Dr. Bob Rotella: When to be an Arnie or a Jack

Are you always gripping and ripping, or do you cautiously tack your way down the fairway? Do you fire at the pin, or are you content to play to the fat of the green? Odds are, your decisions aren't always this cut and dried, but they are always ultimately about personality. At the simplest level, strategizing is about choosing between two diametrically opposed icons: You are either Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus.

Arnold Palmer strategized without a conscience. If you're this type, you're going for it at every chance, damn the consequences. Your thrill at shooting low is much greater than your disappointment at scoring high.

Of course, if you are taking all kinds of chances, you'd better be tougher than nails with your emotions and your mind. There is no room to be tentative. One of the worst things you can do is to be aggressive with your strategy and then make an indecisive pass at the ball.

Finally, you'd better be a great escape artist. Palmer could get it in the hole from anywhere, and he knew that, so his aggressive decisions didn't seem all that risky to him.

Nicklaus managed the course even better than he hit the ball. No one has ever assessed risk versus gain better than Nicklaus. Playing like Nicklaus requires a lot of conscious thinking before you get ready to hit a shot. The thinking goes like this: Off the tee, hit the club you're most confident you can place in the fairway. On your approach shot, aim for the safe part of the green. Go at the flag only with your most accurate short irons.

Nicklaus-like strategy demands that you be brutally honest about your own abilities. If you are, it's easier to trust your decision-making.

A good head can make up for a bad swing. Frankly, most average players have a much greater chance of improving their course management skills than their ball-striking skills. So most players are more likely to get better results if they strategize like Nicklaus, especially in competition.

It's what I like to call "conservative strategy, cocky swing." What that really means is you have to practice certain clubs so you become extremely confident with them (your 3-wood, pitching wedge and putter, for instance). As a Nicklaus, you also have to train yourself to be content with a lot of two-putts from 25 feet. Being like Nicklaus requires extraordinary patience and great lag putting.

Be a conditional Arnie or Jack. Specific playing conditions lend themselves to specific strategies. You can swing more confidently if a wild drive will end up only in the middle of a parallel fairway instead of in a forest of pines. But if the fairways are narrow, playing safer can be less taxing and ultimately more rewarding.