In a special edition of Play Smart, GOLF & ADP have partnered to uncover how the best players in the world prepare for the biggest events and how it can help you play smarter, better golf.
BROOKLINE, Mass. — In some ways, the brutality of the first round of a U.S. Open is welcome relief for some players. Practice rounds ahead of the first round at The Country Club were gruelingly slow. Most players played only nine holes a round, to avoid spending all day on the course. Others, like Rory McIlroy, played bright and early to get their work in before the heat set in.
Thursday marked the culmination of that pre-round preparation. This week, I’ve been paying extra close attention to how players prep for a major and as you can hear me explain in the video above, I’ve come to find out that pros are really, really obsessed with practicing from every different possible lie around the greens.
How Max Homa’s U.S. Open preparation tactics can help your game
Pros may hit a few shots from the fairway, but around the greens, players are tossing their balls everywhere: into the thick stuff, into bunkers, onto fringes and everywhere in between.
It’s less about trying out different clubs — they’ll use the same club to hit multiple shots from the same location — and they’re not paying too much attention to where the pin might be, either. Rather, they’re focusing on the grass. They’re trying to uncover how the ball reacts out of different lies: Does it jump more than they expect? Or come out lower with less spin? Do they need to swing harder, or softer? What is a mistake they may potentially make from this lie? Is it so bad in one spot that they should try to avoid it at all costs?
It’s this kind of attention to detail that the rest of us can learn from, too. When you’re practicing before your round, or playing the course in front of you, dive deep into the details of your club and ball interact with the grass. That’s where pros spend most of their preparation, and the ones who do it best, will reap the rewards from it.