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The next time you watch the golf of an evening on the television, see how many times you see the pro’s get up and down or recover well from a situation and still make par or at worst a bogey. Then try and imagine what score you honestly think you would have made if it were you in that situation. The point here is not to highlight your weaknesses as a golfer, but to magnify the course management and decision-making skills of today’s top players.
There are three ways of playing each hole when you are on the golf course:
1. Safe play
2. Strategic play
3. Aggressive play
The safe play is to assess the hole when on the tee and eliminate any of the trouble by taking a club that won't hit it far enough to get to the fairway bunker for example, or using a club that will ensure you hit the fairway. It’s not always imperative that we hit the ball as far off the tee as we can, sometimes keeping the ball in play and using your handicap and shots sensibly will keep your score down, thus lowering your handicap.
The strategic play is again to assess the hole when on the tee, but this time work out what you would like to hit for your second shot. For example if your pitching and yardage shots are a strength then work out how far you want to leave yourself to the flag and use the correct club off the tee to ensure you are at that distance for your second shot. Playing to your strengths is something we should all do as it builds confidence on the course, which leads to lower scoring, and hopefully a handicap reduction.
The Aggressive play is to try and drive the green on a short par four or certainly get as close as you can, or try and take the “tiger line” off the tee to leave you a very short approach. This method is a good matchplay tactic but not so good for medal rounds and of course is always fraught with danger. Like any golfer in the world we can all make mistakes and hit poor shots, so going all out all of the time might just cost you shots but on the other hand you may make more birdies…the choice is yours.
The short game, which we will cover in depth in a later article, is strongly linked to good course management especially pitching, as this area once understood, is extremely repeatable and effective. Let me give you an example.
Player A with a handicap of 15 hits their tee shot down the fairway on a tree lined par five, for their second shot they get out their 3 wood and hit it off line in to the trees, having found the ball they have to take a drop away and then miss the green left with a 7 iron, having got to the ball they then chip on to the green and two putt for a medal wrecking double bogey 7. This is BAD COURSE MANAGEMENT!!!
What player A should have done was stand by their ball, look at their yardage chart to see what club selection would leave them around 100 yards to the flag and select the club accordingly, so for example they hit a four iron and it leaves them 105 yards they then proceed to hit their third shot with a pitching wedge in to the heart of the green, take two putts at worst and walk off the hole with either a great birdie or a well planned par. This is GOOD COURSE MANAGEMENT!!!
Now considering their handicap they will be happy with a par and overjoyed with making a birdie, however the double bogey 7 would only make their medal round a painful experience.
More examples of using course management would be to make sure you don’t compound your errors and that once you have hit a bad shot you don’t follow it up with another. If you hit the ball into the rough then don’t try the miracle escape having to bend the ball 30 yards around a tree whilst keeping the ball low under the branches, play the percentages and get yourself back in to position by advancing the ball as far as you can back in to the fairway then play a third from there.
Using a yardage chart in a round of golf even if its your home course is a must as it gives you vital information as to yardages, hazards and safe areas on the golf course. If I were to ask how many of you have a yardage chart of your home club and use it every time you play, I guarantee the answer won’t be many, if your club doesn’t have a yardage chart then do one of you own, it really is a vital piece of equipment you should have at your disposal. The more information you have on the golf course the better your decision-making will be as they are educated decisions and not just guesses.
Knowing when to attack, when to play strategically and when to defend is a matter of experience. Experience on the golf course, experience of the situation you are in and being mentally more astute than your opponent.
Using and understanding good course management will undoubtedly shave shots off your score. After all playing golf is like a real life game of chess only using numbers, you have to manoeuvre the ball around the course like chess pieces and be strategic not just go all out attack.
Try some of the suggestions I have mentioned you never know they may even work
Coaching is available 7 days a week from our qualified team and packages can be tailored to suit the individual. Within the team there is a wealth of experience from teaching a beginner to an elite player. Stephen is currently the Srixon Resident Teaching Professional for Europe and some tips can be found under the Pro Tips Page on www.srixon.co.uk.
To book a lesson or discuss your coaching needs with any of the team call (01276) 20500 or e-mail:
