subject: Focusing on Ball Flight [print this page] Focusing on Ball Flight Focusing on Ball Flight
Of all of the Georgia gem's intricacies the widely held notion that to win a green jacket one must be able to draw the ballat least for right-handed golfers, is the easiest to grasp but perhaps the most misunderstood. Simple physics support the need for a right-to-left ball flight. The tee shots at Nos. 10, 13, 14, 15 and 17 all promote a draw. "On the back nine it seems like you have to draw the ball on every hole," Kim figured.
But when newly minted world No. 1Martin Kaymertalked of altering his world-beating swing to play Augusta NationalPaul Azingercould only smile."I never wanted to change anything that worked," Azinger said. "I tried to change (my swing) every year, but my best finish (at the Masters) was when I didn't try to change anything."
Off the tee Kaymer, who plays an infinitely repeatable fade with his driver, has a point. The lion's share of holes at Augusta National favor a draw off the tee, which, at least in part, explains why Phil a left-hander who has taken to playing a fade (left-to-right ball flight) in recent years, has won three of the last seven Masters.Lee trevino once swore he would never play the Masters again, in large part because of his inability to hit a reliable golf iron set. In Kaymer's defense he is 0-for-3 in cuts made at the Masters and cites his inability to confidently draw the ball as a primary reason behind his pedestrian record.
"(No. 13) is a reachable par-5 for most of the players if you can draw the ball. For me it was difficult because I was hitting it straight or with a little fade," Kaymer said. "Then you're sitting there with a 3-wood and you don't want to be going into that green with a 3-wood. So, I'm making the golf course more difficult for me."
Kaymer is hardly the first player with theCallaway FT-iZ Driver to conclude that the former nursery is best played with a draw, although he may be the first top-ranked player to undertake a swing change, however minor, to answer that challenge."You want a swing that can produce one shot, but you never want a swing that can't hit two shots," said Sean Foley, whose students on Tour include Tiger Woods. "You have to be able to do both."In fact, an unscientific survey of current and former players suggests this particular maxim is more guideline than ground-rule. According to many players, even the feared 10th hole, which was lengthened by 10 yards in 2002, can be played conservatively with a fade, or even a 3-wood.
"That tee is so far back you can just launch a high (fade) down there or if the wind is helping you can hook a 3-wood into the power slot and it's going to roll forever," Jasson Daysaid.The draw tenet also takes a hit when one considersJack Nicolas made the "power fade" famous in his day and his Masters' resume doesn't suggest any inherent troubles.
Technology has also reduced how much the modern golf ball moves off line and, in many ways, it's more important to hit the ball high at Augusta National than it is to either hit a draw or a fade."It's a drawer's golf course off the tee but a cutter's paradise off the fairways," Rvan said. "A fade drops softer and that's what you have to have.""Go to" shots, more so than a particular flight, are also crucial at the Masters, particularly under Sunday pressure when repeatability counts more than a blueprint.Let the ball fly high.
