Why is Luke Donald so good ?

[bobmac]

Long game,
iron play,
short game,
course management,

All of the above ?

I watched him play yesterday and it was just clinical, some may even say boring.
I was intrigued to see how he would play the 18th but not surprised to see 3 wood, 7 iron, wedge 2 putts.
Job done and another 750,000 Euros

The Patron Saint of putting

 

[Deleted member 1147]

In spite of not being the most accurate off the tee, he is so consistently good.
Also, as was pointed out when playing the 17th poorly on saturday, he rarely compounds errors.
The best short game in the business.
Good temperament.
Good course management.

 

[DannyOT]

Definitely his consistency. I find him entertaining to watch as he is just so 'clean' with every shot, however for those wanting a bit more excitement I can see why they might find him boring.

 

[Deleted member 15717]

I wouldn't mind playing boring golf and being the best in the world!

 

[KeefG]

I know all the pro's have essentially 'good' swings (Furyk & Jeev aside) but Luke just seems to swing within himself, his swing seems so totally effortless, its not Tiger or Dustin like where they attempt to smash the ball to pieces, yet Luke still hits the ball an awfully long way for someone so small.

He picks courses apart and as already said, his consistency is the key.

 

[The_ACE]

Definitely his consistency. I find him entertaining to watch as he is just so 'clean' with every shot, however for those wanting a bit more excitement I can see why they might find him boring.

+1 its so perfect its brilliant to watch, his all round game is just fantastic and he is deservely world number 1

 

[pbrown7582]

Long game,
iron play,
short game,
course management,
All of the above
I watched him play yesterday and it was just clinical
The Patron Saint of putting

Seems to have natural talent in abundance and screamer to work hard. Also seems to have figured out to play his own game rather than chase distance after busting on the scene and then falling back a bit. A class act now and worthy numero UNO.

 

[Stu M]

he just needs a major!

 

[mcbroon]

In spite of not being the most accurate off the tee, he is so consistently good.
Also, as was pointed out when playing the 17th poorly on saturday, he rarely compounds errors.
The best short game in the business.
Good temperament.
Good course management.

+1 to this. Jose Mourinho says football teams concede goals through making consecutive errors. Different game but the principle can apply equally to golf.

Not compounding errors is critical, though it helps to have a diamond short game to fall back on. You just never expect him to miss from inside 6 feet.

 

[bobmac]

At the weekend......
he missed 9 greens and got up and down 8 times
9 birdies and only 2 bogeys
57 putts

 

[USER1999]

Was he ever put under any pressure though? No one else was really in with a shout.

He seems to me to be the golfer who wins when no one else plays well. I don't think he has a 59 in him, the way you look at some others and think they might have.

 

[garyinderry]

if ever there was proof that the short game is king! ^

 

[duncan mackie]

In spite of not being the most accurate off the tee, he is so consistently good.
Also, as was pointed out when playing the 17th poorly on saturday, he rarely compounds errors.
The best short game in the business.
Good temperament.
Good course management.

good summary - he's realistic about his abilities and plays to his strengths.

co-incidently playing in a match Sunday the SI 1 was a par 5 with lots of issues looking to bite anyone who 'took it on'. Despite giving shots all round I had already decided to play 3 i, 5/6i, whatever it then took...from the online course guide I had been looking at whilst watching the golf Sat. I came to this decision based on 'what would Luke do if he was me (golf wise)'. It worked, and the whatever only turned out to be a 9 iron.

I may be revising my play of some holes on my home course based on this!

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Was he ever put under any pressure though? No one else was really in with a shout.

He seems to me to be the golfer who wins when no one else plays well. I don't think he has a 59 in him, the way you look at some others and think they might have.

I think that with Justin Rose, no 10 in the world, only two shots back he was under some decent pressure.

 

[Curls]

he missed 9 greens and got up and down 8 times

I think I'm going to be sick. Na he's so impressive, you'd never put money on him missing a putt inside 8 feet.

I got up and down load of times at the weekend,

but that's the Eurovision for you

 

[CrapHacker18]

Was he ever put under any pressure though? No one else was really in with a shout.

He seems to me to be the golfer who wins when no one else plays well. I don't think he has a 59 in him, the way you look at some others and think they might have.

Apart from being tied on the fourth on Sunday, which could be described as pressure, I think it was Saturday that put him in that position. On a day when I think the best score was -3, he hit four concecutive tee shots off to the right over the final few holes, recovered, and still finished with -2 for the day.

Brilliant golf, and imo he looks to me like his is still getting better as an all round player.

I think his general weakness is losing competitions over the first three days - he's never managed to get into a good challenging position at any major. I think his mental game over the weekend is getting better and better

A question or three to 'those in the know'

How does someone with such a good swing lose so many tee shots off to the right?

How easy should it be to fix?

How good could he be if he took that weakness out of his game?

PS in the one tournament he won over in the States this year, didn't he hit a 66 in the final round to win after a 3 way playoff? :ears:

 

[Snelly]

He plays the percentages well and has a terrific short game. I love watching him putt. I am sure if I watched him hole a few on a screen immediately before playing then I would putt better. He hardly ever putts dead weight and is invariably past the hole when he misses. Very positive.

The other thing I like about him is his on course demeanour. A smile was never far from his face yesterday and he looked like he really enjoyed it.

 

[Crawfy]

There is a lot to be said for David Alred's impact on Luuuke's game

Although Luke has a very clean game and a short game to die for

Alred has turned him into an "assassin" (his words)

The mental toughness he has shown over the last 2-3 seasons has rightly delivered him to the top of the game

 

[JJF69]

Pretty much his iron play and short game. His putting is as good as it gets, possibly the best of all time.

 

[Birchy]

He is just so controlled its unreal. He never goes for a daft shot and always plays within himself. Never bites off more than he can chew and never gets fazed by anything. Just so cool with his own game he makes it look so easy it gets on my nerves!