Lahinch Epitomizes Great Links

Sixth hole at Lahinch. Photo courtesy of the club.

You'll find every distinguishing feature of great links golf at the Old Course at Lahinch in County Clare, Ireland. Hard, fast greens. Narrow, rumpled fairways. Blind shots. Tangled rough. Wind, rain, intrepid golfers, and goats. Yes, goats. Local lore holds that when you encounter the goats munching their way around the course, you can expect an interlude of bad weather. From my experience, local lore is dead-on.

But it's the links landscape that makes Lahinch one of the world's great golf courses. When Alistair Mackenzie first saw saw it in 1927, he said, "Lahinch will make the finest and most popular course that I, or I believe anyone else, ever constructed." Mackenzie, whose credits include Augusta National, Cypress Point, and Pasatiempo, used the natural features of the wind-swept seaside to shape his holes among the dunes.

The course was originally laid out in 1892 and re-designed by Old Tom Morris in 1894. The present fifth hole, a 154-yard par 3 that plays more like 180 over a dune that blocks all but about 20% of the green, was Old Tom's handiwork. In 1999, Martin Hawtree modernized the course.

From the tips at 6,950 yards and at par 72, Lahinch demands a firm stroke and steady nerves. The heavy, wet wind off the Atlantic affects every single shot, including your putts. You play the wind from every angle, too, since Mackenzie routed the holes so that six play into it, six play with it, and six play across. But you play the landscape as well. Fairways can be as narrow as 20 yards and thread their way through dunes covered by knotty rough. The heavily contoured greens look slow but they roll fast and are guarded by numerous deep bunkers.

The fairway on the fourth hole at Lahinch. Photo courtesy of the club.

Blind shots add to the fun. The fourth hole, for example, is a simple 475-yard par five. It plays straight away downwind, too, which should mean a birdie fest. But forty-foot-tall Klondyke Hill stands in the middle of the fairway about 300 yards from the tee, blocking all views of the fairway and green beyond. It blocks the hole so completely that a club employee is stationed atop it to let you know when it's safe to hit over. Your strategy? Hit your blind second shot over the white rock on top of the hill and trust it.

The par fours make Lahinch. Eight of them are over 400 yards and none are automatic pars. Even the uniquely short 279-yard thirteenth hole can give you fits. It's eminently drive-able, but be sure to hit the green or you'll be left with an impossible up and down. It is followed by two monsters, the 461-yard fourteenth with its deadly mounds blocking the approach to the green and the 460-yard fifteenth hole, where bunkers off the tee and near the green challenge long hitters.

A good second round (or a first if you're looking for an easier warm-up) is the Castle Course at Lahinch, which plays a little shorter through less hilly terrain, but still requires precision shot making due to several water features. It's par 69 at 5,488 yards.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

More Unconscious Instruction From Dave Stockton

I got quite a lot from reading Dave Stockton's book, Unconscious Putting, probably because the master's approach very much mirrors mine: see the hole, role the ball into it. Sweet and simple. I consider myself a pretty good putter but not a great one, though, because I still don't have as many one-putts as I need to really get the putt count down. That's where Stockton's latest book, Unconscious Scoring, is helpful.

Why? Because one-putts come mostly from hitting your approach shot closer to the hole in the first place. That's what Unconscious Scoring is all about. Again, I really, really identify with Stockton's KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) philosophy.

Stockton says you only need two basic shots around the green to produce a fabulous short game--a low shot and a high shot. After explaining why this approach will work for players at all handicaps, he shows how to hit each one in two clearly-illustrated chapters.

Next, he carries these principles into various situations where he demonstrates how you don't need to create a whole new swing to get up and down every time you face a tough lie. Stockton covers numerous trouble shots--from a bunker, hardpan, a divot, off a side-hill, etc.--with some elementary modifications of his basic two-shot repertoire. The book is rounded out with chapters on the Mental Game, Practice, Equipment, and Putting.

