Golf Instruction

SPRINKLER SITUATION I'm in a fairway - when all of a sudden a sprinkler goes off. Can I take free relief from the sudden flood of recycled wash water? Or do I have to sit under the pesticide spray unless I want a penalty? --Jason Cherpak, via Facebook First of all, recycled wash water and pesticide spray are two completely different things. I’m concerned about that course you are playing on. But I digress, if your ball currently lies in a puddle of water from the sprinkler after math it is called casual water. According to Rule 25-1, you may then lift the ball and drop it within one club-length, no closer to the hole, from the nearest point of relief without penalty. Whether or not you choose to stay in the pesticide spray is up to you.

WHO: Kyle Stanley WHAT: A 50-yard pitch from under a cactus to the green WHERE: 332-yard par-4 17th hole at TPC Scottsdale WHEN: Final round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open To come back from the emotional roller coaster of two weeks ago, when Stanley blew a huge final-round lead, is spectacular. But last week, he had a big advantage: he was playing from behind, which put him in an aggressive -- rather than a defensive -- mode of thinking. He showed that at 17. Stanley was aggressive off the tee by hitting driver rather than laying up on the short par 4 with water down the left side. After his tee shot landed under a cactus bush, Stanley could have chipped out and then pitched to the green. Instead, he boldly played a pitch from an awkward stance and with a hooded clubface. The aggressive play could've backfired with a whiff, a skull or another bad outcome. But Stanley was playing to win. He executed the shot perfectly, nipping the ball so it flew over a bunker, landed a bit short of the green and then rolled onto the green 22 feet from the hole. Stanley two-putted for a par. Stanley is a player to watch. Not many guys could lose so badly one week and come back the very next week with a victory. The turnaround shows a quality of character than is very unusual on the PGA Tour.   THE DRILL: My favorite way to practice and learn recovery shots is to play one-club golf. Last week, I played an entire round with only a 6-iron. Another option is to hit driver off the tees and then play with one club (I prefer a 6-iron) for all other shots, including putts. Playing with one club teaches you to be creative. You learn how to hit different shots and how to manipulate a single club to create a wide variety of outcomes. You're forced to be imaginative and to develop a sense of adaptability with your clubs. Practicing like that prepares you for spots like Stanley found at 17. You may not have practiced shots from the exact situation you're in, but you'll be able to create a shot. Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Mitchell Spearman teaches at Isleworth Country Club in Orlando and at Doral Arrowwood in Rye Brook, N.Y.  

LOST AND FOUND Rules Guy, I topped my tee shot into the bank above a water hazard not far from the tee box. It was close enough for me to look for the ball, but after a couple of minutes I got nervous that we'd be holding up traffic, so I declared my ball lost, scampered back up to the tees and hit again. As I drove my golf cart towards my second drive, I spotted my first ball on the far bank, in the hazard but playable. I had no idea what to do: I definitely found my ball before the five minute "time limit," but I had already declared it lost and played a ball that I had no intention of being provisional. Could I have played the first ball? SHOULD I have played it? I've never been so confused on the golf course! -- Tim Becker, Hoboken, NJ This question hits upon one of the most misunderstood Rules of Golf: You can't actually "declare" a ball as lost; it's either lost or it isn't. According to Decision 21-1/1, your second ball was not actually considered in play, as you found your original ball before taking a second stroke at the provisional. This, however, does not mean that you were forced to play your first shot. You were, of course, more than within your rights to go back to the tee and take a penalty of stroke and distance. So, as it turns out, whichever choice you made would have been legal. The only thing not to do was stand around looking confused.  

WHO: Kyle Stanley WHAT: A 65-yard wedge into the water WHEN: Final round of the 2012 Farmers Insurance Open WHERE: 570-yard par-5 18th hole at Torrey Pines   Golf is easy looking in the rearview mirror. Still, it's hard to understand how Stanley couldn't make a double-bogey at 18, which would've given him the title. It took several huge mistakes for Stanley to make an eight, which dropped him into a playoff that he lost to Brandt Snedeker. Stanley's mistakes included laying up with his second shot instead of blasting his second shot at or over the green; hitting a wedge approach with so much spin that it sucked back off the green and into the water; and finally, three-putting. The wedge into the water might be the shot that Stanley most regrets, because hitting a no-spin wedge from 65 yards is easy.   THE DRILL: To take the spin off a wedge, you've got to radically decrease the angle of attack into the ball by using what I call a "sweepy" instead of a steep release. You also need to move the ball a little further back than normal in your stance and shift your weight a little more to the target side than you would do with a standard shot. To practice no-spin wedges, take practice swings by holding the club with only your right hand. Hold the club at the bottom of the grip so that your right hand (for a right-hander) touches both the grip and the shaft; the butt end of the grip should be near the middle of your right forearm. Make a little backswing and sweep through impact. Just after impact, the butt end of the shaft should hit your right forearm and the shaft should align down your arm. The club and your right arm should remain in that synchronized position for the first half of the follow-through. I like doing this drill without a ball, but you can hit shots using the same technique. Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Brian Manzella teaches at English Turn Golf and Country Club in New Orleans.