Accuracy over Distance – Andrew McHardy Over the past decade I have had many people say to me that they would be happy to sacrifice some of their distance for more accuracy from the tee. Now this is a very easy thing to say, but do they really believe they feel that way. The second most common statement I hear from my lessons is “I have lost distance, I must get it back”. For the record I would place this just behind the number one statement which tends to be unsurprisingly “I need to fix my slice”. Let’s look at the distance versus accuracy issue first. I have a friend of a friend who is very close to former British Open Champion Paul Laurie’s caddie. He was telling me that when in a pressure situation off the tee, his caddie would say “necky one Paul”. What he means by this, is that he wants Paul to literally hit the heel (Also called neck) of the driver’s club face. By doing this he knew Paul would lose on average around 30 yards in distance, but would almost never miss the fairway. Of course, he could only do this if there wasn’t a bunker or hazard in his intended landing area.
Tour professional’s get a lot of credit for how far most of them hit the golf ball and how well they strike the ball, justifiably so. But what they do not get, is the credit for their course management and patience They would happily sacrifice distance if, it meant they were playing their next shot from the fairway. A PGA Tour Professional lose or hit one ball into a hazard every 5.6 rounds! Yes that is correct, I had to read it twice myself when I saw that statistic. But I find it hard to believe that if they were to hit driver at just about every hole this statistic would not drop.
Read on… If you are interested in discussing ways to improve your course management and your short game skills, please don’t hesitate to get in touch or to find out more information; please phone me on 01738 440678 or click here to send us an email. | 
