Introduction
All golfers hit terrible golf shots. Bobby Jones used to throw a fit after hitting a terrible shot. Jordan Spieth is different story and one you can learn from.
On Sunday at the 146th British Open (The “Open), Spieth tripped over himself time and time again in the early going. Bogeying one, missing a makeable birdie putt at two, bogeying three and four, he looked nervous, was moving in a quick and erratic manner over putts, and seemed destined to give the tournament to Matt Kuchar.
Matt had other thoughts. After catching up two shots on one and two and Spieth missing the green on three, Kuchar has 134 to a front right pin near a bunker and took out a pitching wedge with a great chance for birdie and either a share of the lead or the outright lead if Spieth made bogey. Either he was too greedy going for the flag with a left to right wind, or hit a very poor shot, or both, and hit it into the bunker to make bogey. However, due to Spieth having his own mishaps, Kuchar was tied with Spieth with six holes to play.
At thirteen it looked like advantage Kuchar. Although he hit his tee shot into the right rough, he hit a great shot just rolling past the pin with a chance Spieth, who had been hitting three woods/metals and hybrids of many of the tees on Sunday took out a driver and hit it so far right, probably 100 yards right of his target, that it looked like his tee shot on 13 at Royal Birkdale would have the same result for him as his tee shot at twelve at the Masters when he had the lead and dunked it in the water to lose the tournament.
However, when Spieth finally found his ball and had no shot for the green, he took over mentally, physically, emotionally, and played perfect golf, maybe better than perfect golf, for the last five and one-half holes at Royal Birkdale.
First, he declared an unplayable lie which let him move his ball back as far as he wanted in a “line of sight” with the pin. This put him in the driving range, which meant a good lie. He hit up near the green, hit a great chip and drained a tricky putt for bogey. Although he was one down to Kuchar after the hole, he knew he was playing perfectly after hitting that awful drive to the right on thirteen.
Then, hitting after Kuchar on fourteen, he almost makes a hole in one on the 200 yard par three and drains the birdie putt to be tied with Kuchar. Then on the par five fifteenth, he hit a perfect drive, a perfect three wood from 259 to the front part of the green 48 feet away from the hole. He made that tricky 48 foot putt for eagle, and I believe he knew he would make it. Kuchar would not wilt as he made a four footer for birdie having hit his second shot into a deep bunker. But he is now one stroke behind Spieth with three to play.
Spieth, after birdie eagle on fourteen and fifteen, and before that a miracle bogey on thirteen, has all of the momentum of someone who has hit eight perfect golf shots in a row following a terrible golf shot. Then he birdies sixteen and seventeen, (with a long tough putt on 16 and a short, knee knocker on 17), and although Kuchar, to his great credit, birdies seventeen, Spieth is now two up with one hole to play. Game over. Spieth pars eighteen, Kuchar bogeys the hole, and at the end Spieth wins by three, the same number of strokes he was ahead by at the beginning of the round. Ho hum, Spieth and Kuchar both shoot 69 in the final round. No way. Not only excitement, but a world class golf lesson (and life lesson) was delivered by Spieth for all those who watched it.
How Did Spieth Do It?
Not discounting for one minute his great (in my opinion best in the world now) golf skills and putting skills (which were very shaky early in the round), here is what Jordan Spieth did.
He hit a terrible, terrible golf shot. When he got to the ball he focused on the solution, the next shot and he took advantage of the golf rules to take a one shot penalty (unplayable lie) and move his ball forty or so yards away from where it was sitting to give him a reasonable chance of a bogey.
He realized that what comes after a terrible golf shot is a great shot, if you are (or want to be) a great golfer. Just think of the person who grunts and moans after a bad shot, has a terrible attitude, even a temper, and follows a terrible shot with a bad shot. What I now call “The Spieth Birkdale Rule” is this: Realize immediately that after hitting a terrible shot you have an opportunity to hit a great shot and as Jordan Spieth did, hit seventeen great shots in a row.
Conclusion
The beauty of golf is the lessons, the life lessons, that it teaches. We are not perfect. We all hit a terrible golf shot from time to time. Spieth’s tee shot on thirteen was probably one of the worst shots he has hit in years.
But golf is a game of second and third chances. After you hit a terrible shot, set your goal to hit a terrific shot. Now you have to beware of that famous quote by Tom Kite who says, “A double bogey is a bad shot followed by a stupid shot.” So, after a terrible shot, don’t take a super big risk as two terrible shots in a row are much more difficult to recover from than one terrible shot in a row.
So, before you get mad, before you get angry, before you beat yourself up over a bad shot, remember, now that you have hit this terrible shot, you have an opportunity to hit a great shot, and a series of great shots that you did not have before you hit this terrible shot.
Realizing this may not win you the British Open, but it will transform you into being eager to hit a great shot (and very likely a challenging shot or putt) after you hit a terrible shot or putt. You won’t always come through, but this attitude will improve your chances significantly.
Finally, what did Spieth do after he hit his shot towards the green after his terrible tee shot? He ran up the hill, he engaged his mind and his body, and he shook off not only the nerves and tightness that afflicted him on the thirteen tee, but had been hampering him throughout the entire round (with the exception of a great birdie on five) on Sunday at the Open. In essence, Spieth ran up the hill, got energized, and became in that instant the great player we all know him to be.
Spieth actually hit 19 perfect golf shots in a row to close out the 146th British Open. If you count the way he took a brilliant penalty stroke on thirteen as a “shot,” he had twenty perfect golf shots in a row after his terrible tee shot. One bad shot, a terrible shot, led to 20 terrific golf shots. So there you have it. What do you do after you hit a terrible golf shot. You regroup and hit 19 terrific golf shots in a row, or as many as you can. Easy to say, hard to do.
So, when you hit that terrible shot, the choice is clear: react negatively or stop thinking about the last shot you hit, start planning the next shot you are about to hit, and execute a great next shot. After that, keep hitting terrific golf shots, and continue to hit great shots until you win your match, shoot your best round, and realize the Spieth Birkdale rule is now your number one rule in golf.
About the Author
Herb Rubenstein is the Executive Director of the Brooklyn Golf Alliance and a four handicapper. He is also President of Herb Rubenstein Consulting, a consulting firm to businesses and has its headquarters in Brooklyn, NY. He is a lecturer in the Global Energy Management Program of the University of Colorado Denver’s graduate school of business, where he teaches Strategic Management. He is the co-author of Breakthrough, Inc.: High Growth Strategies for Entrepreneurial Organizations (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 1999) and Leadership Development for Educators (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009), and the author of Leadership for Lawyers, 2d. (American Bar Association, 2008), plus over 100 articles on business strategy, entrepreneurship, leadership, and improving how organizations function and deliver value.
He has his law degree from Georgetown University, his Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs of the University of Texas at Austin, a graduate degree in sociology from the University of Bristol in Bristol, England and was a Phi Beta Kappa/Omicron Delta Kappa graduate from Washington and Lee University in 1974. His email address is herb@sbizgroup.com and he can be reached at (303) 910-7961. Photo Credit: Dawn Mercer, PGA, Director of Instruction, Innisbrook Spa and Golf Resort, Tampa, Florida.