Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf.
I made a common mistake when I recently played in my first pro-am — I just wouldn’t stop using my driver, no matter how bad I hit it.
By refusing to alter my game plan off the tee, I continuously put myself in bad situations for my second shots. I was either opening up my clubface by using an inside-out swing, causing the ball to slice. Or I was toeing my drives, leading to a wicked snap hook that put me in danger down the left side of the hole.
Regardless of where the ball ended up, I was making life more difficult for myself each hole — and it showed on my scorecard.
In reality, at some point I should’ve recognized the flaw and switched to using a low-iron (like a 4-iron) off the tee. But I tried to be a hero and show off for my playing partners, thinking I’d solve the driver issue mid-round.
I used only my 6-iron for every shot outside 50 yards. Here’s what I learned
While many amateurs can no doubt relate to this scenario, it’s something that even two-time major champion Jon Rahm says he’s had to deal with himself.
Leading up to this week’s BMW Championship (the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs), Rahm discussed his victory at the event in 2020. Despite an opening-round 75 and sitting six over after two rounds, he was able to grind his way back up the leaderboard, shooting 66-64 over the weekend and ultimately beating Dustin Johnson in a playoff.
But it wouldn’t have happened had it not been for some mid-round adjustments, which Rahm expanded on this week.
“Honestly, it was a very small tweak on the setup of my swing that allowed me to play the way I did on the weekend. Nothing else,” Rahm said. “I feel like every part of my game was fairly comfortable. There was just one little missing piece, and that was it. It was about as good a ball-striking as it could get for me on that weekend.”
By changing up his setup, Rahm allowed himself to play Olympia Fields with a different approach than he initially thought. It led him to a simple game plan: only hit fades.
“The one thing I can tell you, which is funny, I don’t think I attempted to hit one draw on the weekend whatsoever,” he said. “It was just not happening that week, and I was like, well, we’re going to be hitting fades.”
With a newfound strategy to close out that tournament in 2020, Rahm said he stuck to his game plan on his other shots — where he was more comfortable with his ball-striking throughout the week.
It allowed him to focus on just hitting as many greens in regulation as possible, relying on his putter to get the job done.
“Tried to hit greens, and that’s what I did,” he said. “Because the wind was left to right that day, the fade fit perfectly pretty much throughout the entire golf course.”
How Jon Rahm manifested his Masters win nearly 10 years ago
Rahm’s mid-tournament adjustment meant swallowing his pride and realizing his game (and the course) wasn’t allowing him to play the way he initially thought. Seeing as how he had more confidence in hitting fades as opposed to draws, he passed on a similar tip for other golfers.
“I don’t know if it was conscious or not, but I just had supreme confidence that my stock shot, my fade, was going to be a pretty good result,” he said. “Anytime I tried to hit a draw, it just wasn’t happening.
“If it’s not working, why use it? There’s many ways to play this game.”
