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Short Course Strategy - How Would You Play It?

Nate

Nate

My Friends Call Me Big Time
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I'm a member of a golf course out in McKinney, TX called Eldorado Country Club. It's a short course compared to today's courses and measures out to about 6,700 yards from the back tees but usually plays 50-75 yards shorter because some tee's are usually up. Par 3's are pretty tuff out there (175, 185 and 195 yards) and the 3 par 5's you can really only reach 1, maybe 2, with a very good drive placed just in the right spot. The par 4's are much shorter but usually a dog leg or some water on one side or the other. It is a pretty tight course with trees on every hole and each green has a pretty good slope on it.

I consider myself a pretty long hitter. On a tight course that sometimes gets me in trouble. BUT, when the long sticks are going well, it leaves me 50-75 yard 2nd shots into the par 4's.

My question is - Would you play this short track with tight fairways with 3 woods and irons off the tee's or would you play away with the driver and take what it gave you?
 
I love hitting driver, so I would go with that all day. If it were a tournament situation, I would probably play a little smarter and use 3w or hybrids off the tees to make sure I hit the fairway.
 
Im in about the same boat, my place is only about 6600 yards.

When Im trying to be smart, since in some places its tight, I will hit 3 wood or hybrid off of the tee.

but because im trying to get my driver straightened out, Ive been hitting it as much as possible and hopefully it works out
 
I could be mistaken, but I believe Pebble Beach is only about 6,600 yards from the tips. I would have to consider landing areas between my driver and fairway metal.
 
I have gotten old enough that 6600 yards is now long to me, I generally try to play in the 6100-6200 range, so at 6600 I would definitely be using driver.
 
DawgDaddy said:
I have gotten old enough that 6600 yards is now long to me, I generally try to play in the 6100-6200 range, so at 6600 I would definitely be using driver.
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Me too. That's actually a long course in my world. That said, I am starting to try to play to a number. On Par 4's in the 300-350 range, I'm using my 5 wood more and more, especially if it's tight. I'd hit the club off the tee that puts you where you want to be for your second shot.
 
I have really tried to improve my course management over the last few months. I have some general rules that tend to help:

Par 4's of less than 375 yards should be a 3 wood off the tee
Par 5's that have no chance of getting there in 2 should be a 3 wood off the tee

Try to play to yardages that I am real comfortable with (110 instead of 80). Things like this have helped me in addition to not trying to hit "miracle" shots.

I love swinging the driver but I like better playing to my strengths which ultimately leads to better scoring which is the most important thing for me.
 
Place the ball. On short courses like that, I always play better when I tee off to a spot rather than crank a driver. Case in point, I played a 310 yard par 4 by teeing off with a 7 iron to the top of a hill, then hitting another 7 iron into the green. All my friends hit drivers on that hole, and they were all down in a valley hitting uphill to the green. I got a par, they didn't.

I always find it easier to hit and aim a full club than to hit a 25-95 yard shot.
 
There are short courses and there are short courses. Our nine hole course is only 6000 yards from the back tees. But, the slope is 127. People who've never played it see the yardage and think they'll eat the course up. hehe. It is the narrowest, most hazard infested, cantankerous, 6000 yards you've ever seen.
 
Nate, what are you general distances with your wedges? You're a better player than I am based on handicap, but I tend to play some shorter courses in the Boston area because the courses closer to the city are older courses that aren't built on much land, so they play 6000-6400 yards. On the shorter holes, I will hit something off of the tee that would get me to a comfortable distance with one of my wedges, I really don't like the 50-70 yard range because it's not a full shot with one of my wedges.

On the other hand, I played a round with a guy last week that played on his college team, and shot +1 for the round. He hit driver on pretty much every hole, and didn't worry about the distances he left himself with because he loved to hit the driver and he hit it so straight. I asked him about it, and he basically said that he wants to hit driver off of every tee to get as close to the green as possible. He was also much better with his short game and shots around the green than I was, so you could go either way.
 
I feel like if I can get to 50-75 yards out like you said, I would try to do that all day because then it is just a 56*-60* wedge into the green. I guess it would depend on how comfortable you are with your lower irons.
 
