Here we are about to enter, not just a new year, but a new millennium. I call it, Y-MM. Starting a huge new piece of time like the next 1,000 years calls for a huge new strategy for most of us. This piece is about golf, and playing successful golf is about reducing the number of times you stand over a shot in a round of golf.

Let’s try some new thoughts. For example, when you first arrive at the practice tee, all eager to try out that new $400.00 Titanium driver your well-meaning spouse bought you for Xmas, start out with short, unforced wedge shots. Hit them to targets as small as other golf balls. Know why? Because this millennium you are going to try to hole out every single consarned, dad-blamed shot inside 100 yards that you attempt! The object of golf is to get the ball in the hole. You are going to keep that uppermost in your mind.

I like to take my sand wedge and do two things to start out. First, try to have a goose-grease slick, smooth rhythm. I want to feel that club just float to the top of my backswing and start to fall before I add anything to the shot. Second, I keep shifting my aim so I don’t just blindly keep whacking balls. I will aim one about 80 yards down the left side of the range, see where the ball ends up, then do the same in front of me and to the right. Then I will shift back and try to hit the first ball with my next shot, shift to the center, and so on. It is amazing that when you aim at such a small target your shot pattern gets tighter.

Then I will work my way up through the bag trying to maintain that rhythm. The next to last club I hit is my driver. I do my standard driver stuff, trying to fade a ball, draw a ball and make sure I hit to a target. The last shot I take is the first shot I will face in my round. It may, or may not, be a driver.

Oh, did I mention that BEFORE going to the practice tee I hit some putts? I make certain I have a consistent setup pattern, a slow rhythm and clear target visualization?

I would only vary this routine if I had some special problem. Perhaps my sand play was suspect, or short chips or pitches. In that case, I would work on those also, if I had time. However those shots are best left to days when you only practice and not play. That is because there must be time and an open mind to experimentation with these creative shots.

I can’t guarantee anyone that he/she will quickly improve his/her game by these methods but I would bet that over time it will work better than most of the hit-and-miss techniques I have witnessed.

(c) Sandy Bunker

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