Instruction blog: Use match play format to improve

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Geoff Ogilvy brought a wealth of head-to-head experience to the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.

With a dominating performance on Sunday, Geoff Ogilvy wins the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship for the second time in the last four years. This win takes Oglivy's extraordinary record to 17-2 in the event, earning him the highest winning percentage in the tournament's history.

Listen to Travis Fulton

PGA TOUR Golf Academy's Travis Fulton breaks down the keys to Geoff Ogilvy's win on the PGA TOUR Network (XM 146, SIRIUS 209). Click to listen

With Tiger Woods eliminated in the second round by Tim Clark, Ogilvy took over the hype with rock-solid play. During Wednesday and Thursday's opening rounds, Ogilvy needed 19 holes to defeat Kevin Sutherland and Shingo Katayama -- reminding us just how difficult it is to move through a match play tournament. On Friday, things got even tougher for Ogilvy as he defeated up-and-coming Camillo Villegas before eliminating 19-year sensation Rory McIIroy. After a hard-fought match with McIlroy in the morning, Ogilvy stepped up his play another notch, eliminating a very good match play opponent in Stewart Cink.

With impressive play all week, Ogilvy still saved his best golf for last on Sunday, when he wore out Paul Casey with great ballstriking and a short game that was just flat-out awesome. This win takes Ogilvy's total for '09 to two. The win also pushed his World Golf Championship titles to three and total PGA TOUR wins to an impressive six.

What You Can Learn
Match play certainly gives great meaning to the old saying, "One shot at a time." With every hole its own mini-match, it seems the great match play competitors are those who can focus intently on the shot at hand.

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Geoff Ogilvy is 17-2 in his last 19 matches at the Accenture Match Play Championship.

I can remember growing up and my parents and golf coach saying, "Travis, remember, take it one shot at a time." Unfortunately, this advice often made its way straight from one ear and out the other, as I struggled -- like Ogilvy at a young age - with my short temper and wandering mind. However, through the years, I have learned the value to this adage and was once again reminded of it by Ogilvy's great play this past weekend.

I would encourage everyone to play more match play. Match play is a great format that allows you to stretch yourself competitively in a number of ways:

1. Course management. In stroke play, course management is very important, as you need to put together a strategy on how to play each hole that best suits your abilities. Match play will call for the same strategies for playing the course, but it will also add another layer of strategy that will need to account for what your opponent is doing on every hole. Paying attention to your personal game plan and to what your opponent is doing encourages you to concentrate on one shot at a time.

2. Patience. Where stroke play rewards consistency, match play has a way of teaching a player to be patient. Often times, we don't get off to a good start on the front nine. In stroke play, it is easy to give up on a round, but in match play, you may only be down a couple of holes. With a good back nine, you can come back and win the match as a result of being patient and not giving up.

3. Dealing with pressure. Ogilvy made a great comment about how he had more "must-make" situations over the last five days than he's had all year. With the demand on winning every hole, match play has a funny way of putting consistent pressure on a golfer all day. Quite often with match play, you will find yourself in situations where you must make a good shot to tie or win hole after hole. Learning to deal with this pressure will only make you a better golfer and once again encourage you to focus -- you guessed it -- on one shot at a time.

Just Because
The highly-promoted "Haney Project" aired on Monday on The GOLF CHANNEL and for those of you that didn't see it -- you need to start watching. It is a series running for the next couple of months with Hank Haney trying to fix Charles Barkley's golf swing. The first time you see Barkley's golf swing, it is hard to tell what sport he is attempting to play. During the first episode, I was in tears laughing.

Barkley

I am a big fan of Charles Barkley not only because of how great he was in the NBA but more so for his approach to golf and his overall attitude on life. It is no secret that Barkley has had his struggles outside of basketball, but his passion and dedication to golf is quite impressive.

Think about it, every time Charles Barkley tees it up, everybody -- from announcers to small children -- understand he may have the worst golf swing in modern golf history. Can you imagine sticking with the game when you haven't seen a ball fly higher than your head in the last 10 years? How about playing when you have absolutely no idea if you are going to hit the ball or your leg when you swing? Finally, how about teeing it up when everyone -- including your instructor -- starts laughing when you attempt a shot?

Yet, Sir Charles, searches for answers and perhaps this is the year he learns how to make a nice, fluid swing. ......(pause)............LOL!!