David Frost had me scurrying for my course plan when he explained why the 1st on the Old Course at St Andrews is his favourite hole."...if you hit a driver you're 80 yards from the hole with almost no shot," he told Golf World.
What?!
Maybe I just haven't being paying attention. Maybe there's 50-foot sand dune by the first green that has completely escaped my notice all these years. That was the only reason I could think of why a man could have "almost no shot" at what only looks like the most wide-open hole in world golf.
Then the penny dropped.
"You want to leave either 100 yards, a 52-degree wedge, or 120, a pitching wedge, so you can be aggressive with your approach...," explained the South African.
Ah, right. So "almost no shot" simply means "between clubs".
My heart bleeds for you, David. You who have the luxury of not just one but two wedges in your bag, yet can still find yourself faced with a shot that fits neither of them. Oh, the tragedy...
I don't follow the pro game much so I can only assume that the concept of the manufactured shot, so beloved of Severiano Ballesteros, is considered old hat now.
Ballesteros used to play a round with just two clubs when practising in his youth, an exercise that not only spared him lugging a heavy bag around in Spain's punishing heat but also taught him to adapt most clubs to a whole range of shots.
Can you imagine Seve regarding 80 yards as "almost no shot"? He would have simply reached for the most comparable club, played an 80 yard pitch and thought nothing of it.
When your ball's down a rabbit hole at the foot of an oak tree between you and the green, David Frost, then we can start talking about "almost no shot".
[pic courtesy of bruce 89]
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