No matter how well your round is going, it's hard to escape the fear that washes over you when faced with tight tee shots. The extent of the danger will vary depending on where you play your golf, but one thing is for certain... any combination of water, out of bounds, waste areas and trees will almost certainly require a strategic approach.
With that in mind, we asked Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach to share four simple strategy tips for navigating those scorecard destroying, golf ball swallowing monsters...
How To Approach Tight Tee Shots
The tight drive with trouble on both sides fills most golfers with dread. It's important in this situation to change your thinking, and shift your focus to one thought only... find the fairway!
I would recommend picking out a small target point beyond the fairway or on the horizon, and then taking dead aim on that exact spot. Work hard on really aiming at, and hitting it on that line.
By focusing on a very small target, even if you miss, you’ll probably still end up on the fairway. If you just aim at ‘the fairway’, you could end up anywhere. So think small, aim small, miss small. If you think big, you’re more likely to aim big and miss big.
Clubface alignment
Take a little more time over clubface alignment on tight tee shots. A good addition to your pre-shot routine is to check your line from behind the ball, then pick out an exact spot on the tee to hit over – perhaps a blemish or a small stone.
Jack Nicklaus used to do this, and there’s usually something on your line you can use, although you can’t deliberately put something down. Make sure you set up with the clubface aiming exactly over this spot, and work hard on getting everything square.
Shot pattern catalogue
We've all got different swings and different swing speeds, and this exercise will help when you face a tight drive. The next time you visit the driving range, take your three longest clubs and hit nine shots with each.
Three with each club should be your very hardest swing; three what you feel to be a smooth swing; and three taking ten percent off your smooth swing. Catalogue where each ball goes; there will be a pattern.
Use the catalogue
If you find that your flat-out swings with a driver go a little bit left, and if there’s out of bounds up the right, a flat-out swing should take that right-hand side out of play.
If your smooth swing (minus ten percent) with a 3-wood drifts right, use that swing on tight drives with trouble up the left, and so on.
You can’t just get over the ball and be hopeful when you face a tight drive; you’ve got to have some intent to your swing.
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