Course Management

[Festus]

It's been the best year of my golfing life thanks to Brian & Co. Snuck a few rounds into the mid 70's after having never broke 80 prior. So now looking into other areas of playing golf, not golf swing. And one which I believe I truly stink at is course management.

Example: Par 4, about a 45 degree dogleg right, OB right guarded by tall trees. Corner of dogleg about 240 yds. So what do I do? Try to clear the trees with a non-standard driver swing. I hit it good but it never got high enough, clipped the top of a tree and fell OB. Go back and pull the 3-wood and put it right at the corner. What would I have gained if I cleared the trees? Maybe 40 yds. Was that worth risking 2 shots? Uh, no.

When I look back, that was such a retarded decision yet at the time, I just did it without thinking much.

So what's a good primer on managing your decisions and game during a round? I know this might be tough to answer but I'd just like to hear thoughts on how exactly you guys would define "course mangement", how do you learn it and things to be thinking about out there to maximize your scoring potential.

 

[softconsult]

Plan your shots working backward from the hole. Play away from trouble. Do not attempt shots
where your skill level makes your chance of success low. When in doubt take your medicine and avoid
a double or a triple. Layup to a favorite yardage and to a flat area rather than an uphill or
downhill lie even if it's farther away from the green. Do not simply try to hit it as close to the green as you can.
If you don't own one, buy a Laser Rangefinder. Use it to shoot the distance to the front of the
green and to the pin. Don't aim at sucker pins, but rather aim at the center of the green. Sucker pin means
high risk if you miss the shot.

I like to think I am above average at management, but not as good as I want to be. My play is on a rotating
group of 20 courses, in a twice a week Seniors Golf League. Those of us in the Flight 1 play the regular tees.
Thankfully I still have my length. Consequently, on many holes I'm using less than Driver. If I can end up at
150 or less in, I'm happy. Sometimes looks a little strange when the other three guys are hitting Driver, and
I am hitting 5 iron. I am trying to play safe on holes where a less than perfect shot is going through the fairway
or into a tight tree line.

Finally, even when you get to be pretty good at it, you are going to screw up. You just lose your mind for a moment, and try something stupid. That's golf.

 

[aaron_lohan]

When you take a shot think about where you don't want to play your next shot from and use this to base your shot selection.

 

[savydan]

The way you wrote your story (maybe how you think) shows your issue.

You never told us the length of the hole. You just were figuring the odds of clearing the trees.

But you didn't factor in how much you gain vs. how much you lose if you pull it off or you don't.

Did you "need" to clear the trees to give yourself a reasonable chance at par?

If I clear the trees and it leaves me 80 yds, vs. hitting the corner and leaving 120 yds, I would figue the difference in proximity to the hole (after my approach shot) is only worth it if I can clear the trees 90% of the time. Especially since double bogey is in the equation, not just bogey, due to O.B. right.

But these are MY percentages. The question is what are YOUR percentages?

Play YOUR percentages.

 

[duckjr78]

I have a couple of rules that I use off the tee that have helped me this past year.

1. Always find a level stance on the tee box. Sure, conventional wisdom says to tee up on the left to hit a draw and vice versa, but the condition of some of the tee boxes just don't allow for that. Most of us are not good enough to properly adjust for an uneven lie, so give yourself the best possible lie on the tee box, regardless of the shot you are trying to hit.

2. Never miss a dogleg on the short side. Sure, you may have a slightly longer shot in, but, again, most of us aren't good enough that the shorter shot in is going to result in one less stroke on the scorecard. If you clear the trees/water/etc. 5 out of 10, do you make birdie the majority of those times to make up for the stokes you lose when you don't carry the trees? Most of us don't. Also, our % of birdies is only slightly higher with a wedge as opposed to an 8 iron while our % of bogeys from in the woods is very close to 100%.

Now, of course, you can get much deeper into the strategy, knowing where the pin is to leave yourself the best angle and whatnot, but for the level of golf that most people play, these two rules are pretty much all you need. Of course, that's just my humble opinion.

 

[softconsult]

As a follow on to what SavyDan wrote, I have this question.

I went back an re-read the initial post. Are you sure that it was 240 to be clear of the tree at the apex of the dog leg? I ask this because I can't remember, in 40 years and lots of top notch courses, ever encountering a Par 4 requiring a shot that long to clear, even from the back tees. If it's downhill, then maybe. I bet if you actually measure it, it will be shorter.

Also, a key part of course strategy is knowing how far you hit each club. If you don't know, and many, many players don't, then it really makes strategy more difficult.

 

[Richie3Jack]

I think you need to take some time to think about the shot. And if you played the course before, you should pretty much have a plan of how you are going to play a hole like that well before your round. So you may want to change up your pre-shot routine a bit, just to allow yourself to think a little more about what you want to do.

The key though is being decisive. Once you’ve made the decision, you need to stick with that decision and commit to it fully instead of being apprehensive.

