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Course Managment Tips

GrantD

GrantD

Formerly Known as DMB012
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I have been looking through a lot of the threads on here that give some great management tips, but there is not one place that people can look to gain some good information. Use this thread to post your best course management tips that you use, so that they may help out somebody else.

Here is one of my favorites to start:

Shoot for the middle of the green. Don't be suckered in by a tucked flag. Just go for the middle and putt out in two to take your par an move on.
 
I agree that I always go for the middle of the green especially in a tournament setting because 90% of the guys are going for the pin. One of the other techniques that I use is regarding what club to use off the T. If the hole is over 400 yards I use Driver, 350-400 3W, and less than 350 I will use my 2H. This is in 85% of the cases if the hole is 320 out and there is a lot of room to work with I will take driver and see how close I can get it but the rest of the time I stick to my system for the sake of accuracy.
 
Most golfers don't take enough club on approach shot or on par 3's. For example, if a golfer has 145 to the middle, than he probably has 160 to the back. Many golfer's take that club they once hit flush 145 yards. Better to take the 155 yard club. If he doesn't hit it flush he's probably on the front of the green. If he hits it flush he's on the back of the green.
 
There are plenty of threads about course management. Playing the hole from the green back to the tee. Hitting driver less. Playing to a number. And shooting bogey golf is not a bad thing.
 
play to a number
 
blugold said:
There are plenty of threads about course management. Playing the hole from the green back to the tee. Hitting driver less. Playing to a number. And shooting ogey is not a bad thing.
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Yeah I know, I was just trying to consolidate it down to one area to look.
 
+1 to this. I'm to dumb to grasp this and pay the price every round. I also fall in trap of taking to much loft around the greens when a bump and would be better suited instead of flying the ball to the pin.

Sean said:
Most golfers don't take enough club on approach shot or on par 3's. For example, if a golfer has 145 to the middle, than he probably has 160 to the back. Many golfer's take that club they once hit flush 145 yards. Better to take the 155 yard club. If he doesn't hit it flush he's probably on the front of the green. If he hits it flush he's on the back of the green.
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The best thing I can add to this is to just know your strengths and even more importantly know your limits. If you can't carry the ball 250 over water to a green then don't try, it's that simple really. Another one I've tried to follow a lot is don't aim to a point that if you end up hitting the ball straight you find trouble. (Example, don't line up on a hole straight at a lake hoping or expecting the ball to fade back to the fairway) If a straight shot gets you in trouble then you need to readjust your aim....(unless you're really good at working the ball where you want it to go, then disregard).
 
Make sure you have plenty of balls to finish your round :thumb: If you don't keep the bag stocked, course management is null.
 
The best tip I have heard on this site is this:

Never work harder than you have to on the tee box. If a fairway wood gets you into a yardage that you can manage, then hit a fairway from the tee. Only hit driver as an only option.
 
Puttin4Bird said:
Always have a couple in your pocket, right Gray?!?
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Yes sir buddy! If your course management is not up to par on a course covered with lakes etc. it's better to be safe and have a couple in your pants when the going get's tough.
 
I have also heard "Play with what you got that day". This means don't try and teach your self something new before a round. That is for practice days. If you are hitting a fad or a draw that day, play it during your round. Don't try and fix it that day.
 
dmb012 said:
I have also heard "Play with what you got that day". This means don't try and teach your self something new before a round. That is for practice days. If you are hitting a fad or a draw that day, play it during your round. Don't try and fix it that day.
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I have heard that myself dmb but it's just hard for me to trust a fade when I play a draw 90 percent of the time. It's crazy how you can be on the range and bust a few cuts out there and then get on the course and boom, the fade just does not work? I know you got to dance with the lady you took to the dance but it's all about having faith in what you got for that day.
 
I don't know if this is exactly course management but I think it is and I use to do it. Say your on the teebox and there is water left. Don't line up on the side farthest from the water, line up on the side closer to the water. If you do this and you aiming to the middle of the fairway, you technically have to hit it further offline to get it in the water.
 
For me its just to be honest about what you can and cannot do. If its a par four and I hit a bad tee shot and still have 220 to the green I could try to hit three wood and get there in two or lay up to a number and hope to get up and down for par. 11 times out of 10 the better play for me is to lay up.
 
Not hitting driver off the tee is pointless unless you're sure you're more accurate with a 3W or whatever. Too many average golfers think they are playing smart by leaving the driver in the bag, then end up in trouble anyway. No use being in trouble farther from the green than you need to be. I also believe hitting a short iron out of the rough is often preferable to hitting a mid or long iron out of the fairway.

Learn to hit the ball as far as you can. Hit driver whenever feasible. Learn to hit many different types of wedge shots. Look at the hole closely before teeing off and pick very specific targets. Don't try to hit the ball in the fairway, try to hit it to the perfect spot in the fairway. Hit the driver like an iron. By that I don't mean swing it like an iron, but try and place it like an iron. Swing it at a specific target. You're accuracy will improve immensely, and you'll be closer to the green.

That's a different viewpoint for you. I've posted it here quite a few times and I know it's not shared by many others, if any. Too many weekly golfers play too timidly in my opinion.

Kevin
 
Sox,

Curious as to what part of SE Wisco are you from?
 
Esox said:
Waukesha County.

Kevin
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Gotcha, if you have played The Bull in Sheboygan Falls. There are some spots where driver for the sake of driver is asking for trouble. There is little rough, lots of OB.
 
blugold said:
Gotcha, if you have played The Bull in Sheboygan Falls. There are some spots where driver for the sake of driver is asking for trouble. There is little rough, lots of OB.
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I haven't played it, but know many who have. I'm not saying to be stupid. I'm not suggesting hitting driver through a dogleg and out of bounds, or hitting a driver into a fairway that narrows between two ponds when a 3w leaves you back. If 3w keeps you in bounds so be it, but in my 37 years of golf I've seen too many golfers think 3w off the tee is their friend just because it's not a driver. When in fact it gets them in trouble too, only it leaves them much farther from the hole. 8i through the wedges is almost always better even from the rough. 8i through the wedges from the rough is always better than long or mid-irons from the rough.

Hitting greens with mid or long irons is tough from anywhere from most golfers. I know it is for me a lot of the time. I try to get to short iron range. That's my course management. That's where pars and birdies come from.

Kevin
 
Won't disagree. For me, I shoot for bogey. So, even if I get stuck at a 6 iron out, I have a better chance of shooting par/bogey than if I push a driver right and get caught in OB.

This is all subject to how well a player hits driver or fairway metals. If both are a crap shoot, then hit driver.
 
Sean said:
Most golfers don't take enough club on approach shot or on par 3's. For example, if a golfer has 145 to the middle, than he probably has 160 to the back. Many golfer's take that club they once hit flush 145 yards. Better to take the 155 yard club. If he doesn't hit it flush he's probably on the front of the green. If he hits it flush he's on the back of the green.
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Lots of great tips in here but this is my personal favorite both in this thread and on the course. Even though Sean hit it out of the park I cannot help but add that it is much easier to take yards off a club than it is to hit it perfect every time. Gripping down, removing some width from your stance, flighting the ball differently are great ways to take some yards off a club.
 
Great posts! My dad would always tell me that the secret to golf is to make good misses. Consider the shot, then consider the misses, now plan your shot so that if you do miss, your miss won't hurt you too much.
 
I've been playing less than a year so I'm still not up on all the terminology. I have heard several people mention "Playing to a Number" What exactly does that mean?

Thanks
 
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