I recently played golf with the talented TV commentator and communications consultant Genelle Aldred at Walton Heath Golf Club. It was a windy day and Genelle was really struggling with her woods. As she was striking her irons like a pro, I questioned why she didn’t just try to keep the ball in play by using irons only off the tee, because short and straight seemed like a much better outcome than being out of the hole straight away courtesy of a disastrous lost tee shot into the rough.
Genelle, quite rightly, pointed out that if she adopted this very ‘safe’ strategy in our fun fourball, she would never get to work on the part of her game that needs the most improvement - her driving. She saw the suggestion as very defeatist and decided to persevere with her woods regardless of how many balls she would lose, because it was just a friendly game. On reflection, her approach does make a lot of sense, but it's one I rarely see other women adopt. The majority I play with simply give up trying to use the clubs they can’t hit.