Hawk said:
Me too. That's actually a long course in my world. That said, I am starting to try to play to a number. On Par 4's in the 300-350 range, I'm using my 5 wood more and more, especially if it's tight. I'd hit the club off the tee that puts you where you want to be for your second shot.
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I'm learning to play to a number as well. I normally only pull driver if the hole is 400+ yards. Anything else I'm taking 3 wood or hybrid and trying to play from the short grass. My fairways and GIR's have gone up this year, just need to start converting in to birdies!
 
Sean said:
There are short courses and there are short courses. Our nine hole course is only 6000 yards from the back tees. But, the slope is 127. People who've never played it see the yardage and think they'll eat the course up. hehe. It is the narrowest, most hazard infested, cantankerous, 6000 yards you've ever seen.
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9 holes= 6,000 yards. That's pretty long.


For me it all depends on the day and the hole. If it opens up near the green, but narrow where I would be landing a shorter club, I'll hit driver. I do prefer having a 100-150 yards compared to 50-100. I would much rather have a full swing over a shortened backswing with a wedge. But, I don't think 6,700 is a short course for most amateurs. Especially if it's tight and hitting fairways and greens is very important. I'm pretty sure most Donald Ross courses are in that range or shorter, but they certainly can play tough.


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First I don't think 6600 is a short course, I think my home course from the tips is 7100 or something but from the blues its about the same. For me it comes down to the size of the landing areas and whether or not there are any corners I could cut with my driver. If the par 4's are that short, I would probably play a hybrid off the tee to leave me some nice yardages into the greens.
 
I find my self in a very similar situation. I play in this employee work league every week. It's a fun little comptetition, every one pitches in $20 bucks and the top 3 get paid every week based on score and hdcp. A few months ago they voted to play the tees that would place them at around 6300-6400 range. (we play a different course each week)

Suddenly I found a bunch of holes that usually played around 350-380 yards was now around the 310-350 range. I agree with a few prior posts about having to play to a number. Yeah it's literaly laying up off the tee box, but I find myself in the fairway more and with a wedge in my hand. And usually I'm far more effective in the 75-110 yard range than the 30-60 yard zone. However, each hole is different and other factors should be considered than just overall length.

There are two holes at Silverstone that are good examples. One is a 310-330 par 4 I always hit driver and the other is shorter at 280-300 that i always hit a 5 iron or 4 hybrid off the tee box. The longer par 4 (310-330) is very tight and heavily bunkered in the landing zone. If you go into the bunker you'll find yourself with a very long bunker shot round 60-110 yards. However just short and to the right of the green is a dried up river bed. So it makes sense to ignore the trouble around the fairway and just bomb it into the rough just short and right of the green. From there you have a 20-50 yard pitch onto the green with no bunker in your way and the green slopes directly towards you. Its a far easier shot than the 75-100 yard shot over a bunker to a green that slopes to your right you would have had if you had layed up short onto the fairway.

Now the shorter par 4 (280-300 yards) has a very small green that is slightly elevated and surrounded by bunkers. Hitting driver off the tee, the best possibility you're hoping for is your ball runs into the greenside bunker. If not , youre left with a very tough 20-40 yard pitch shot onto a tight landing zone on an elevated green. I find its easier to lay up short with a long iron off the tee since there are no fairway bunkers. Then you're left with something in the 80-110 yard range. From there its easier to hold the green cuz you can throw a wedge shot high up into the air with some spin.

Hope this helps, generally I feel most confident at 80-120 yards with my SW/GW in my hands, and will try to lay up on the short par 4 to leave this shot as my second. However each hole has its quirks and different ways to play it.
 
I hit my 56 wedge about 100 yards and 60 wedge about 80-85 yards. Here is the defeating thing for me when you "play safe" and dont' execute - you hit the safe shot into the trees and and are left with a 160 yard punch out while in the back of your head I'm thinking, I could of hit my driver into the trees and left myself a 50 yard punch shot to the green instead. LOL!

But then you have the opposite, crush your driver to 60 yards of the green, in the middle of the fairway and catch a half swing 60 degree a little heavy, leaving yourself 15 yards to the green.....nothing gets my blood hotter than doing that! (maybe a 3 putt!)
 
