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Do you actually play the hole backwards?

I don't play the hole backwards, but I do think about which side of the fairway might work better for my approach. If the right provides me with a better angle, I'll aim to that side with my drive. Doesn't mean I'll hit it there though.
 
Not backwards necessarily. I forget what thread it was in but I read a comment by Jake, I think and he said that he plays every hole from the 150 stake. I read that and thought is was a pretty good idea and adopted my own way of doing so. I try to play the shorter par 4s by putting myself within 120-130 yards. I am really comfortable with a PW in my hand and seem to be able to control the distance with it. Did it result in a dramatic drop in scores? No, but it has been a more consistent way of playing for me.
 
JRod said:
I used to.

Now I just bomb and gouge .


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Sadly, this is me as well. If the hole doesn't have much trouble off of the tee, I'm trying to get as close to the green as possible for my second shot. The only time I'll gear down is if a regular driver shot is going to leave me less than 70 yards, I don't like the 30-70 yard shots into greens. The other time I'll gear down is if there is trouble past the 150 yard stake, in that case I'll try to play to the 150 yard stake.
 
My main goal off of every tee is too avoid hazards and trouble at all costs. Once I've determined where I DON'T want to be I'll make a quick judgement and decide if hitting 5 wood or 4 hybrid could put me in a better position than driver.

So I guess the answer is No, I don't play the hole backwards. I don't hit my 8i better than my PW and I'm usually solid with a wedge in hand.
 
I tried it, but the greens keeper got upset with me teeing up next to the flag. And the foursomes behind me weren't happy either. :bananadance:

Seriously I should do a better job of thinking it through backwards, but sometimes bomb and gouge is what I end up with.
 
Not really. I don't mind anything from 7i and in, so as long as I can get it in the fairway I'm happy.
 
Played a long par 5 (#18) as such. Driver in the fairway (250ish). 7 iron around a dog leg and then a 6 iron to the back of the green. Chipped up and tapped in for a par. Definitely changed the way I approached this hole this time and parred it for the first time ever. This is a good and interesting thread that shows there is more than 1 way to play a hole.
 
Based on the Golf Digest handicap tracker I am a 12.1 now... been as low as an 11 and as high as a 15 in the last 3 years...

For me...the majority of the time I am always better off getting as close to the green as I safely can. On a rare layout I will play a hole backwards...and on really tight window tee shots I will take a more controllable club, but probably less than 1% of the time do I intentionally lay up to a certain number...no matter how deadly I am with my 7 iron that day I am still more likely to get closer with a 9 iron-gap wedge... and I would much rather play a 25 yard running pitch than lay up to a full pitching wedge distance.... if there is trouble in the vicinity of where my longer shot may land I will play short of it. Religiously playing a hole backwards never has improved my scoring, but it has put more pressure on my putting and greenside chipping.
 
When my college team would chart the courses back in the day before any tech or readily available course info, we always walked the course backwards from 18th green. I found it useful as I planned how to play each hole.
 
Well I haven't been doing much good lately playing frontwards so maybe I'll try this... be kinda weird to start on the green and hit it toward the tee box but I'll try anything to get my score down. Questions:

* Does the course mind that sometimes I take a big divot with my driver - since I'm teeing up on the green I thought maybe they might object.
* You tee it up forward of the flag stick or is that just for ladies?
* When you putt out on the tee box is the idea to just hit the ball into the marker? You use the white ones or the red ones?
* What do you do if someone is on the tee box you're hitting toward? How surprised are they when they see a group on the tee box suddenly break out the big sticks and hit it AT THEM?!

Like I said, I've never thunk of doing this but it seems workable. Usually the tee box isn't surrounded by sand so that ought to help my score right there! A lot of people say I'm pretty backwards anyway so BACKWARDS GOLF HERE I COME!
 
I always try to play backwards, GPS makes this so much easier. For me I like to be 100-150 for my shot to the green, I hate being in "Half wedge" zone. So I absolutely base my shots on where I want to attack the green from. Example hokes in the 350 range I usually would use a 5 wood or even down to my 4 iron to tee off depending on the hazards. Id' rather be be 110 out in the fairway than 75 out in the rough. 500 yard par 5... 220 5 wood 220, 5 iron 180, leaves 100 to the green.

I say all that but how often do I ignore it and grip and rip the driver... Too often!
 
It's really interesting to see the comments and then look at the handicap. Thanks for the input, I found the notion of playing the holes like a par 3 very interesting also.
 
I try to position my approach shot (layup) to between 115 and 105 yards. That is the distance of my U wedge and I am very accurate with it. 7 times out of 10 I can stick it on the green from that distance.
 
I know I should, but I prefer to get as close as I can as long as there isn't a reason to play safe, such as water, sand, stupid heavy rough, etc. If I were to take less than driver off the tee and hit say a 4H to get to a number, I could chunk that and not be as far had I messed up the driver the same way and I'll be taking a fairway wood anyway. So since I like to hit driver and fairway woods, I'll stick with those.

Probably not the greatest argument to not playing to a number but it's what I got.
 
I do look at par 5's becoming a par 4 or a par 3 after the tee shot and play it as such. Same with a par 4. With a good drive it is now a short par 3.
 
blugold said:
I usually play backwards, especially if it's a course I have never played before.
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Joe, you are aware you're not actually supposed to tee off from the green right??? :alien:
 
When I'm playing well... I find myself attempting to get to an 8 iron distance (145 or so). Unfortunately, because I haven't played all that much recently, I find myself just looking for gaps in the trees to get the ball back into the fairway after my tee shots.

I used to be really comfortable with a 7 iron in my hand... and it was my 150 yard club, so I'd seek out the 150 yard marker on each hole... and if it meant hitting a hybrid or 4 iron off the tee, I'd do that. Somewhere along the line, my 7 iron became a 'scared' club for me... and I found myself hitting driver off of most tees unless I could reach trouble at the end of a fairway.

Ultimately, if I'm playing a par 4 of 400 or more yards, I'm hitting driver and typically left with either a 6 iron, 7 iron or 8 iron. Par 5 holes, especially those of 520 or less... I'm trying to kill my driver and hope I get to within 230 yards where I can attempt to reach with my 3 wood. More times than not, that puts me in trouble and I'm punching out of woods again.

So... I should probably play the holes backwards more often and I'd almost certainly watch my scores drop.
 
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