I like to play very aggressive. I think that’s a big issue I have with a lot of the mental game and course management books out there, they want you to play very conservatively. Tough to go low when you play conservatively and if you ever get a chance to watch a PGA Tour pro play a course you play regularly, they are usually surprisingly aggressive. Why? Because they know that they need to find ways to get the ball close to the pin in order to go low. The odds of making 20-30 footers are extremely low, even on the PGA Tour. It’s not that leaving yourself with a 20-30 footer for birdie is a bad idea all of the time, but if you plan on going low you can’t leave yourself with too many of those for birdie.

From there, I try to play the odds on difficult decisions.

For instance, a course I played when I lived in Atlanta had a par-5 that was about 510 yards. You teed off a cliff and there was trouble left and right. Most golfers, even really good amateurs, would take a 3-wood off the tee and that allowed them to miss the trouble. Mainly because if you were noticeably off-line, the ball wouldn’t go far enough to get in trouble whereas with the driver it would get in trouble if you were that far off line.

The problem I had was that you not only had a lot of distance into the green on the 2nd shot if you hit 3-wood off the tee, but you also would have a downhill lie into an elevated green. And I never felt that a 75 yard shot on the 3rd shot was all that easy to get up and in.

So instead I took out the driver. A good driver would very likely leave me with an iron into the green. Still likely to have a downhill lie to an elevated green, but I’d rather have an iron in my hand than trying to do that with a 3-wood. And if I hit a good driver, now eagle is a possibility, birdie is a strong possibility and I probably shouldn’t make anything more than a par. The real key for me was that I just needed to take a solid, but not great swing with the driver and I would find the fairway. There’s a reason why I practice all of the time, it’s so I can get up there and with confidence and take a solid swing when I need to.

That’s what so many of the mental and course management books don’t grasp, there’s a reason why we practice so much and work on our swings so much…and it’s not so we can play conservatively. It’s like rebuilding a ’69 Camaro and when you get it how you want it, you only drive 45 mph on the freeway. So in that sense, I like the fact that you were aggressive, but if the odds of you hitting that shot were low and the risk was too high in comparison to the reward, then you probably should’ve re-thought it a bit.






3JACK

 

[cwdlaw223]

Great post 3Jack. I hate playing conservatively. If I don't attack I always feel like I'm treading water and my weight keeps getting heavier. Playing aggressively doesn't mean that one shoots at every pin, however, it does mean that: (a) if you can drop two clubs on the next shot by hitting a driver you should seriously consider hitting driver, and (b) you play to your strengths and not hit shots you can't execute 7 out of 10 times (I break this rule all the time with my ego golf).

Fearless Golf is a great book and highly recommended.

 

[softconsult]

Richie wrote,"I like to play very aggressive. I think that’s a big issue I have with a lot of the mental game and course management books out there, they want you to play very conservatively. Tough to go low when you play conservatively and if you ever get a chance to watch a PGA Tour pro play a course you play regularly, they are usually surprisingly aggressive. Why? "

Yes, but..... It depends on your assumptions about what going low means. Most folks are not at your level and don't, or can't practice any where near as much as you apparently do. So if someone is, let's say, a 15, then going low might mean 78. It could be that the reason he's a 15 is that he is wild with the Driver, or that he isn't precise with his irons. It also could be 3 or 4 blow up holes. For this type golfer, conservative just may be a better approach. Aggressive is no good, unless you have the skill to pull it off.

 

[greenfree]

It's been the best year of my golfing life thanks to Brian & Co. Snuck a few rounds into the mid 70's after having never broke 80 prior. So now looking into other areas of playing golf, not golf swing. And one which I believe I truly stink at is course management.

Example: Par 4, about a 45 degree dogleg right, OB right guarded by tall trees. Corner of dogleg about 240 yds. So what do I do? Try to clear the trees with a non-standard driver swing. I hit it good but it never got high enough, clipped the top of a tree and fell OB. Go back and pull the 3-wood and put it right at the corner. What would I have gained if I cleared the trees? Maybe 40 yds. Was that worth risking 2 shots? Uh, no.

When I look back, that was such a retarded decision yet at the time, I just did it without thinking much.

So what's a good primer on managing your decisions and game during a round? I know this might be tough to answer but I'd just like to hear thoughts on how exactly you guys would define "course mangement", how do you learn it and things to be thinking about out there to maximize your scoring potential.

Don't lie to yourself./ Ego control.

 

[Richie3Jack]

Yes, but..... It depends on your assumptions about what going low means. Most folks are not at your level and don't, or can't practice any where near as much as you apparently do. So if someone is, let's say, a 15, then going low might mean 78. It could be that the reason he's a 15 is that he is wild with the Driver, or that he isn't precise with his irons. It also could be 3 or 4 blow up holes. For this type golfer, conservative just may be a better approach. Aggressive is no good, unless you have the skill to pull it off.

Very true. Although I play with 20 handicappers all of the time and usually what tends to happen is that they try to play conservatively and take such a weak pass at it that they hit a horrible shot. Then they say 'gee, why did I play it safe if I was going to hit that shot.'

I try to go out and play fearless, but smart golf.

If my chances of executing a shot are at 10%, then I'm being stupid instead of fearless and aggressive (unless the situation does call for me to hit that shot). There are certainly times when a golfer just needs to play conservatively because they are not on their game and can't keep the ball in play.