My home course is pretty short too, but it's tough. No par 5s, which makes approaches important. My general rule of thumb is, hit whatever will end up down the middle in the short stuff! There are about half the holes where I try to play to a number, and the other half I just try to leave myself a good angle in, no matter how close.
 
Nate said:
I'm a member of a golf course out in McKinney, TX called Eldorado Country Club. It's a short course compared to today's courses and measures out to about 6,700 yards from the back tees but usually plays 50-75 yards shorter because some tee's are usually up. Par 3's are pretty tuff out there (175, 185 and 195 yards) and the 3 par 5's you can really only reach 1, maybe 2, with a very good drive placed just in the right spot. The par 4's are much shorter but usually a dog leg or some water on one side or the other. It is a pretty tight course with trees on every hole and each green has a pretty good slope on it.

I consider myself a pretty long hitter. On a tight course that sometimes gets me in trouble. BUT, when the long sticks are going well, it leaves me 50-75 yard 2nd shots into the par 4's.

My question is - Would you play this short track with tight fairways with 3 woods and irons off the tee's or would you play away with the driver and take what it gave you?
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Wow. I would not be a big fan of all the par 3's being over 175yds. Back on topic, I would play the driver where distance calls for it.
 
I think the real question is do you feel more confident hitting a 50 yard shot or a hundred yard shot. I personally like my hundred yard club and feel that I am more consistent with it, so I would go 3W irons of the tee.
 
6700 yards is pretty long if you ask me. As to when I would not use a driver, would depend where the trouble was and how bad I would be penalized if I missed.
 
Here are some pics I took with some buddies that played with me a couple weeks ago.....will help get an understanding how tight it is in the spring/summer when the trees are green:

Hole 13, Par 4, Appx 360 yards
208430_2001643166628_1410035290_2368074_3878886_n.jpg


Hole 12, Par 4, Approx 430 yards
215733_2001641606589_1410035290_2368067_356655_n.jpg


Hole 17, Par 4, Approx 370 yards
205218_2001645486686_1410035290_2368081_1303995_n.jpg


Hole 9, Par 4, Approx 400 yards
untitled1-1.jpg


Hole 5, Par 3, Approx 185 yards
untitled-4.jpg
 
In the past year and a half I've started to add more variety to what I tee off with - I find myself only hitting the driver 4 or 5 times in certain rounds these days. I tee off with my 3-wood a lot, my 5-wood a lot, sometimes an iron if necessary.

At a local course nearby we have a really interesting hole that brings this debate into play and I love to see how people play it. From the tips, you can lay-up about 220 yards to the end of the fairway. After that, the fairway ends and you dip into a giant grass basin. So, you're still fine and still in play if you blast it into the basin but you're hitting from the rough and uphill to the green (no more fairway on the hole - just the green that is surrounded by some woods). A lot of people that I play with elect to blast a driver down into the basin and attempt to take their chances from there. I, every single time, hit a comfortable lay-up shot down to the end of the fairway. Leaves me with about 130 yards to the pin. I just about always score a birdie or par on this hole. Most everyone I see that hits driver and puts it down in the basin ends up carding a 4 at best, usually a 5 or a 6. Really neat hole - you can't go left off of the tee or you'll end up in the woods. You can't go right or you're stuck dead behind a giant tree and you'll just have to pitch it back into the fairway. So, your only options off of the tee are either a nice, safe, straight lay-up shot or a blast of a drive. I just love holes like this that really make a golfer think.
 
@Nate, Holes 13 and 17 seem like 3w off the tee holes. But hole number 9 looks like a BLAST THE DRIVER OVER THE DOGLEG kind of hole.
 
Snap Hook said:
@Nate, Holes 13 and 17 seem like 3w off the tee holes. But hole number 9 looks like a BLAST THE DRIVER OVER THE DOGLEG kind of hole.
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I agree with you on this one Snap (although I could even go 18 deg hybrid on #17 just to get into better position for that dogleg). #9 looks like a draw hitters paradise. I can't even tell where the fairway is on #12.
 
I was thinking the same thing on twelve, haha. Examined it for a while. Thought it was over the water at first but the tee box doesn't seem to indicate that. So, I'd guess it'd be more to the left in that picture.
 
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