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The importance of course knowledge

Tadashi70

Tadashi70

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I read a few post in another thread and posters knew where not to miss. As a result they played smart. Someone that does not know the course might make the mistake they might not but course knowledge is key. It can save you shots or some cases cost you shots if you get to confident.

I want to know how important course knowledge is to you and your game. Do you need to know the course in order to play well? Or can you tee it and go no matter what? How many times playing the course does it take to gain comfort?
 
Nope, I can go pretty low as a first timer as long as I play what I see. I begin to get into trouble when I grab a driver on every hole when a long iron would suffice. Man, you're on fire!
 
Another good topic. Personally id say if its a brand new course ive never played, ill shoot 2 or 3 strokes higher than my normal round. This usually do to me not knowing where a green slopes, how accurate the yardage markers are, how open/closed a dogleg is. Now when able to use gps it helps a little but at least playing a course one time will before will help me score lower.
 
For me I think course knowledge is key. Even if you are a very aggressive player, you still need to know where it's ok to miss & especially on the greens where below the hole is so you can have a desireable putt. I would think it would take once around the course making notes to figure it out. Greens might take a little more time, but that first loop around can give you a better indication where trouble, out of bounds, etc. are.
 
I think its important to my game. I usually check out the course on there website or even google map it to check out the water and sand traps. Don't want to be behind a hill or tree and hoping there isn't water over the hill. and usually after playing the course a couple times I am good with knowing where everything is that I should be worried about.
 
Trout Bum said:
Nope, I can go pretty low as a first timer as long as I play what I see. I begin to get into trouble when I grab a driver on every hole when a long iron would suffice. Man, you're on fire!
Click to expand...

I think this is true if the course is laid out to show you trouble, but there are courses that give you blind landings or hidden hazards and I think that makes it harder. My first time playing a course I like to play with someone who is familiar with it and can guide me through.
 
Great discussion point and something I payed attention to this year.

If I'm coming in cold to a course I read up about it as much as possible. I put together a game plan for best places to miss. And then try and stick to the plan. If I do all these things I play well.

If I come in cold, and just look at the score card, you can normally give me +5 to my round. I always land in the stream, lake, marsh, wetland, or any other weird thing that crosses the fairway at the 270/280 yard range. I always roll off the back of greens, and I always end up long or short with weird elevations.

If I had a solid short game around the greens I think I would play much better at unknown courses. My up and down numbers aren't that great. Like 33%.
 
Ooof. Good question Freddie.

It does make a difference in my game. I'd say at least 3-5 strokes minimum a round. Knowing aim points off the tee, what way the fairway will funnel a ball, what greens do on certain misses, the holes it's worth taking a gamble on, etc, all are big things for me. I don't know if I have a number of rounds it takes me to get comfortable right off the top of my head.
 
I've gotta play it at least once to have a basic idea of certain holes and what you can or can't do. Bella Collina 18 for example. Long ending par 4, fairway slopes hard from left to right to the point of you need to aim way left and hope it lands on the very far left side of the fairway just to stay in it, or you're going to be in a fairway bunker or plant up the right side. The smart(er) way is to just embrace a 200yd shot for your second, as the fairway is still flat at that point. I've made a lot more bogeys on that hole from an unfair tee shot IMO because my ball wound up going into an unplayable lie your GPS can't tell you much about when you're standing there looking at it.
 
I think familiarity with a course is very useful. Especially if there are blind shots or forced carries. This may be less impactful for courses that offer in cart GPS, but I struggle on new courses and not know where I can hit safely.

It is also very useful to know greenside hazards and green undulations. Knowing where to aim leaving you a better chance at birdie/par, uphill opposed to down/side hill, all come from course knowledge.
 
I certainly think that I can score better on a course that I've played before. I can understand the layout on most courses without playing them before. (I'm looking in your general direction, Mr. Nicklaus.) However, I tend to putt much better the second time around because I have a better feel for the slope of the greens. It's rare for me to walk onto a course for the first time and drain a lot of putts.
 
Oddly enough (?) I tend to play my best scores at courses that I don't know too well. I think 5 of my scores that count for my handicap index were at courses I rarely play or played for the first time. I think I just tend to play more within myself when approaching a new course. As long as it isn't too gimicky, I don't try to bite off more than I can chew the first go-around.
 
I need at least one round on the course before I'll take stock in my score there. Even playing with a member at a new course hasnt helped me in the past. I need to be able to visualize each hole before I tee off on it, and have some sort of plan of attack. Its also nice to see how much an elevated or downhill green might affect approach distances, something you'll only really get a feel for after a round or two.
 
For me it makes a difference, usually a few strokes between first and 2nd try.

You know where that pesky sand trap is, where not to hit that leaves blind 2nd shots, tricky greens, etc
 
I can go out a fire off a low score on a course I don't know as long as I can figure out where not to miss/have someone there who knows it a bit. Also if I research it beforehand, that usually helps a bit as well. I think the most important course knowledge to have is how the greens behave, and that takes a lot of time to learn well.
 
