Page 18 - Westchester Magazine - 2020 Golf Guide

BRAINGAME | Best 18 Holes WhereWe Play
Brain
the
Game
Physical prowess doesn’t guarantee success in golf. You have to outwit the course to win. By Dave Donelson
Saint Andrew's Golf Club, Hole 2
Golf is the most mental of all sports.
Sure, there are strategic and tactical decisions made all the time in football, baseball, and hockey, but success in those games depends heavily on split-second moves made in almost automatic response to an opponent’s play. In golf, we stop and ponder every single move. We reflect. We think... about the wind, the grass, the distance, the humidity, the curve of the Earth and the direction of the sun. And our stance, our grip, our backswing, pos- ture, pronation, dominant eye, clubhead path, angle of descent, ascent, and repose. We visu- alize what we hope our ball will do and try to answer a hundred questions before honing them down to a single swing thought.
We play the game in our heads but com- pete on the golf course, where every hole is a strategic challenge. Our composite course for 2020 includes some of the best mental tests of golf in Westchester. The 18 holes make up a course measuring 6,673 yards, par 72, which sounds pretty short and easy. Every hole, though, is like a chess problem with a dozen solutions. To help us find the answers, we asked the pros how they would think their way around our course.
1
Hole 2 • 325 yards • par 4
Head pro Greg Bisconti immediately identi- fied the second hole at St. Andrew’s as a good hole that requires thought. “Although it’s a short par 4 that is potentially reachable off the tee, you have to decide if it is worth the
Saint Andrew’s Golf Club
16 GOLF 2020 www.westchestermagazine.com Photos by John Fortunato