Prevailing wind W
You have only tracked anti-clockwise a few degrees as you head for the second tee but it is enough to alter the wind vector: you now have the 'usual' wind more or less at your back and given that you are almost certainly going to recommend a driving club for the tee shot, some cause and effect will need to be considered.
Based on the first hole, it's definitely too early to discern your golfer's natural or preferred shot-shape, but a good caddie can always venture the question at this stage because the answer will help to determine the outcome of the tee-shot by suggestion, intent or dare I say, good fortune. It's better to be armed with as much factual data as possible: remember that your golfer's confidence will be bolstered by your caddie viewpoint of the shot, especially if you match around 75% or more of his expectations on the shot. Of course you need to factor this undocumented equation against his handicap or perception of overall ability. If you're working for a 22 handicap weekend golfer from a nice country club resort somewhere, you can apply some fuzzy outline to the shot criteria and hope it works out. Ironically, this model does work from time to time and the benefits are really welcome: Your golfer has achieved something worthwhile, he's renewed his faith in his own ability, he's entrusted some faith in YOUR ability, and you, as the caddie, have justified your claim to know what you're talking about. If you're working for a top amateur playing off +3, or a tour professional with verified ranking points, then you can of course forget all of the above.
Such are the extremes of a caddie's supposed wisdom. But again, a good caddie will know how to adjust his counsel-giving on the mythical knowledge slider. Older caddies would be more comfortable substituting 'rheostat' for 'slider'. So, tee-shot on the second: it's around 243 yards to the 3 bunkers guarding the centre of the fairway from the championship tee,(blue), with a carry distance of around 259 yards. The red tee, (members/accomplished visitors), is measuring around 57 yards less, thus equating to 186 yards reach, and 202 yards carry. Now we need to extrapolate for the wind and combine the figures with a non-equitable value for our golfer's driving ability. We are less than 2 holes in, and we have discovered that there is no calculator, ready-reckoner, or nth generation 'app' that can help us recommend an optimum shot. We are flying something with a hitherto-unknown co-pilot where the flaps, ailerons, rudder, and propulsion unit are as yet non-conformed. It's had many excursions, and it's still in one piece apparently, but the black-box flight recorder hasn't been invented yet. Such is the burden of the caddie's pre-requisite ability to improvise...appropriately, winging it seems to fit the process. On this hole, you can only offer one positive recommendation for the tee-shot: it's a driver or 3 wood straight over the trio of fairway bunkers, aiming to carry them cleanly, and leaving a mid-to-long iron to the green. Usual wind assistance will make this shot viable and any placement to the far right of the fairway will open up the green through a bunker protected opening that cants midway between the fairway and the boundary to the right. The converse, and often the norm for average golfers, is to aim left of the 3 fairway traps, possibly daunted by the sand and/or the OB railway fence. I would opine that a good caddie should encourage the former shot example, the tiger line over the traps.( We were using the term 'tiger' in the sixties and I'm sure before that, to denote the booming, optimistic, positive line for any golf shot ). It was appropriate then and still is today, although perhaps for different reasons. If your golfer DOES drive left of the 3 bunkers, whether it skitters out to 190 yards, or booms out to 270 yards and counting, he's immediately placed himself in difficulty. The margin of open fairway between the hazards at the 200 yard mark and the semi-rough is only about 15 yards, and as such should not be considered as a realistic landing point. If the shot has strayed further left than this, regardless of forward distance, a poor lie is almost certainly guaranteed.
In fact, I have seen many a ball lost in this supposedly harmless patch. Sometimes your best and luckiest bet is that your ball has run out onto a relatively clear area formed by the nexus of the 18th tee, 16th tee, and the rear of the 17th green. Even then, the odds are stacked against you because the course schematics you may have studied beforehand did not accurately portray the real nature or challenge of this hole. If you took a virtual helicopter ride, and scanned an approximate line-of-sight view from your location near the 18th tee say, you would notice bunkers around 120 yards from you in line with the green, together with another around 70 yards further, again along the same flight-path. Should you be unfortunate enough to block your second shot from here in an attempt to steer away from the traps, there is a grassy, rough mound across from the further bunker, close to the OB fence. Unless you're very fortunate, all these hazards are very much in play, simply because you will have a very poor lie. In fact, the right hand side mound may well be off-limits for you because the nature of your lie would heavily determine your shot outcome right there: a tangled mass of binding grass around the hosel of your 5 iron resulting in a smothered, closed-face shot that will flirt closely with the dense bushes sited just left and beyond the further left-hand bunker. Even if that second shot has carried the further bunker, there is a worthwhile sandy cousin guarding the green at about 7'oclock, usually directly in line with the flag. Meantime, the premium drive down the right opens up the green for something like a 160-190 yard iron shot through a very open gateway to the front apron. Again, the wind has to be factored in. IF we are calculating distances based on a moderate wind speed of 8-12 MPH (gusting), the second shot from optimum position has to be pitched at the front of the green, or perhaps even pre-apron. Accordingly, should the wind be gusting harder, say 15-22MPH and above, it's likely that a good drive will be level or past the left hand fairway bunker at 265 yards red (322 yards blue). Should this be the case, the second shot only measures out at around 140 yards and diminishing with no discernible obstacle between you and the flag.
