As the best golfers in the world tee it up and hit mammoth drives today in the PGA Championship in Kohler, Wis., someone who should know has a message for amateur hackers who want to be like Tiger and hit the ball a mile: Don’t go there.
“On a par-72 golf course, if you hit every green in regulation and two-putt, you’d have 36 shots and 36 putts,” said Marengo golf-course architect Bob Lohmann. “Eighteen of those approach shots would be to the green too. Over 75 percent of the shots in the perfect round are either to the green or on the green–and people are out there buying drivers.”
You may not know Lohmann, but chances are you’ve played one of the courses he has had a hand in designing or renovating. His resume includes the Merit Club in Libertyville, site of the 2000 U.S. Women’s Open, a just-finished bunker renovation at the prestigious Midlothian Country Club, a redesign of Chevy Chase in Wheeling, the Schaumburg Golf Club, and on and on. He’s currently at work updating the Riverside Golf Club in North Riverside and Boulder Ridge in Lake In The Hills, among other projects.
While you can get plenty of pointers from The Golf Channel, letting an architect teach you how to read the lay of the land can make a big difference. Here are some of Lohmann’s tips for having more fun than frustration:
– Find a target. “We include hazards like bunkers or groups of trees as aiming features,” Lohmann said. “For instance, that sand bunker may be out there 300 yards away. I can hit the ball 300 yards, but if I hit a 250-yard tee shot, I’ll be right in the perfect position.”
– Read the contours. “When your fairway is tilting to the right and you have a ball that slices a lot, it’s going to tend to roll into the rough if you hit it in the middle of the fairway,” he said. “You want to hit it a little farther left so, if it rolls, it stays in the fairway.”
– Resist temptation. Some greens have the flag on the edge, near water or a bunker or both. Steer clear, Lohmann said. “You’re trying to tempt the golfer to take a risky shot. But the green is wide open. So many novice players shoot at the pin. But if they just take the easy way into the middle of the green, they’d shoot a lot better.”
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So does Lohmann, a 12-handicap golfer, follow his own advice? “It all depends on the day,” he said with a smile.