Part V: Managing Yourself And Your Game
Lesson #96: Don't Be A Sucker

I'm an aggressive golfer, I like to take chances. But I'm not a fool. There are certain shots I do not try. I don't go for sucker pins.

A sucker pin is a flagstick that is positioned perilously close to a bunker, a water hazard, out of bounds, a steep drop-off, or any area of extremely heavy rough. Pins cut in the spurs of greens or on the ledge of a two-tiered green are also sucker pins. If you have a fade or slice, then any pin on the left side of a green is a sucker. The opposite is true if you draw the ball - the sucker position is any pin cut near the right edge of the green.

Going for these pins is foolish because if you miss them by a little, you can put yourself into major trouble. The risk far outweighs the reward. Make note of the sucker pins on your home course, and when you come to one, give it a wide berth. Sometimes that may even mean laying up short, of the green, but you shouldn't be ashamed to do it. Ben Hogan, the most accurate ball-striker of his time, was famous for such strategy.

Illustration by Jim McQueen

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