This scenario now presents a conundrum that a good caddie will choose to discuss with his client, depending on shots already taken and evaluated, perception of mutual ability between golfer and caddie, trust in shot execution and confidence, and establishment of rapport based on a very recent business transaction. Again, a good caddie might choose to avoid venturing into a complex debate on the merits of customised shot-making if he's already detected a measure of apathy with his man, and sometimes it turns out to be the best decision. However, I know from experience that I if I DO NOT attempt to offer some advice, then I would be failing my cause to some extent. After all, he does have choices and a rejection should not be taken personally. I always place myself in my client's shoes: example - I've travelled 4000 miles and gambled with lost-luggage, poor public transport, mediocre food, and a sub-standard service industry ( I may not even speak English as a first language). I am looking forward to playing Royal Lytham, a personal pilgrimage after years of promises and stories from my clubhouse cronies. Despite the jet-lag and the rain, and the exorbitant green-fees at the other North-West links courses, I'm playing the golf of my life and I'm looking at a 120 yard approach shot to the second green at Royal Lytham with an 18MPH wind behind me and my caddy is trying to sell me a punched, firm-wristed 7 iron, low pitched into the apron with some check-spin on the second hop, dying softly towards the flag on a left-to-right 9 yard run-out on a green barely 36 yards long and only around 25 yards narrow. My speculative gesture towards my 58 degree spin-milled vokey wedge appears to have fallen on stoney ground.... Back with my caddie persona intact, I can fully understand my client's dilemma: he knows that you are acting in good faith and he already trusts your instincts ( which means that you are conveying the best kind of reassurance), and this bodes well. However, you're asking him to step out of his comfort zone, and attempt to play a shot he's only ever read about in a golf magazine. This is right up on the apex of the caddie skillset: if you can convince him completely, and you have the ability to teach him the shot and it works, then you're golden. A good caddie knows if he can take that leap of faith, but he will dismiss the gamble if he has doubts about his ability to convey the necessary confidence. The entire backbone, the core of caddie-player interraction is the instinctive gift to employ extraordinary people skills without conscious variation of effort.
Away from the philosophy, we now have the holing-out ritual. Technically, the front bunker at 7'oclock has only really trapped a poor second or third shot originating from a misguided left-hand biased drive. The 2 right-hand bunkers at between 2'oclock and 3:30 should not really be in-play unless someone has hit a flyer out of the left-hand rough, or an unfortunate push or block has crept into the second shot following a good right-hand side drive. Caddie mantra here: This second green is fairly flat and it will run out quickly through the back in dry conditions. The pin is more often than not placed mid-to-rear left...which means that the schematic you looked at earlier becomes even more important: you have to play this hole as a mild right-to-left dogleg if you want to score par or better. I have rarely seen par or birdie when the tee shot strays left. Have faith in playing as far right as you can. If the wind is blowing above 15MPH, the bunker at 265 red(322 blue), is in-play for most accomplished players: a 2 or 3 iron off the tee might be the wise option. Any fairway bunker at Royal Lytham will invariably add a shot that you can ill afford from what was marginally a decent drive. Risk management again becomes a major factor. There is, as always on this coast, a slim to medium chance that the tides and weather system will behave out of character and totally reverse the wind direction. It's usually primarily in the WEST-NORTH-WEST quadrant, switching 6-7% of the time to the total opposite, namely EAST-SOUTH-EAST. In the retentive and precise world of the caddie, it's always a welcome event when the wind changes just as you reach the turn...you've carrried, advised, paced, and stressed for 9 holes with your golfer, knowing that apart from a couple of crosswind holes, you've had the wind at your back. It's tested your clubbing and reading skills but it's benign on the legs and lungs. Then, you start scanning the saddleback halfway up the 10TH fairway and realise that the wind is not ripping into your face. It's changed magically, your legs are thankful, and the walk back in becomes welcome. The eternal problem is that you have to be ready to modify your usual advice regarding prevailing winds and their swift changes of direction, often within just a 10 minute time window. And that's why the second at Royal Lytham, amongst others, changes character when the wind ad-libs: I have worked with top amateurs and professionals alike who have reached for the driver on this hole knowing full well that the 3 bunkers at 243 yards are unreachable when the wind pinnacles over that 25MPH mark.
