Johnny Miller’s best tip for never losing a tee shot out of bounds

Golf instruction is ever-evolving, but the best advice stands the test of time. In GOLF.com’s new series, Timeless Tips, we’re highlighting some of the greatest advice teachers and players have dispensed in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today we look back to our September 1983 issue when Johnny Miller shared some brilliant advice on keeping your tee shots in play.

One of the biggest separators between low handicaps and high handicaps is the ability to eliminate penalty strokes. These wayward shots that result in penalty strokes lead to blow-up holes — and a post-round recap filled with “what-ifs.”

When you can eliminate these big numbers, posting a low score becomes much easier. No longer do you have to be perfect to make up for the blow-up holes. Instead, you can afford to make a few (smaller) mistakes and still post a solid round.

Doing this doesn’t require you to be perfect off the tee. Rather, you just need to eliminate the big miss that goes out of bounds. For more on that, we turn the pages of GOLF Magazine back to our September 1983 issue when Johnny Miller gave his advice for keeping the ball in play.

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Johnny Miller’s driving advice

You’re facing a difficult situation in which you must hit a shot that GOLF Magazine’s survey confirms as “the most feared” by the amateur golfer. There’s severe trouble — water or out of bounds — to the left and/or right of your landing area. What should you do?

As a general rule, the best tack is to go with your strongest shot, whether a low slice or a duck hook. Don’t worry about the aesthetics of it, just aim away from the trouble and get the ball in the fairway.

Second, when targeting a shot like this, don’t try to pick an exact spot for the ball to finish — trying to be too precise can cause a swing problem. Instead, try something that fellow Tour pro Mike Reid told me: Look at all the leeway you’ve got. Note the size of the area in which the ball can finish safely; now focus on that entire area. You’ll be far more relaxed.

hirdly, in the case of OB, you should think of keeping the ball as low as possible. In the air spells danger, on the ground spells safety. A high, floating shot can result in big trouble when it touches down. So use a low tee. Remember, low balls usually don’t go far off line.

Obviously, there are times when you’re uncomfortable resorting to your strongest shot. If the trouble is on the left, and your best shot is a slice, you may have to start the ball heading toward the markers to come back into the fairway. That’s why eventually one must learn to move the ball both ways.

There are two schools of thought with regard to the strategy in a situation with OB or water on one side or the other. The first school says to start the ball at the trouble and work away from it. The second says to start it away and work the ball back toward the trouble. I subscribe to this second method, as does Jack Nicklaus.

When you step to the tee with water on the right and hit the ball at the hazard, drawing it back into the fairway, there are four possibilities, two of them leaving you with a penalty shot.

1. You can pull off the shot exactly as planned. 
2. You can hook the ball too much.
3. You can hit the ball straight. 
4. You can slice the ball into the drink.

But if you follow my method, I think the percentages are in your favor.

My method

Address the ball on the right side of the tee, start the shot well left of the water, fading it back. Then the four possibilities look like this: 

1. The shot comes planned. 
2. You hit the ball straight. 
3. You hook the ball. 
4. You slice the ball too much and it finds water. 

Only the last of these results in a penalty stroke.

When trying to fade the ball in a situation such as this, tee it up lower than usual; this encourages the tendency to swing from out-to-in. When faced with the necessity to hit this left-to-right shot, I’ve even gone to the point of putting the ball on the ground with the driver, just to guarantee the low slice. Now take your stance a little farther from the ball than usual. Although this encourages a pull of sorts, it is insurance against starting the ball too far right.

Shorten your backswing slightly and take the hands out of the action almost completely. To do this, grip a little tighter than usual, especially with the left hand. This firmness will result in the handle beating the clubhead back to the ball, which translates into an open clubface at impact.

To aid the draw (trouble on the left), tee the ball a little higher than usual, encouraging a full, free swing. Hold the club a bit lighter than usual, so you can release the hands easily, slightly closing the clubface through impact.

Again, your distance from the ball can make a difference. In this case, stand a little closer to the ball. From this position, it’s almost impossible to pull the ball. In fact, more often than not you’ll push the ball.