Reprinted Articles

Course management is a skill and it’s only by gaining experience and actually getting on the golf course that you will develop your ability in this area. We all make mistakes, but you have to learn in order to avoid making the same mistakes in the future and increase your chance to score well.

You should always play to your strengths.

Positional Play

It may sound logical but always look for the easiest way to the hole. When you are standing on the green, look at the position of the flag. If the flag is on the right edge of the green then coming in from the left side of the fairway will leave the easier shot.

It may be that the hole is near a hazard or a bunker, in which case a shot to the middle of the green will be the sensible play. The flag may be at the top of a slope, if this is the case it is better to play below the pin as this will give you an easier putt.

Before you start to play a hole, imagine where you would like to position your shots to have the easiest journey to the flag. Hitting from the fairway is much easier than hitting from the rough or a bunker.

Hazards

On some holes you may find hazards that you can’t get over. It’s sensible to lay up short in this case. A common error in ‘laying up’ is to use too much club so ending up in the hazard! If you’re going to lay up, then don’t mess with with hazard, choose a club which will allow your ball to finish short of the hazard.

Dog Legs

With the dog leg there is always the temptation to cut off ‘as much as possible’. It is nearly always better to be too wide off the tee than too narrow, as this keeps you out of trouble and gives a better view, without obstacles, around the corner.

Recovery Shots

Very often even when we have carefully planned where we would like the ball to be, we find that an ‘escape’ shot of some sort is required. The safe option is alway best - it may mean you possibly will drop a shot, but better to drop one than make a triple. Don’t ‘have a go’ unless it doesn’t matter, or you are very confident you can make the shot.

Make sure that when you are in a bunker, you take a club with enough loft to get you out. That is after all the whole point - if by trying to make a long shot you cannot get out of the bunker because you land back in it, then it costs you more shots.

You need to assess your ability and correctly play the course according to make the most of that. Getting that elusive score is what keeps us coming back week after week…………….

Tags: Golf