The material in Unconscious Scoring came from Stockton's excellent five-major-championship career as well as his work with world-class players like Phil Mickelson, Annika Sorenstam, Yani Tseng, and Rory McIlroy, who also wrote the foreword for the book.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

The Mental Game At The Ryder Cup

A guest post about the Ryder Cup from Mike Diffley, Head Pro at Pelham Country Club, and frequent speaker on the power of the mental game:

Mike Diffley, PGA

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog" --Mark Twain

Keegan Bradley, from his 330 yard tee shot down the middle on Hole #1 to rolling in everything he looked at on the first day, showed he might be the mentally strongest player in the world.

Phil Mickelson--now known as Keegan's partner--said the more the pressure the better Keegan plays.

The intensity, focus, determination are incredible. He embraces the pressure and doesn't hide from it. He wants the chance to go. We cannot deny the adrenaline flowing through our system but we can learn to channel it to focus and strength.

Not everyone is the same. Keegan can't hide his emotions through those eyes and facial expressions, that's him. It's important that he knows that and obviously he does. Some players just smile or give a small fist pump and that's their way of expressing their emotions.

The most important time is the 10 to 20 seconds before you hit the ball to find your own zone or comfort level. Keegan found his yesterday and hopefully keeps it through the weekend. Do you know yours?

Positive self talk and visualization are the key. Keegan told us last year that's what he does!!! Go USA!

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Concord's Monster Still A Ball-Eating Beast

photo courtesy of the course.

Everything you've heard about the Monster is true. It's longer than long. It's hard. It will test every part of your game and make you cry for your mama. It's one of those courses you need to play at least once in your life. And, if you're lucky enough to live within a two hour drive, the Monster is worth the trip several times every year.

Course conditions are excellent and the layout hasn't changed since the day Gene Sarazen walked off the course and declared it a monster while warning the owner to not change a thing. The moniker was well-earned. From the tips, the Monster plays an astonishing 7,650 yards with a course rating of 76.8 and slope of 137. Move up to the blue tees and you're playing 7,471. The whites are almost manageable at 6,989. Two shorter tees (green at 6,068 and red at 5,201) are available for sane golfers. Length notwithstanding, the layout itself is challenging and fun.

Water is in play on half the holes, there is a good mix of short(er) and long holes at all three pars, and you'll see enough elevation changes, bunkers, and contoured greens to keep you from being bored. There are even a couple of reachable par fives--depending on which tees you play. The first hole may be the easiest par you'll have all day. At 522 yards (all my distances are from the white tees), a long hitter can get there in two and even a regular guy like you and I can make a birdie with a wedge. The first really big hole you face is the fourth, a 585-yard par five (632 from the black tees!). Watch out for the water on your left from the tee, then carefully plan your second shot because that same water splits the fairway, then cuts across it about 100 yards from the green. Depending on the pin position, you might want to play the left fairway by hitting over the lake with your second shot.

The par threes are all killers. The fifth hole is 207 yards to a green surrounded by bunkers. The seventh is a place to seriously think about laying up, since you're playing 216 yards to a steeply-elevated green with a gigantic bunker in front and a rock-faced cliff on the left. On the back side, the one-shotters are shorter (both are about 160 yards) but both are all carry over water and both have false fronts that will send inadequately-struck balls back into the drink.

The back nine on the Monster is a little shorter than the front but plays tighter and rewards good strategy.  The tenth hole is only 352-yards but it has water, water everywhere to punish hooks, slices, and under-clubbed shots from both the tee and the fairway. The seventeenth, a 405-yard par four, is a confusing mess from the tee. It has pine trees in what looks like the middle of the fairway (it's not), a forced carry of nearly 200 yards over a lake to what really is the best landing area, and a lay-up option to the right that is surrounded by water and will leave you over 200 yards to the green if you choose it. Then you get a two-tiered green with three-putt written all over it to finish the hole.