The remainder of the front 9 now becomes a whole new proposition. At this stage, we haven't discussed the effect of the wind-shear on putting. Stroke index 5 - I would concur 85%.
Based on the first hole, it's definitely too early to discern your golfer's natural or preferred shot-shape, but a good caddie can always venture the question at this stage because the answer will help to determine the outcome of the tee-shot by suggestion, intent or dare I say, good fortune. It's better to be armed with as much factual data as possible: remember that your golfer's confidence will be bolstered by your caddie viewpoint of the shot, especially if you match around 75% or more of his expectations on the shot. Of course you need to factor this undocumented equation against his handicap or perception of overall ability. If you're working for a 22 handicap weekend golfer from a nice country club resort somewhere, you can apply some fuzzy outline to the shot criteria and hope it works out. Ironically, this model does work from time to time and the benefits are really welcome: Your golfer has achieved something worthwhile, he's renewed his faith in his own ability, he's entrusted some faith in YOUR ability, and you, as the caddie, have justified your claim to know what you're talking about. If you're working for a top amateur playing off +3, or a tour professional with verified ranking points, then you can of course forget all of the above.
Such are the extremes of a caddie's supposed wisdom. But again, a good caddie will know how to adjust his counsel-giving on the mythical knowledge slider. Older caddies would be more comfortable substituting 'rheostat' for 'slider'. So, tee-shot on the second: it's around 243 yards to the 3 bunkers guarding the centre of the fairway from the championship tee,(blue), with a carry distance of around 259 yards. The red tee, (members/accomplished visitors), is measuring around 57 yards less, thus equating to 186 yards reach, and 202 yards carry. Now we need to extrapolate for the wind and combine the figures with a non-equitable value for our golfer's driving ability. We are less than 2 holes in, and we have discovered that there is no calculator, ready-reckoner, or nth generation 'app' that can help us recommend an optimum shot. We are flying something with a hitherto-unknown co-pilot where the flaps, ailerons, rudder, and propulsion unit are as yet non-conformed. It's had many excursions, and it's still in one piece apparently, but the black-box flight recorder hasn't been invented yet. Such is the burden of the caddie's pre-requisite ability to improvise...appropriately, winging it seems to fit the process. On this hole, you can only offer one positive recommendation for the tee-shot: it's a driver or 3 wood straight over the trio of fairway bunkers, aiming to carry them cleanly, and leaving a mid-to-long iron to the green. Usual wind assistance will make this shot viable and any placement to the far right of the fairway will open up the green through a bunker protected opening that cants midway between the fairway and the boundary to the right. The converse, and often the norm for average golfers, is to aim left of the 3 fairway traps, possibly daunted by the sand and/or the OB railway fence. I would opine that a good caddie should encourage the former shot example, the tiger line over the traps.( We were using the term 'tiger' in the sixties and I'm sure before that, to denote the booming, optimistic, positive line for any golf shot ). It was appropriate then and still is today, although perhaps for different reasons. If your golfer DOES drive left of the 3 bunkers, whether it skitters out to 190 yards, or booms out to 270 yards and counting, he's immediately placed himself in difficulty. The margin of open fairway between the hazards at the 200 yard mark and the semi-rough is only about 15 yards, and as such should not be considered as a realistic landing point. If the shot has strayed further left than this, regardless of forward distance, a poor lie is almost certainly guaranteed.
In fact, I have seen many a ball lost in this supposedly harmless patch. Sometimes your best and luckiest bet is that your ball has run out onto a relatively clear area formed by the nexus of the 18th tee, 16th tee, and the rear of the 17th green. Even then, the odds are stacked against you because the course schematics you may have studied beforehand did not accurately portray the real nature or challenge of this hole. If you took a virtual helicopter ride, and scanned an approximate line-of-sight view from your location near the 18th tee say, you would notice bunkers around 120 yards from you in line with the green, together with another around 70 yards further, again along the same flight-path. Should you be unfortunate enough to block your second shot from here in an attempt to steer away from the traps, there is a grassy, rough mound across from the further bunker, close to the OB fence. Unless you're very fortunate, all these hazards are very much in play, simply because you will have a very poor lie. In fact, the right hand side mound may well be off-limits for you because the nature of your lie would heavily determine your shot outcome right there: a tangled mass of binding grass around the hosel of your 5 iron resulting in a smothered, closed-face shot that will flirt closely with the dense bushes sited just left and beyond the further left-hand bunker. Even if that second shot has carried the further bunker, there is a worthwhile sandy cousin guarding the green at about 7'oclock, usually directly in line with the flag. Meantime, the premium drive down the right opens up the green for something like a 160-190 yard iron shot through a very open gateway to the front apron. Again, the wind has to be factored in. IF we are calculating distances based on a moderate wind speed of 8-12 MPH (gusting), the second shot from optimum position has to be pitched at the front of the green, or perhaps even pre-apron. Accordingly, should the wind be gusting harder, say 15-22MPH and above, it's likely that a good drive will be level or past the left hand fairway bunker at 265 yards red (322 yards blue). Should this be the case, the second shot only measures out at around 140 yards and diminishing with no discernible obstacle between you and the flag.
