Taking one side out of play....

[turkish]

So was watching golf channel yesterday and Loren Roberts was talking about one of the earliest concepts he was told was just to keep one side out of play constantly.

Then read it again in Big draws post about playing with what's right for you and taking a side out of play.

I had never really thought about this- I always just play away from the danger rather than aim for a particular side.

On my track about 75% of the danger is on the right so for a fader/slicer like myself aiming up the left is the idea I usually have, or in the few where the danger is on the left I tend to just aim straight down the middle.

What's your thoughts on this?

 

[Tiger]

The difficulty for me until recently was a nasty pull hook that would come from no where negating my ability to deploy this tactic as my natural shape is a fade. However, that gremlin is pretty much gone now so last round out I could just aim left side of the green/fairway and know if I hit it straight I was safe, my stick fade I'd be central and if I got it wrong I'd still more than likely be OK. Struggled with contact a little (as most people do this time of year) but didn't land in any trouble

 

[Roops]

Defo aim to hit my draw, especially off the tee, so always play for it. I find I can then just really swing through it, no steering which is fatal. There's always going to be the occasional block, so I may be a touch right of of perfect but that's not normally as bad as the trouble on the left.

 

[sam85]

I tend to just aim at the trouble knowing 99% of the time the ball doesn't go where I want it to.

 

[Ethan]

The theory is that if you aim down the middle of a 30 yard wide fairway, you have 15 yards of deviation, but if you can shape it one way or the other, you can aim down the left and fade it back with 30 yards of deviation possible, taking the left side out of play. Likewise the other way, although most pros consider a fade a more controllable shot because it has more spin and flies and lands more softly than a draw, and the fade doesn't usually 'get away' from you as badly as a draw can.

Modern equipment is designed to hit it high and straight, though, with less deviation than with previous equipment and balls.

 

[Alex1975]

Yep, I personally never want to be on the right hand side of the golf course. I want to stand over the ball and pretty much know that it will go left. The pull hook that Tiger mentioned is the killer for me. If I can avoid it I can play functional golf.

 

[garyinderry]

An idea is to pick a line that won't get you into trouble if you hit the dreaded straight one. aim left but no so far left you will end up in the crap if it doesn't fade.

 

[JustOne]

On my track about 75% of the danger is on the right so for a fader/slicer like myself aiming up the left is the idea I usually have, or in the few where the danger is on the left I tend to just aim straight down the middle.

What's your thoughts on this?

In theory you have it the wrong way round as you will be fading/slicing your ball TOWARDS the trouble if you overcook it. Not the end of the world though.

However taking the left side out of play by using your fade/slice is exactly correct.

You want to be able to hit the ball down the left side and know that it's either going to go dead straight (at worst) or fade/slice back into play... but it will NEVER go more to the left than you are aiming... THAT is what's meant by 'taking the left side out of play'.... it will never draw/hook into any crud on the left side, it'll always move away from it.

 

[UlyssesSky]

In theory you have it the wrong way round as you will be fading/slicing your ball TOWARDS the trouble if you overcook it. Not the end of the world though.

That theory implies the fade/slice is intentional, which (at least in case of a slice) it maybe isn't...

Slicers don't slice to take one side out of play, but because they can't hit it straight. So a slicer who wants to take the right side out of play has to aim so far to the left, that even his worst slice can't reach the trouble on the right.

This is e.g. what Mark Broadie suggests in "Every Shot Counts" when he says that with trouble on the right the best aim point for a high handicapper can be in the rough on the left, since even a ball in the rough won't be as punishing as a ball going OoB or in the water on the right.

 

[patricks148]

I'm more a take the middle of the fairway out of the equation at the moment

 

[JustOne]

Slicers don't slice to take one side out of play, but because they can't hit it straight. So a slicer who wants to take the right side out of play has to aim so far to the left, that even his worst slice can't reach the trouble on the right..

A slicer can't take the right side out of play, he would be taking the LEFT side out of play because the ball always slices (never goes left).



Understanding the concept of 'taking one side out of play' would be a good start for most.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

It is something I would like to do. However, while the majority of my shots are left to right, I'm still prone to chucking the odd hook in and so can never definitely aim and feel like one side is definitely eliminated. It's another thing on my list of things to try and improve

 

[UlyssesSky]

A slicer can't take the right side out of play, he would be taking the LEFT side out of play because the ball always slices (never goes left).