A big part of the fun of playing the Monster is imagining what it would have been like to take it on using a persimmon driver, forged blades, and a balata ball like the golfers who tackled it in 1963 when it opened. Even though it was never chosen as a tour stop, nearly everyone in the game played it during the resort's star-studded heyday. Dashing and debonair Jimmy Demaret was the official club professional when it premiered. Raymond Floyd held the course record (67) solo for many years. Sam Snead, Jackie Burke, Jr., Gene Sarazen, and Lee Trevino all frequented the resort along with entertainers like Bobby Darin and Englebert Humperdink.

The legendary course has gone through some rough times, closing during a recent bankruptcy and reopening only a couple of years ago without its hotel and clubhouse. The current owners have preserved the most important part of the facility--the golf course itself--and are preparing a major overhaul of the amenities and other attractions to re-establish the property as a major tourist attraction. In the meantime, you can still enjoy--or at least endure--one of the toughest rounds of golf you'll ever play for just a few dollars.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Why Smart Golf Beats The Bomb

John Lloyd Retzer tells it like is on both GolfBlogger.com and in his new pull-no-punches golf instruction book, The Five Inch Course: Thinking Your Way To Better Golf. The book resonated with me because I've played, studied, and written about the game for more than four decades so I don't have any more delusions about my game. The majority of golfers, though, will probably read The Five Inch Course and decide its lessons really don't apply to them. All they need is another $400 driver, a few more hours of the Golf Channel, and another great swing tip from the attendant at the gas station, and they'll shoot par every time. Who knows? Maybe the Champions Tour is within reach!

It's not, of course, mainly because the majority of golfers won't play the intelligent take-fewer-chances brand of golf Retzer espouses. And that's a shame, really, because we could all play much better golf if we just dialed back our testosterone and followed his advice to adopt realistic expectations, play within ourselves, and stop pretending we can make a 160-yard wedge shot bend backwards out of the trees just like Bubba Watson. I rant about many of the same topics in Weird Golf.

Retzer hooked me in his introduction when he said:

"...this doesn't mean that lower scores are out of your reach. It just means that you have to play better golf with the swing you already have." 

He goes on to remind us that

"Four ugly strokes equal four pretty ones [on the scorecard]." 

His goal throughout the book is to teach us to work our way around the course in the least number of strokes, not with the longest drive. That often means leaving the driver in the bag, laying up on that long par four so you take double bogey out of the equation, and maybe even bunting a low runner 120 yards down a narrow fairway instead of taking a full swing that brings OB into play.

Retzer says some of his buddies call this "old man golf." I call it "smart golf."

The Five Inch Course is a collection of short mental game tips organized into chapters on practical topics like what to do before you play, how to think about what you're doing on the tee, what should be going through your mind in the fairways, and common-sense ways to save strokes on and around the green. The style is straightforward and highly readable with a bit of humor thrown in here and there.

Retzer's approach doesn't preclude taking risks or attempting that one-in-a-hundred shot over the water to a tight front pin. He just reminds us that we're going to be really, really sorry if we play that way on every shot in every round. Have some fun, he says, but remember that conservative play is the way to lower your score.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Hudson Hills Tops The Crown

The crown jewel of the six golf courses operated by Westchester County is Hudson Hills, 7,000 yards of  impeccably-maintained fairways and greens woven into rugged hilltop terrain in Ossining. From the stone pillars marking the entrance to the cheerful attendant who greets you at the bag drop to the smooth and fast rolling greens, your experience at Hudson Hills resembles nothing so much as a round at one of the county's many top-notch private clubs.

The quality of play ranks up there, too. Hudson Hills stretches 6,935 yards from the tips, although the green tees at 6,323 with a 71.0 rating and 129 slope provide plenty of challenge. There are two other sets of tees to make the course enjoyable for players of all levels. The course is laid out up, down, around, and about one of the highest hills in the county, making your travels around the course an exercise in distance control through elevation management as well as shot direction. And here's a tip if in doubt about the line of your putt: it will always break away from the huge white water tower in view from just about everywhere. Something else to keep in mind on the front nine is that it wraps around the course clockwise, which means there's out of bounds and other trouble to the left on almost every hole.