This scenario now presents a conundrum that a good caddie will choose to discuss with his client, depending on shots already taken and evaluated, perception of mutual ability between golfer and caddie, trust in shot execution and confidence, and establishment of rapport based on a very recent business transaction. Again, a good caddie might choose to avoid venturing into a complex debate on the merits of customised shot-making if he's already detected a measure of apathy with his man, and sometimes it turns out to be the best decision. However, I know from experience that I if I DO NOT attempt to offer some advice, then I would be failing my cause to some extent. After all, he does have choices and a rejection should not be taken personally. I always place myself in my client's shoes: example - I've travelled 4000 miles and gambled with lost-luggage, poor public transport, mediocre food, and a sub-standard service industry ( I may not even speak English as a first language). I am looking forward to playing Royal Lytham, a personal pilgrimage after years of promises and stories from my clubhouse cronies. Despite the jet-lag and the rain, and the exorbitant green-fees at the other North-West links courses, I'm playing the golf of my life and I'm looking at a 120 yard approach shot to the second green at Royal Lytham with an 18MPH wind behind me and my caddy is trying to sell me a punched, firm-wristed 7 iron, low pitched into the apron with some check-spin on the second hop, dying softly towards the flag on a left-to-right 9 yard run-out on a green barely 36 yards long and only around 25 yards narrow. My speculative gesture towards my 58 degree spin-milled vokey wedge appears to have fallen on stoney ground.... Back with my caddie persona intact, I can fully understand my client's dilemma: he knows that you are acting in good faith and he already trusts your instincts ( which means that you are conveying the best kind of reassurance), and this bodes well. However, you're asking him to step out of his comfort zone, and attempt to play a shot he's only ever read about in a golf magazine. This is right up on the apex of the caddie skillset: if you can convince him completely, and you have the ability to teach him the shot and it works, then you're golden. A good caddie knows if he can take that leap of faith, but he will dismiss the gamble if he has doubts about his ability to convey the necessary confidence. The entire backbone, the core of caddie-player interraction is the instinctive gift to employ extraordinary people skills without conscious variation of effort.
Away from the philosophy, we now have the holing-out ritual. Technically, the front bunker at 7'oclock has only really trapped a poor second or third shot originating from a misguided left-hand biased drive. The 2 right-hand bunkers at between 2'oclock and 3:30 should not really be in-play unless someone has hit a flyer out of the left-hand rough, or an unfortunate push or block has crept into the second shot following a good right-hand side drive. Caddie mantra here: This second green is fairly flat and it will run out quickly through the back in dry conditions. The pin is more often than not placed mid-to-rear left...which means that the schematic you looked at earlier becomes even more important: you have to play this hole as a mild right-to-left dogleg if you want to score par or better. I have rarely seen par or birdie when the tee shot strays left. Have faith in playing as far right as you can. If the wind is blowing above 15MPH, the bunker at 265 red(322 blue), is in-play for most accomplished players: a 2 or 3 iron off the tee might be the wise option. Any fairway bunker at Royal Lytham will invariably add a shot that you can ill afford from what was marginally a decent drive. Risk management again becomes a major factor. There is, as always on this coast, a slim to medium chance that the tides and weather system will behave out of character and totally reverse the wind direction. It's usually primarily in the WEST-NORTH-WEST quadrant, switching 6-7% of the time to the total opposite, namely EAST-SOUTH-EAST. In the retentive and precise world of the caddie, it's always a welcome event when the wind changes just as you reach the turn...you've carrried, advised, paced, and stressed for 9 holes with your golfer, knowing that apart from a couple of crosswind holes, you've had the wind at your back. It's tested your clubbing and reading skills but it's benign on the legs and lungs. Then, you start scanning the saddleback halfway up the 10TH fairway and realise that the wind is not ripping into your face. It's changed magically, your legs are thankful, and the walk back in becomes welcome. The eternal problem is that you have to be ready to modify your usual advice regarding prevailing winds and their swift changes of direction, often within just a 10 minute time window. And that's why the second at Royal Lytham, amongst others, changes character when the wind ad-libs: I have worked with top amateurs and professionals alike who have reached for the driver on this hole knowing full well that the 3 bunkers at 243 yards are unreachable when the wind pinnacles over that 25MPH mark.
The remainder of the front 9 now becomes a whole new proposition. At this stage, we haven't discussed the effect of the wind-shear on putting. Stroke index 5 - I would concur 85%.
