or maybe I can hook this five iron around the corner and end up on the front edge of the green." What's the percentage play? What are the negatives if I don't pull the shot off? I'm in a bad spot now, but could I end up much worse?
Course management is probably the final piece in player development. We focus so much on the golf swing, on short pitches, on putting, that when we actually go out to the golf course, we're flying blind and have no plan.
So, put yourself in Jason Day's shoes (with Jason Day's talent!). You're stuck behind a tree, can't complete your forward swing if you play at the green. You cannot elevate your ball over the trees in front of you. What do you do? Can the rules of golf help?
Your ball is still in play and you're not in a hazard. You're only way out of the situation is to play the ball as it lies or declare it unplayable (with all three options available to you). Jason elected to try a low punch under the next tree without being able to complete his forward swing and took a quadruple bogey as a result. That's poor course management, took a long time to finish the hole, but made for great drama on CBS.
From my vantage point, Jason should have taken his medicine, pitched the ball sideways back into the fairway - he'd then have two strokes left to make his par. Tragically, the low runner ended up even further of his target line under a large bush. Ball was clearly unplayable and cost Jason another precious stroke. From the drop location he selected, he still couldn't have reached the green and ended up in some of the nastiest rough on the golf course. Other than punching back into the fairway, Jason could have used the unplayable ball options in the following ways:
1) He could have gone back to the tee box and hit a good one into the fairway. He would have been laying 3 after that, but might have been able to make bogey and only dropped one stroke.
2) He could have declared his tee ball unplayable and dropped within 2 clubs of the ball with a one-stroke penalty. That might have been enough angle to at least enable a full swing without interference, and with as high as Jason hits his irons, he might have been able to get over those trees and put the ball somewhere near the green. A chip and a putt for bogey.
3) Not sure of the available real estate, but he could have pulled a Jordan Speith and dropped on a line behind his ball in line with the flag. Maybe he finds a better gap to hit through and sends his third near the green again, maybe makes a bogey.
All of this triggers memories - bad golf memories. Jan van de Velde anyone? 72nd hole at Carnoustie, you're 3 shots clear of the field in the Open Championship and pull driver from your bag.... and make an inexcusable 7.
Did you know that at some later date that year Jan van de Velde went back to Carnoustie and played the entire hole with only a putter? (Fabulous video at www.golf.com/video/van-de-velde-revisits-carnoustie) On his third try he made a 6! Using only his putter!
We're all guilty of ignoring percentages, thinking "I did that once, I can do it again!" I do it myself, even when I shouldn't, but seeing something stupid on TV makes you think twice. In Jan van de Velde's own words "It's not the course that our struggle is against, the enemy is us."
As you're approaching every shot, it behooves you to think about why you're doing what you're doing. Use rules to your advantage. Here's a good example. You dump your approach to #2 at Ruggles into Romney Creek. How often do you see someone walk right up to the rough just short of the creek and drop onto a downhill lie in the rough? Why not use the rules to your advantage and drop on that same line back in the fairway on a flat lie? Certainly an easier shot, and you're less likely to skull that one back into the creek.
And then there was Sunday! Ian Poulter hits his drive into the lateral water hazard on 8 (or did he?) and is forced to search for the ball to increase the certainty that it was in the hazard. After not finding the ball after 5 minutes, the rules official was adamant that Ian go back to the tee. Ian pled his case that the ball had to be in the hazard and (based on apparent video coverage) the PGA relented and let Ian drop a ball within 2 club lengths of where the ball last crossed the hazard with a one-stroke penalty. Then Jordan Speith finds the original ball and it's outside the hazard, but the PGA rules official had already made a decision and Ian was allowed to continue using the ball he'd dropped. Here's a couple thoughts - there was a marshal on that area of the fairway that should have been able to track the ball as it came down, and the video showed him looking in the right direction for the ball. I've been a marshal before, and it can be stressful trying to track balls, but there should have been a better outcome. The PGA rules official also should have enlisted the aid of CBS/TNT video and they probably would have had a much more focused search. That ball should have been found and a lot of controversy would have been avoided. As it played out, the only reason Mr. Poulter was able to play as he did was because of a ruling from the PGA rules official. One other point - after 5 minutes (possibly 3 minutes in 2019) of search a ball is LOST. Even if you find it after 5 minutes, you can't play that ball.
We have one defined lateral hazard at Ruggles, the patch of crap left of the fairway at about 200 yards from the tee on #9. When I've hit a ball in there, I do generally do try to find the ball in the hazard, but if I don't I assume that I don't need to hunt for it for 5 minutes, and I've never had to argue that I might have to go back to the tee for a lost ball. We don't have video coverage, rules officials, or marshals, but I think my approach to that hazard is in the spirit of the game and helps speed up play.
Justin Thomas - three up playing the 18th pulls driver and fades his tee shot right into the fairway bunker. The CBS team tried to make the point that it was a long hole, but why not pull a club that guarantees you'd end up short of the bunker. Heck, the guy just hit his 7-iron 220 yards onto the 17th. Length is not the issue. Play smart, end up in the fairway with 200 yards left, knock it on and give yourself a chance at par. Instead he punches out short from the bunker and ends up in the similar rough to Jason's ball the night before. Ended up well in the end, but there's another example of questionable course management.