What is the number one thing PGA Tour players do NOT want to see on their ball when they get to it in the middle of the fairway?
MUD!
Why?
Because they know that Heaven only knows how the ball will fly, curve and where it will end up.
Even with all their skills to hit shots and control their ball flight, even Tour pros are helpless when there is mud on the ball.
There have been many magazine articles written, and even top teaching pros doing studies, to try and predict with some certainty how the ball will fly based on the location of the mud.
I remember a top teacher's study concluded that when the mud is on the right side of the ball, it will fly/curve to the left.
Or, is it will curve to the right.
I can't seem to remember, and get it mixed up, as I am sure you do.
This flight direction dilemma, with mud on the ball, is the same as trying to remember which way a ball above or below your feet will fly. (I'll give you that fool proof answer in another article.)
Now back to the mud on the ball problem.
Forty years of playing experience has led me to one, absolute conclusion. There is only one safe shot that gives you any chance of controlling a mud ball:
You must hit a shot that keeps it as low as possible!
Hitting a normal shot up into the air, especially with higher lofted clubs, say the 8 iron thru wedges, puts a lot of spin on the ball.
With mud on the ball, when it reaches its apogee, its highest point in flight, whichever way the mud is causing the ball to rotate is the direction it will curve.
It could be right or left or even just fall out of the sky.
Hitting the ball low keeps the spin rate down.
Less spin means more control in direction and distance.
There a two ways to hit the ball lower with less spin:
1. Use less loft; as much as two to three clubs more than the distance usually requires. Lower loft means less height and spin.
2. Hit a knockdown shot, again with a less lofted club, which should help keep the ball even lower with that club.
So, mud on the ball needs a shot that flies lower because lower height means less spin and more control.
It is the only way to have any chance of controlling your ball flight for direction and distance.
Lastly, I'll turn this tip into a Surge opinion.
Since mud is a problem, especially when we are not playing lift, clean and place ('cheat golf' as it is sometimes called), what can be done to help solve this problem?
Get the USGA to allow golfers, with approval from their playing competitors, to mark a mud ball, clean it and replace it, just like they allow us to do on the green.
If the USGA trusts us on the greens, why don't they trust us in the fairways to accurately mark and replace our ball.
Heck, if need be, have a fellow competitor watch the whole procedure.
I would not have a problem having to watch a competitor mark, clean and replace his ball, knowing that I too will be allowed to do it when I get a mud ball.
And it won't be a problem slowing up play.
So let's not use that lame excuse against playing with a clean ball.
Whatever the case, mud or no mud, if you want to compete with serious golfers and beat up your buddies on the golf course, then a swing that works reliably and consistently is a must.
You can learn the same golf swing I use myself, and that is not only used by PGA Pros, but is in perfect “sync” with the laws of physics, gravity and your God-given natural body mechanics (so you feel zero pain) at:
Here's to blue skys and lower scores,
The Surge!