Course Homework and Bag Make-up

I usually just wing it
 
I'll look at things ahead of time to try to get a sense, but more often than not the course presents itself so differently in person the research doesn't help as much as I'd like. It's more just to get a sense of what shots I might be faced with. It can be helpful to know where hazards on, but I'd never change what I carry in my bag based on the research.
 
Most I've done researching a new course is the My Strategy feature from Shot Scope. Its a useful tool
I need to start using this. When I sign off on a round I normally don’t have the exact shots and then don’t assign when it wasn’t a full shot etc. I need to start being better about it.
 
I'll look over the course and scorecard to decide which tees I'll play from. That's about it anymore.

As @jdtox mentioned, Shot Scope has a cool feature where you can apply your typical club dispersion to each hole. I haven't used My Strategy in a long time for planning how to play a new course. As for a bag makeup, it's probably best that I play the clubs I'm most familiar with.
 
Depends on the course - if its a trip / destination course, I'm pouring through the flyovers. Bandon does an incredible job of this - getting to scroll through each hole / shot to understand general layout / strategy.
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After a get a couple more rounds under my belt with ShotScope, I'll definitely be taking advantage of the MyStrategy feature.
 
Analyzing a course before I go is something that I’ve started to do a lot. I was using a combination of Google Maps and arccos smart caddy. Both leave a lot to be desired. I’ve started to use printable yardage books and having those to go through is better for me.

It really is helpful to know where the trouble is on a hole before playing it. It has reduced the number of great shots into bad spots that plagued most of my first time visiting a course from unintentionally taking very aggressive lines or aiming at bad targets.

It's the Mike Tyson rule IMO......everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
There are so many variables when you actually get to the course. Going into it with more than a general idea doesn’t make a ton of sense. A lot of what I’m looking at before is how far is the trouble off the tee. That ends up with the question being do I have room to hit driver or should my target be less than driver if conditions are “normal”.
 
I’ve tried the over prep route with researching maps and fly-over, and the only thing that really does is get me hyped and excited for the round. (Which is not a bad thing). Seems once I get to the course everything goes out the window and I just play what’s in front of me.
 
The only real homework I do is to see how tight the fairways are and if its a tight course I will probably make sure the mini-driver is in
 
I will look at the overview of the course to see general lay out to determine which mini driver goes in the bag, but outside of that nope I don't do much.
 
I know I can't be the only one that researches a new course. I will look thru the website for any course data and then generally pull up Google earth for some distances and try to figure out the trouble spots. I try to build my bag around that data and adjust to what I think will be needed for that course.

Who else does this? Do you do anything different?
I try to do this as well. I don't change my clubs up as I don't have too many backup options, but I at least put a strategy in place.
 
I know I can't be the only one that researches a new course. I will look thru the website for any course data and then generally pull up Google earth for some distances and try to figure out the trouble spots. I try to build my bag around that data and adjust to what I think will be needed for that course.

Who else does this? Do you do anything different?


Oh man...do I!!

To be fair, I am also the type of person that has to research a menu before going to a restaurant, so I am fully prepared, lol.

I haven't had it really change my bag makeup, but I can look at certain holes and know that driver isn't the play - or know I have to favor a certain side. Or heck, see an opportunity to hit a driver knowing it opens up in an area that you might not see from the tee box.
 
Yeah I’ll use one of the free gps apps to look over a course and I’ll talk with any buddies that have played there.

If I really want to dive deep I may get a yardage book for the course and check it out.

A lot of courses also have hole overviews on their websites so that’s another place I will go to check stuff out
 
I look at the course overview in Arccos and laugh at Arccos AI's ridiculous recommendations. The overview at least gives me an idea of what I'm getting into, which is helpful.
 
When i am playing a new course I will look on my Arccos app and use the caddy feature for getting an idea of club selection and the courser layout. I really do not change any clubs in my bag for playing a new course,
 
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