Risk And Reward

I drove my kids crazy with my mantra of Risk and Reward. The law of nature is Risk and Reward… it’s reality in a nutshell.

But the odds don’t always pan out. As we know, life isn’t fair. However, playing the odds is better than just being reckless. Reckless is taking risks for the thrill – not the reward. Yet, by never taking a risk, it’s pretty tough to get much of a reward.

Golf is a game of Risk and Reward. And I don’t mean just playing a golf course the way the architect designed it – it also means knowing your own strengths and weaknesses. Maybe it’s less risky for you to use a driver on a short, narrow par 4 than using a fairway wood because you’re actually more accurate with a driver.

So, no matter how well or poorly a golf course is designed, how you choose to play each shot is determined by your own sense of Risk and Reward. I prefer golf courses where the risk-reward ratio makes sense. And I don’t enjoy courses that penalize good shots or don’t even provide a choice. Do you get a kick out of blind-shots, or misleading sight lines? How is that fun? Years ago at a course in Palm Springs, I hit my tee shot over a hill in the fairway and… it was in the water. Har-har. That Pete Dye is a funny guy. This was a resort course. Not a member course where players would know about the water. Was this Risk and Reward? No – this was Pete Dye acting like the Devil who gives you lung cancer and you never smoked.

Obviously, life can be random and unfair. But, that’s not a reason for a golf architect to be random and unfair.

Some great courses designed by geniuses are ruined by tricked-up conditions. The U.S. Open was an example of such insanity. Those greens were not designed to be that slick. I think that we all know how a ball should naturally roll out. Some greens are too slow and the putt stops rolling too soon. Some greens are too fast and ball just keeps on going. Some courses don’t have enough money or common sense to keep their greens at a decent speed. But why do some courses make their greens as fast as a linoleum floor? To prove they have enough money to have greens on the edge of death and still survive? Or to punish the new player who 4 putts every hole?

Back to Risk and Reward. There should be Risk and Reward on the greens. You should be rewarded for leaving your shot on the correct area of the green. And you should have a harder putt if you leave your shot on the wrong part of the green. I recently played a course that had a green about a yard behind a pond. And in the middle of the green it had a huge hump – almost like a hill. The day that I played, they had the pin between the water and the hill… and the wind was at our back. My shot landed in the middle of the green and went over the hill. So I then had to putt back over the hill to the hole… and I was afraid that my ball would roll into the water. I guess that I screwed-up… I should’ve landed my shot a foot past the water to keep it between the hump and the water – real easy shot – especially with the wind at your back.

Maybe some people like that kind of golf – but I don’t. Here’s a ridiculous story (but true). About 20 years ago, I played the TPC Stadium Course at Sawgrass – the famous course with island par 3. I got paired up with strangers, and one guy said that it was his favorite course and that he played it whenever he was in the area. He then proceeded to show me all of the balls he brought to get through his round. He didn’t open the normal little zipper for balls – he unzipped the huge pocket that is used for jackets… it was full of golf balls. Seriously. The story gets worse. He had to refill the pocket after the front nine. Wow.

Risk and Reward was not a concept that he valued when it came to golf. I guess for him the reward was to play a famous course that he could watch on TV and tell everyone that he plays it. Not sure that “plays it” is accurate… more like “sacrifices balls to the water gods.”

Here’s another Florida golf story. One year at the PGA Golf Show in Orlando, four of us got away and played golf. None of us were TOUR players, but no one was worse than a 3 handicap. We played off the white tees. The young guys in front of us, and behind us played off the black tees. They hit the ball all over the park. It was mind-boggling. But, they “had to play the whole golf course”.

Maybe some people don’t care about reality. If so, Risk and Reward is meaningless. But, if you like to live in reality, and take control of your life. Risk and Reward is a pretty important concept.