Understanding the concept of 'taking one side out of play' would be a good start for most.

Of course a slicer can take the right side out of play, it's just a question of how far left he has to aim...


Edit: it's christmas let's be nice...

 

[Crow]

I've never been convinced by this idea.

Taking the 30 yard fairway mentioned earlier.

If you're a straight hitter with no natural fade or draw then you line up down the middle and hit it down the middle. You have a 15 yard deviation either way to find the fairway, it's then down to how straight you hit it, or how wide you go, as to whether you find the fairway or not.

If you fade the ball then, assuming you're a right hander, you line up down the left (let's say you have a 10 yard fade so you line up 10 yards left) with the intention of your ball fading to the middle of the fairway. You have the same 15 yard deviation either way to find the fairway, it's then down to how consistent your 10 yard fade is, overcook it and you could miss right, a bit of a pull and you could miss left.

So it all comes down to how consistent your shots are, be you a straight hitter or a fader.

The only logical way I could see this working was if the fade was a more controllable shot (with less deviation width-ways) but in my experience that's not the case.

 

[JustOne]

If you fade the ball then, assuming you're a right hander, you line up down the left (let's say you have a 10 yard fade so you line up 10 yards left) with the intention of your ball fading to the middle of the fairway. You have the same 15 yard deviation either way to find the fairway, it's then down to how consistent your 10 yard fade is, overcook it and you could miss right, a bit of a pull and you could miss left.

The nature of taking the left side out of play is to eliminate the pull shot from your repertoire so your bad shot would be a stronger (15/20yrd) fade but NEVER a pull........ otherwise you've epically failed at taking the left side out of play. That's why people LEARN to take the left side out of play... they learn not to pull (or double cross) the shot.

A two way miss is not a predictable way to play. Even someone who generally hits the ball straight should know which side their 'miss' tends to go.

Jack Nicklaus described his approach shots to the green thus: I aim for the left side of the green with a fade... if I don't get the fade then i'm on the left side of the green. If I get the fade I'm in the middle, if I overcook the fade I'm on the right hand side of the green.... but I never hit the ball left of the green.

Apparently he did ok

 

[ScienceBoy]

I have taken the middle out of play, makes for an interesting round!

 

[Crow]

The nature of taking the left side out of play is to eliminate the pull shot from your repertoire so your bad shot would be a stronger (15/20yrd) fade but NEVER a pull........ otherwise you've epically failed at taking the left side out of play. That's why people LEARN to take the left side out of play... they learn not to pull (or double cross) the shot.

A two way miss is not a predictable way to play. Even someone who generally hits the ball straight should know which side their 'miss' tends to go.

Jack Nicklaus described his approach shots to the green thus: I aim for the left side of the green with a fade... if I don't get the fade then i'm on the left side of the green. If I get the fade I'm in the middle, if I overcook the fade I'm on the right hand side of the green.... but I never hit the ball left of the green.

Apparently he did ok

Still don't buy it, if playing a fade meant that your accuracy width wise increased so that you rarely missed a fairway then everybody would be doing it.

And as for Jack, he never three putted either so I'd take his comment about never missing the green left with a similar pinch of salt.

 

[Foliage Finder]

For me, consistency of ball striking is a big issue, I think due to excessive movement in my swing (I'm an example of what happens when a beginner goes Bubba, without the raw talent and confidence). Until I get that sorted, there's no real way to take one side out, because I could have a heel strike followed by a toe strike, and then hit one sweet, and that can happen unpredictably.

 

[freddielong]

So was watching golf channel yesterday and Loren Roberts was talking about one of the earliest concepts he was told was just to keep one side out of play constantly.

Then read it again in Big draws post about playing with what's right for you and taking a side out of play.

I had never really thought about this- I always just play away from the danger rather than aim for a particular side.

On my track about 75% of the danger is on the right so for a fader/slicer like myself aiming up the left is the idea I usually have, or in the few where the danger is on the left I tend to just aim straight down the middle.

What's your thoughts on this?

If you are a natural fader then you are effectively doing this anyway as you should never miss left.

 

[freddielong]

Still don't buy it, if playing a fade meant that your accuracy width wise increased so that you rarely missed a fairway then everybody would be doing it.

And as for Jack, he never three putted either so I'd take his comment about never missing the green left with a similar pinch of salt.

Very very few pros play to hit the ball straight, that should answer any doubts that you have.