Hudson Hills #2
 photo courtesy of the club

Hudson Hills offers a steady diet of risk and reward, although you'll want to bring an extra sleeve of balls if you're an aggressive player because the rough can be gnarly and there are more than a few blind shots where it comes into play. The first opportunity comes on the second hole, a 502-yard par five with a semi-blind tee shot you should aim well to the right to take advantage of the severe side slope that will push your ball to the left. A good drive to the end of the landing area will put you 230 from the green, but beware the water hazard on the right front: it's only 195 away and the fairway reverses camber to feed into it. Left is no bargain, either, since an impenetrable lateral hazard lines that side of the hole.

The five par threes range from 127 to 174 yards and elevation, as you might expect, plays a big role in club selection. Five of the nine par fours are over 400 yards. Most of them offer generous fairways, although the short fours demand high precision off the tee. The 368-yard eighth hole is particularly devilish, featuring a fescue-covered hillside on the right and a lateral hazard on the left the entire length of the fairway. Don't lay back too far from the tee, though, or you won't be able to see the green around the sharp dogleg.

Rates at Hudson Hills are slightly higher than those at the other county courses, but still quite reasonable for a course of this caliber. You can also buy an annual pass that brings Hudson Hills even closer to the country club experience.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Play Morgan Pressel At Shackamaxon CC

If you've ever dreamed of playing head-to-head against a professional golfer in front of a gallery of enthusiastic fans, now is your chance. On Oct. 2, 2012, Shackamaxon Country Club will host the inaugural Garden State Tour Pro Challenge, a charitable event that will pit six lucky amateurs against LPGA star Morgan Pressel in a series of three-hole matches on the club’s Tillinghast-designed course.

Morgan Pressel
photo courtesy of Shackamaxon CC

The “Challenge” will benefit the New Jersey Golf Foundation, the official charity of the New Jersey section of the PGA. Qualifying tournaments are currently taking place at 20 private and public clubs around the state. The entry fee is $20. For more information on how to enter one of the remaining qualifiers, contact The New Jersey Golf Foundation at (732) 465-1212.

The qualifers in five categories (Ladies Net, Ladies Gross, Men’s Gross, Men’s Net and Men’s Senior Gross) will compete in a playoff round at Shackamaxon Country Club on Sept. 24. The winners in each category will advance to face Morgan Pressel on Oct. 2nd.  A sixth spot will be reserved for a qualifier from the First Tee, the internationally respected youth organization that promotes life skills and leadership through the game of golf.

Morgan Pressel is one of the LPGA’s brightest stars. In 2011, she recorded eleven top-10 finishes and has over four million in career earnings. She is undefeated in U.S. Solheim Cup competitions and was the runner-up in the 2005 U.S. Women's Open (as an amateur).

The “Challenge” will feature a full day of exciting activities at Shackamaxon.  The day begins with an 18-hole celebrity pro-am that features participants playing alongside former NFL greats, as well as New Jersey PGA professionals. Each foursome will meet and take photos with Morgan Pressel, enjoy a continental breakfast, a barbecue lunch and awards ceremony. Individual pro-am spots are $500. Visit www.shackamaxoncc.com or call (908)233-1300 ext. 230 to reserve your spot in the field.

While the action takes place on the course, The New Jersey PGA will conduct a ladies golf clinic on the putting green followed by a Ladies Benefit Luncheon/Auction featuring Morgan Pressel as the honored guest. The luncheon is open to the public. Tickets are $100 and proceeds will benefit the Ashley Lauren Foundation, a charitable organization that was created to assist families of pediatric cancer patients with emotional support and financial assistance. To register for the Ladies Clinic or Luncheon, contact Jennifer Gerhart at (908) 233-1300.

At 2 pm, the “main event” will take place as Morgan Pressel begins her head-to-head matches against the lucky New Jersey amateur qualifiers on Shackamaxon’s historic A.W. Tillinghast-designed masterpiece. Gallery Tickets to watch the action at the afternoon’s Pro Tour Challenge are only $10 and may be reserved by calling (908) 233-1300 ext. 230. Tickets will also be available on-site at the club on Oct. 2

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf