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Playing better golf on vacation
WBN09 - Sports - Golf
Playing better golf on vacation
Practise the little shots say pros
Visiting winter golfers usually tee up with high hopes, even if they haven’t touched a club in months.
It’s an enduring part of the great game that, when golfers ponder their swing during a layoff, they can mentally spot where they had been going wrong and why they hit all those terrible shots last summer.
Whether it’s the grip, stance, takeaway or downswing, golfers know that if they just do that one key thing, they’ll be shooting like a pro in no time. Then they actually play, and their dreams of winning the club championship evaporate into thin air—usually on the first hole.
Chris Lewis, director of golf at the beautiful Cable Beach course on West Bay St, advises vacationing players: “Don’t let your imagination get the better of you … with this game, there are many motor skills involved, and it takes a lot of repetitions to make them all work properly.”
This is another way of saying visiting golfers should hit the practice range before they tackle the course.
A better idea
Better golfers know “it’s better to be realistic and not expect too much after a long layoff,” advises Neil, a visiting club pro from Canada.
“You’re probably not going to shoot lights out after a layoff,” agrees Bill, a visiting 16-handicapper, also from Canada. Bill, who had not played in four months, shot more than 100—“a horrible number,” he remarked—after his first round at Cable Beach.
Contributing to Bill’s high score were the course’s many hazards. Water comes into play on 14 of the 18 holes, including three of the four par threes. Neil, a long hitter and an expert player, had no trouble shooting one over par, although for him that wasn’t a great score.
Lewis says his picturesque course is not especially long and not really tough, as long as the player doesn’t automatically pull out the driver on every par four or five.
Improve the short game
Neil, along with almost every teaching pro, advises beginners and long handicappers to spend more time learning and practising the short game—wedge and sand shots along with chipping and putting.
These are easier to master than full shots, he says: “Anyone can learn the basics of the little shots, and knowing how to execute them is the quickest way to lower your scores.”
He explains that this makes sense when you consider that sand shots, chips and putts account for 50 shots or more of an amateur golfer’s total score. “Chances are you will put your ball on the green only four or five times a round—if that. On the other 12 or 14 holes you will have to use one of those ‘little shots’ to get on the green.”
He explains that the more often a golfer can get up and down in two shots, rather than three or four, the sooner he or she will turn in lower scores.
Another recommendation for golfers fresh off the plane is to do some stretching exercises before every round. Stretching your neck, bending from the waist and rotating your arms, shoulders and chest is not only good for your swing, it reduces the risk of injury, says Lewis.
Of course it’s always good advice to hit the range before going out on one of the island’s beautiful courses.
Beautiful courses to play
Cable Beach, the first full golf course built in The Bahamas, was originally designed in 1928 by the late, well-known Emmet Devereaux. But it has been redone several times since then, most recently by Fred Settle Jr of Florida in 2003. It is now a par-71 layout of 6,453 yds from the blue tees.
Another course open to players is the new Blue Shark Golf Course, a par-71, 7,000-yd course designed by PGA star Greg Norman, the “Great White Shark” himself. This course, which opened in 2008, features large, challenging greens, two blue holes and the ruins of stone houses that were part of a plantation called The Promised Land.
Ocean Club, on Paradise Island, is a 7,159-yd, par-72 course originally designed by another former touring pro, Tom Weiskopf. This course is reserved for members and guests at Atlantis properties including the One&Only Ocean Club and Comfort Suites.
Rounding out golf on New Providence is Lyford Cay, a private community developed in the 1950s. Play is restricted to club members. Among its star-studded list of members is retired actor Sean Connery, who lives in the gated community.
Another course, under construction at press time, is at Albany—an exclusive new development by the Tavistock Group, in association with two top professional golfers. It’s being designed and built by Ernie Els. Tiger Woods, the world’s reigning number-one golfer, is also a partner.
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