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Alan L. Hammond GolfersMD News
Apr 04, 2011
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For millions of people, the first day of spring isn’t marked by a date on the calendar, it comes with the first tee-shot of the Masters Tournament. Azalea blooms and a new golf season are ushered in by one of golf’s most magnificent traditions.
It sounds like a beautiful spectacle, and it certainly is, but participants will endure something more than a leisurely stroll along a gorgeous golf course. Augusta National will provide a rigorous physical and mental test.
There has been a great deal of discussion about the lengthening, or “Tiger Proofing,” of Augusta National over the past few years. The changes seemingly put a premium on driving distance and many believe long hitters to possess an advantage. Certainly, the short hitters will have more difficulty scoring, but length off the tee may not be an asset. “I think that lengthening the course can actually benefit the shorter hitters on some occasions, especially when there are a lot of risk reward situations,” says Paul Hobart, Director of Instruction at Tartan Fields Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio and author of Banana Putting.
Says Hobart, “A shorter hitter like Zach Johnson already has a strategy to play the course. Before the 2007 Masters, which he won, Zach determined that he would lay up on all the par-5's. Course length subsequently became irrelevant.” Players who are physically capable of hitting the long-ball face a strategic course management dilemma. According to Hobart, “A player that has it in his mind that he ‘should’ take advantage of the par 5's through hitting them in two will feel a need to go after the driver, and perhaps play too aggressively on second shots.”
Given the tendency toward aggressive play, and with Augusta’s narrowed landing areas, conditions are ripe for risky shots to quickly add a big number to a scorecard and destroy a player’s mental focus, ruining the chance for a green jacket. Experienced players like Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson, and even Fred Couples, all of whom are capable of monstrous drives, and who are in tune to Augusta’s demand for patience, could be the long hitters who benefit.
The 2009 Masters marked the return of The Shark, Greg Norman. More physically fit than players half his age, the 54-year-old Norman may be absent his extreme expectation of winning, which often played a part in his Masters tragedies of the past. According to Dr. Morris Pickens, sport psychologist and performance specialist at Sea Island Golf Learning Center, and GolfersMD.com expert, though that obstacle may be gone, Norman faces other hazards. “Expectations may not be present, but neither is his main advantage, being in contention on a regular basis,” says Dr. Pickens. “When you are away from the game as long as he has been, it's virtually impossible to be as mentally sharp as is required to win a Major.”
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