Justin Thomas, his yardage figured out, now goes to work.
His lie? Mostly flat. “So that makes a big difference in my comfort level of being able to get this there,” he said.
What about the green’s slope around the pin? He learned it worked from left to right. A target was next. “That tree about 4.5 metres left of the hole,” he said, “kind of maybe like pinch one off that and just try to get it working down towards [the flag].”
And trajectory? To a flag 134 yards away, guarded by a front-right bunker and with about a 10 mph wind, Thomas had a thought. “From this distance, it would definitely be a trajectory thing again,” he said. “If I can keep this 9-iron pretty much apexing at the top of those clouds, it would be about a high 40s shot to where it would be able to clear [the bunker].”
Would Thomas take any speed off? He said he wouldn’t, but that was a personal choice.
“Yeah, I try to keep my speed through the ball pretty consistent,” he said. “It’s more about how far I’m taking it back, probably. I don’t know why. It’s just always been—I don’t have a clock system or anything. I just try to feel basically what’s the shortest distance I can take it back to get it that distance. It’s a weird way to think about it, but it’s just—I don’t know why. My dad doesn’t even remember telling me that, but growing up, it was like just to keep my acceleration consistent through the ball. Theoretically, it does change, but it doesn’t feel any different to me.”
From there, in the recently released video from Titleist, Thomas hit, and his ball finished about 4.5 metres from the hole.
At the very least, the process was mesmerising. In the video, Thomas was deliberate in his explanation, but at game time, he’ll process his information in about two minutes, if not faster.
But for amateur players, there were a couple of takeaways.
The first came from Andy Proudman, who is part of the Me and My Golf instruction team along with Piers Ward, and they were the hosts of the video. Proudman compared the Thomas method to the amateur set-up.
“I think the best thing about this, though, and for the viewers, is that the difference with you guys at the top level is you get so clear on exactly ‘I want to start it at the tree,’” he said. “There’s the flight, there’s the window. You’re building that picture in your mind straight away, which then just has so much power in how you move, and the intention is just huge. A lot of amateur golfers don’t have that visual detail. They stand up there, there’s the yardage, and then they just swing.”
Thomas agreed.
But he also thought amateurs could cut several strokes just by looking around.
“The pin’s at the back, and if you’re between clubs, hit less club,” Thomas said in the video. “If there’s trouble short, hit more club.
“That could be the easiest way for them to save five to ten strokes a round. They should be thinking about little things like, yeah, OK, there’s a lot of trouble right, I hit it right quite often, the wind’s off the left—I’m going to aim a little farther left. It’s little things like that that could be helpful to anybody.”
Is five to ten shots hyperbolic? Perhaps. Then again, if you’re a player who aims at flags—and solely at flags—the tip is valuable.
As they spoke, Thomas went back to work on another shot.
To watch the complete Titleist video with Thomas, please click here.
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