You can still play well not knowing a course if you play conservative and concentrate on fairways and center of greens.

If the layout is pretty forward then you could get away with a little more but if you are playing a course that has tough green complexes or something tricky then the only way to avoid big numbers is to have some kind of knowledge


Proud Member of #TeamParadise
 
I think it's good to have, but I don't think it's always needed. My home course for instance I think having course knowledge there is important because it can be very target golf oriented at times. That being said there are times that I have played a course for the first time and shot great rounds at. True Blue is one of them, when Jake, Kelly, and Tyno played there for the first time during a practice round 2 years ago, none of us had seen the course outside of pictures. But at the time I walked off with my then PB. For the Morgan Cup year 1, majority of us had never stepped foot on the grounds at Reunion before that first match. Heck for warm up that year we played over at Grand Cypress. Sometimes not having course knowledge for me is a good thing. I won't overthink shots or try to gamble as much.
 
For me it's definitely something where I know a course pretty well and, like Tadashi said, knowing what is a "good miss" for a given hole. I think of a couple of holes on my home course where knowing which side of the fairway to put it on off the tee has a big impact on your approach shot, like knowing not to try and take a dogleg left short because the entire left side of the fairway slopes right to left. A level and longer approach shot from the right side of the fairway provides a much better opportunity. But you can't really see the slope from the tee box.

Little things like that are the difference, I think, between the local and traveling handicap. Sometimes I think they're almost subconscious.
 
ChristopherKee said:
If I'm coming in cold to a course I read up about it as much as possible. I put together a game plan for best places to miss. And then try and stick to the plan. If I do all these things I play well.
Click to expand...


As an example of a game plan here is my sheet I wrote up to play Westfields. The Tee chart shows what I have to center after a driver of 210, 245, or 270.

HOLE123456789101112131415161718
Blues356394197541420459157441368388507171349264530354146422
210 Drive14618433121024923115817829713954320144212
245 Drive11114929617521419612314326210419285109177
270 Drive861242711501891719811823779-626084152
PAR443544344453445434
Whites338361155520379433141406345368468160337250501329126399
210 Drive12815131016922319613515825812740291119189
245 Drive9311627513418816110012322392525684154
270 Drive6891250109163136759819867-2023159129
Brambleton1Uphill so plays longer. No bunkers, go at the flag.
Date 12/222Carry bunkers to fat part of fairway. Bunkers are short right of green.
Wind from South3Par 3. Hit middle of the green.
4Keep ball in center. Bunkers to the right are a better miss. Layup may be the shot.
5Bunkers to the left play a cut to center of fairway.
6Carry bunkers to fat part of fairway. Bunkers are short right of green.
7
8Driver to center of large fairway. Bunkers are short right of green
9Layup short of bunkers may be the play off the tee. Top right of green is safe.
10Draw ball off the right bunkers. Green is wide open.
11Cut off the left bunkers to fat of fairway. Bunkers are low and left.
12
13Blind tee shot just play to center. Center of green is only safe shot.
14Drivable Par 4
15Layup short of right bunker for tee shot. Green is guarded on right with bunkers.
16Cut it away from creek on left. Long is better for this green.
17
18Play cut off left bunkers. Go for pin as greens are undulating.
 
Course knowledge is key to playing really well. Why do the pros have books, and their caddies scout the course? For all of us, it helps. Heck, the first time I ever played Colbert Hill in Manhattan, KS from the tips I lost WAY to many balls and shot a 91. Then once I had a good look at the course, I came back the next time and shot a 79. So for me, knowledge helps a lot. On the other side, if you play smart it doesn't have to work against you. As others have said, knowing distances off the tee to points help, playing smarter off the tee usually does keep your score down.
 
I play about 10 strokes better at my home course than on a course I've never played before. The more time on the course, the better I score, but of course I'm not the most accurate guy there is and rely on my shortgame to shoot decent scores. So knowing where not to go is important to me.


My average at home is a 94.

I played Thistle (great course, BTW) 4 times this year. The first time out, I shot a 104. The 2nd I was a 99, the 3rd was a 98 and the last time I played it, I shot a 92.

A more extreme example would be Tobacco Road. The first time out, I shot a 130+ because I was always in trouble. The 2nd time I played, I was paired with a guy that had an extremely detailed yardage book that he had made over many rounds of playing there. I shot a 98 when playing with him because I wasn't hitting what I thought was the number, he had the actual number.
 
Knowing your safe misses is helpful.

If the course design is similar to what I'm used to, then I usually play OK on a new course.
 
Id say if its a new course, play what you see. Safe play would be key. Course knowledge definitely help shoot lower scores since you would know where to take risks

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Lots of blind shots etc and I would of course like to have played it, but like others have said I try to play what I see and keep it in front of me.

JM
 
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