But what I tend to see is that with higher handicappers they play really dumb and fearful golf. They try to hit shots that even somebody like myself who is a + handicap wouldn't be able to hit and they have no regard for where they don't want to miss the shot. Or if they do, it's resigned to two things, the obvious O.B. marker or the obvious water hazard. Instead of very hard bunker shot, the very bad lie, or short siding yourself.

Then they try and hit those really tough shots with no regard for leaving themselves with reasonable up and down if they miss and they do it with a bunch of fear in their minds. It's no small wonder why they can't break 80.






3JACK

 

[Festus]

Great replies so far guys...I really appreciate your insight.

Maybe a "cautiously aggressive" approach? It's funny that I've played golf a long time and the process was always just trying to hit the ball and not really thinking ramifications and strategy.

Now that the hitting the ball part is half decent, it's neat to get into the tactical side of the game.

And the rangefinder advice is also great. Amazing how many times I just kind of wing it when assessing distance and how many times the yardage markers are misleading (and even downright incorrect).

Thanks again!

 

[Richie3Jack]

The problem I find with being 'cautiously aggressive' is that you really wind up not being aggressive. I want to be decisive, fearless, aggressive and smart. If there's a shot that chances are I cannot hit 9 times out of 10, then I hit a different shot and be decisive and fearless about that shot.

Understanding D-Plane helps as well. There's a par-5 at my home course that is 630 yards long. It doglegs about 90* left at about 230 yards away with trees all left. It's open on the right side, but if you hit 2 drives the same exact distance, but one is 20 yards left of the other, you essentially pick up 20 yards. My feeling is that if I take a decent swing, I should be able to clear those trees just about every time on the left and gain about 30-60 yards than if I played for the middle of the fairway.

That's big because it's a very long par-5 and I could play it down the middle and hit driver-3 wood-3 iron or I could be aggressive and hit the same type of shots and have driver-3 wood-9 iron.

But, I cannot go left.

So my knowledge of D-Plane is to make sure whatever I do, do not close the clubface. The likely mis-hit would be the closed face hook into the woods. So, if I make sure to not close the clubface...if I take a good swing I will likely be in a great posiiton and if I don't take a good swing, I'll probably have to work a little to make a par.

In the end I think my chances of making birdie or par are pretty noticeably increased and I should be able to keep my miss out of the woods. But, I'm more concerned about being decisive and fearless.





3JACK

 

[jenhaoyen]

i play the best when i'm being conservative.

but what's the fun in that?

 

[birly-shirly]

I really believe that risk-reward calculus is something that only really applies to better players. If you're going to shy away from any shot that you can't make with 90% certainty, then most golfers wouldn't get out of bed in the morning. My guess would be that the average golfer misses more than half the fairways they aim at, and more than half the greens of par 3s. And I don't think that the average golfer hits their shots to a tight enough dispersion to really think about not short-siding themselves or anything like that. Embrace the fact that most of your bad shots were at least not tactical errors.

I like Softconsult's idea of only hitting as much off the tee as you need to get within 150 yards. And making a rule not to go for hero-shots out of the rough seems sensible. Unless the ball is lying really well, I force myself to hit mid-iron at most. The idea that hybrids are great recovery clubs is toxic for most golfers, I think.

Playing short of trouble, even trouble off to the sides, seems smart to me on par 5s - lots of which are quite approachable if you can just keep your ball playable for 3 shots in a row. I would guess that most golfers not playing to a low single digit handicap or better could aim every full approach to the centre of the green and not be any the worse off.

If the aim is breaking 80, I think you should do just about anything to land your ball in the fairway. And there aren't that many situations where anything that looks like a gamble is likely to be worth it. Knowing an accurate yardage, and the distance you hit your clubs, is really important. Other than that, I think scoring at that level is more a function of not making really bad swings rather than not making bad decisions.

 

[softconsult]

I sure agree with the lack of any apparent strategy on the part of many playing partners.
The handicaps in our First Flight range from scratch to about 20. A lot of the guys simply
don't have the shots they may have had at 40 years old. However, most of them really
appear to have been just normal 15 handicap type players. I have to bite me tongue at
some of the truly dumb shots they attempt.

Personally, I am selectively aggressive strategy wise. We have played the same 20 courses for a number
of years and you really get to know where to go for it. But what Richie says about committing
and being aggressive with the swing is really true. Played with a guy a few weeks ago that literally announced
before every shot that he was going to screw it up. Then he proceeded to screw it up. Amazing.

I have always said that, in a big way, the people who play golf just for fun and really don't care all that
much about their score, are better balanced because they haven't fallen victim to the addiction. Me?
I wouldn't play if I wasn't trying to improve. I also think that if I ever got to the point of being not
capable of breaking 85, I might pack it in. Having said that, of the 200 guys in our bi-weekly league
only 35 or so with handicaps of 13 or lower. That means 170 are still playing. Hell, we have a 93 year old still playing and an 83 year old who is a 15. Claude is playing with me in the second group off tomorrow morning. He's about 5'7" and his skin is like parchment paper. But he was scratch at one time , and can still shoot between 85 and 90.