The US Open | What I Learned from Brian Gay

This weekend I was fortunate enough to attend the 111th US Open at Congressional Country Club.  My good friend Kevin lives in Bethesda and was able to score us tickets to the 3rd round.

I've been to live golf events before (the Deutsche Bank Championship, twice), and although professional golf affords you the chance to stand amazingly close to some of the real icons of the game, in general it's somewhat difficult to actually follow the tournament when you're there because so much is happening away from wherever you might be standing.  For that reason I find that more often than not I'd rather watch the events -- and in particular, the final round -- from the comfort of my couch on my plasma screen.

All that being said, seeing the Open was a truly incredible experience.  I give tremendous credit to the USGA for making the event both a real test of golf and a true spectator sport.

I'll give you my impressions of the course and, more importantly, what I took away from the event that is going to help me reach even par below.  If you'd like to see a detailed itinerary of our day at the Open, CLICK HERE.

CONGRESSIONAL COUNTRY CLUB

To put it simply, the course is a beast.  I know the scores didn't reflect that this weekend -- and Rory McIlroy in particular made it look quite tame -- but that is because the conditions could not have been more ideal for golf.  With rain every night and then dry days with no wind whatsoever, the greens were receptive to long irons and hybrids instead of kicking those balls off as we're used to seeing in US Open conditions.

Trust me, it's 7574 yards but plays much longer than that with almost every green elevated, or, in some cases, straight up hill.  The greens, too, are treacherous -- we watched about a dozen or more groups play the 12th green and saw only 2 or 3 one putts; and those were all essentially tap-ins on up and downs after missing the green.  It seemed nobody could correctly read the double break that every angle to the hole presented if the putt was more than 5 or 6 feet.

The course is very nicely routed, with the front 9 somewhat compact and the back 9 a little more spread out.  The green-to-tee distance is essentially zero except between the 9th and 10th, the 11th and 12th and 17th and 18th (all of which require the players to hike a good distance to the next hole, mostly uphill).  Because the holes do generally flow so well it was logistically quite easy as a spectator to essentially walk the whole course.

The USGA set up a number of crossing areas on most of the holes which further facilitated getting around.  It also meant we could stand in the middle of several fairways -- and let me tell you, they are immaculate.  Even the areas that were trampled by the crowds were better than most of the fairways at courses I play.

Even the practice area is impressive, with enough space for about 50-60 people to use the range, a great variety of target flags, and (obviously) pristine grass hitting areas.  And that brings me to...

WHAT I LEARNED FROM BRIAN GAY

Brian Gay is far from the most exciting PGA tour player.  If it wasn't for his typically colorful outfits and the fact that (through a hard to describe series of circumstances) he once left passes for my parents at the Deutsche Bank event, I probably would hardly know he existed.  He's currently the 127th ranked player in the world, ranks dead last in driving distance but first in fairway percentage, and probably gets mistaken for Ian Poulter more than he gets recognized as himself.

Brian Gay

Ian Poulter

I certainly had no intention of studying Brian Gay closely, but when we sat down around lunch time to watch some players on the range he came out and set up shop right in front of us.  There were a number of more fascinating players also out on the range (defending champ Graeme McDowell and number 3 in the world Martin Kaymer come to mind), but the eye is naturally drawn to that which is right in front of you.  That meant we were able to see his entire pre-round routine... and it was so impressive that I'm planning to duplicate it.

Obviously I'm not privy to his thought process, but it seemed fairly evident to both Kevin and I what he was trying to accomplish.  So some of this will be editorializing and assumptions based on what we saw, but I think it's fairly accurate.  Here are the steps:

1. Pick a hitting area that is straight in line with one of the closest target flags.  Set up any alignment tools that you wish to use to keep yourself on line.
2. Warm up and get a feel for the type of crisp contact you want to make by starting with very simple chips or half-shots with a wedge aimed at the target (even if they won't reach that target).
3. Advance to 3/4 wedge shots again aimed at the same target flag, and then full wedge shots, maintaining that same pace and contact feel as from the chip shots.
4. This is most important: as you work through the longer clubs in your bag, don't pick a new target.  Instead, continue to hit balls aimed over the same short flag that you started with.  This creates a mental picture of keeping the ball on line in a narrow scope, like you're hitting the balls through a tube.
5. Work your way up hitting roughly every other club.  Hit 5-6 balls with each, up to and including your driver. 
6. After hitting driver, drop back down to wedges, then 3/4 wedges, then half-wedges/chip shots to again accentuate that straight shot controlled feel.

Gay went through that routine over about 30 minutes, and we saw him hit only 2 balls that were not exactly on line at or over the target flag.  It was incredible, and you can see immediately why he's the most accurate driver on tour.  I'm certainly not planning to change my game and become a bunter like him, but I do think running through this routine regularly will help my mental approach to ball striking and keeping the ball straight.  At least I hope it will.