Delhi Golf Club: Why strategy off the tee is the big talking point

For the second successive year players at the DP World India Championship have overwhelmingly opted to favour  accuracy and course management over raw distance.

There's a good reason why.

Delhi Golf Club is among the shortest on the DP World Tour’s 2025 Race to Dubai schedule at 6,912 yards, and presents a difficult challenge from the tee with narrow fairways and punishing rough.

As a result, just 56 players have put driver in play this week, representing only 38.9 per cent of the 144-man field. Meanwhile, utility irons have become the club of choice, with 112 in play, while 41 players have decided to carry mini drivers, the second-highest usage rate of the season.

Some of the longest hitters out there are the ones who are part of that big driver-less group, including Open Champion Ryan Fox and first-round leader Niklas Norgaard.

His opening round lead came as something of a slight surprise for the Dane, who is making his debut in this event.

"I'm very, very happy," he said after Thursday's opening 66 at Dehli Golf Club.

"Bit surprised as well. This should not suit me at all. It pretty much just neutralises my best weapon, which is my driver. But I just managed to make no big mistakes, put the irons in play, and putt pretty well."

Another well-known big hitter of the golf ball is World Number Two Rory McIlroy, who was very clear about his strategy ahead of his second visit.

"I think the best chance will be by keeping the driver in the bag or in the hotel room so I'm not even attempting to hit it," he remarked ahead of his opening round.

"It doesn't offer you a lot of room off the tee. A lot of irons and strategic play with your tee shots.

"This year I think the rough is a lot longer and thicker than it was last year, so that's going to present a challenge. In other ways I still think the tee shots are very important. Sometimes when people talk about a second-shot golf course, you know, sometimes, you know, it means that the tee shot is irrelevant, which it's not around here.

"As I said the rough is very long and if you do find yourself out of position off the tee, you're going to have difficulties. I would say that your scoring opportunities are from your second shots and your approach play, but you have to be playing those second shots from the fairway."

Yet there is one player who isn't entirely convinced that leaving driver in the hotel is the way to go. For Robert MacIntyre, simply adjusting the height of the tee is ending in the rough further up the hole is more beneficial than finding the rough after missing the fairway with a longer iron.

"You get a golf course this week where it demands accuracy, a bit of finesse, a bit of shot shaping. I would say I’m one of the better drivers of the golf ball. I felt this week that my advantage would be if I could get driver in my hands, and I’ll put it to the limit as much as I can, I change tee heights. Like if I’m playing a wider golf course I’ll tee it high and try and carry it 305. Whereas out here, I’ll tee it low and I’ve not even got three wood in the back this week. I’ve got 7 wood, rescue wood, and then 4-iron. So I’ll tee it a little bit lower, put the same swing on it and hopefully it will neutralise my attack angle. I’m actually shocked so many people aren’t using it, but I think that it’s a lot of talk and it’s in the head. With a 3-iron or 4-iron you can still miss that fairway, it’s only 20 yards wide, so for me, I’m as well missing that fairway 295 in the rough and then I’m shorter in.”

MacIntyre isn't alone, either. Race to Dubai Leader Patrick Reed said that he planned to use driver twice, on holes 10 and 18, keeping it in the bag but not using it a lot.

"Driver will stay in the bag," he said earlier in the week.

"I just wouldn't have anything to replace it with. I go 3-wood and I have interchangable where i go 7-wood or 2-iron. They th go the exact same distance, so for me I don't want to have two clubs in the bag that go the exact same yardage. It's like, if I do, it's like, okay, do I want to hit this one or that one.

"It's one of those golf courses it's going to be about positioning yourself, and also be patient. When you're hitting an iron off a tee, I mean, I hit 2-irons on par-5s off the tee, and you're hitting there like, all right, you're hitting this to put it in position. You don't have to hit it too hard."

Time will tell which strategy pays off.