Risk vs Reward | Smart Tee Shot Strategy at St Andrews

00:00:12.360 So, we're here at the famous St. Andrews
00:00:14.480 Old Course, uh 17th hole tee shot. Uh if
00:00:18.200 you watch the British Open whenever they
00:00:20.240 do play here, uh all the guys are always
00:00:22.520 hitting it over this hotel. It's
00:00:24.320 actually really cool to see
00:00:27.080 kind of this the tee shot there or the
00:00:29.600 the way they have to kind of fly over
00:00:31.360 this this hotel here. Um now, I mean,
00:00:35.360 realistically, I probably don't have the
00:00:38.120 distance to hit it over or carry it over
00:00:40.640 this hotel completely. Um however, I
00:00:44.000 don't have to because there's actually a
00:00:45.400 lot of space here on the left, as you
00:00:47.280 can see. It's about 60 yd on the left
00:00:49.780 >> [music]
00:00:49.880 >> to work with. So,
00:00:51.560 uh do I want to risk not being able to
00:00:53.520 carry over the hotel? No. I'm going to,
00:00:55.920 you know, I'm going to aim a bit more
00:00:57.120 left, [music] uh play for the safety
00:00:59.440 zone here on the left, and, you know,
00:01:01.960 even my second shot's going to be pretty
00:01:03.520 easy to go onto that to that green.
00:01:05.440 Okay, let's give that a try.
00:01:07.120 All right. So, I've moved myself now
00:01:08.800 further left and I'm not aiming over the
00:01:10.640 hotel. Uh the hard part about this is,
00:01:13.680 she can see kind of the tee box is
00:01:15.480 actually kind of aiming me to or
00:01:17.760 actually encouraging me to fly over that
00:01:20.000 that hotel, but I'm going to resist. I'm
00:01:23.000 going to aim left and I'll stick to my
00:01:24.920 game plan here.
00:01:34.321 >> [music]
00:01:36.760 >> All right. I didn't hit my my usual
00:01:39.840 draw, but, as you can see, because I
00:01:42.400 stuck to my game plan, aimed left,
00:01:44.840 missed it slightly right, I am still in
00:01:46.880 a really good position with my second
00:01:48.360 shot here. So, if you're ever faced with
00:01:50.800 a very similar situation on a tee box
00:01:52.920 where you don't know if you should be
00:01:54.200 going over a hazard or an obstacle,
00:01:57.320 uh always choose the safer bet. Aim a
00:01:59.400 bit more left, kind of know if there is
00:02:01.360 more room on the left side or the right
00:02:03.040 side, and go for that safe shot. Um if
00:02:05.840 you if there are any other situations
00:02:07.960 that do scare you, please let me know,
00:02:09.919 and we will tackle it together.

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