Course Management

- The first thing every golfer should do is play the hole backwards in their mind, starting from the green and moving back to the tee shot.

Introduction
Think about the best, or safest, part of the green to try and place your ball from the approach. This will either give you the best chance at a birdie or allow the greatest chance of two-putting. When weighing this option, also think about the best place to miss, if you indeed dont hit the shot as planned. You want to give yourself the best chance of getting up and down. Make sure you have plenty of green between you and the hole. If you short side yourself, the percentage for par declines and, conversely, leads to a bigger number. Move further back to the approach shot. Where is the best spot on the hole to hit your approach shot from? Ideally, you would like to play from the flattest area with the best angle to the pin. Do you have a favorite club or yardage that would improve your ability to hit the shot you are attempting? Do you work the golf ball one way or another? How would your ball flight effect the shot? These are the questions you must ask yourself. Finally, the proper tee shot sets everything up for the player. On every par-4 and par5, dont necessarily hit driver off the tee. Allow the holes design to dictate your course of action. If its a tighter hole and you dont feel comfortable with the driver (or even the 3-wood), there is no shame in hitting an iron off the tee for placement. Remember, you are trying to place the ball in the best position possible. If an iron does that for you, hit it! Give yourself the best chance to hit the green. To give yourself the best chance of hitting the fairway or green, you must aim at a small target. I prefer my players pick something in the backdrop, a tree for example. The smaller the object, the narrower your focus will be. This will help you pull off the shot.

Much of this sounds relatively easy, but I find that most players never develop any type of game plan before a round. Most of the time when I ask players, Whats your target? I get the response, the fairway" or the green or sometimes the dreaded, not too sure! None of those answers will lead to success. You must narrow your focus, create a game plan, and stick to it. Getting stronger mentally leads to more confidence and lower scores. Look for the Natural W ater Always take a look and know where the natural water is. Don't be fooled by man made reservoirs that were added after course construction. By natural, I mean the creeks, ponds, lakes, and gullies where water is most apt to run to. Almost all courses are designed to repel water for drainage purposes. Old style courses or vintage golf course architects always forced their courses to drain to the natural water collection areas. Modern golf courses are designed similar however this is much more

subtle. Modern courses use drainage or collection areas where water is forced to go, and taken away by drainage systems/piping to the nearest natural water. The

importance of this is that all golf balls that find and roll on land will tend to travel towards the natural waterways. This is most affected on approach shots and short game shots. If you're on the green and can't determine the break, look for natural water, and the ball will most likely travel towards it.

Hole Location A great habit to get into before you put the tee in the ground on any hole is to take a good look at where the flag is on the green. I believe good scoring comes from knowing your angles. When you stand on the tee and see a flag positioned in the back left corner or left side of the green, the best angle to approach will be from the right side of the fairway or even the right rough. Of course the opposite is true if the flag is on the right, best angle is from the left side. In the professional ranks, the seasoned pros, always use this technique as it gives them the best chance to hit it close on approach or at the

very least minimize the damage incurred from a poor shot. I love seeing big hitters wail away and fire a drive 50 yards from the green and have a tricky shot over a bunker to a green sloping away from them, because generally I'm on the opposite side with a clear shot and nothing in my way. Again, golf is not only a game of inches, but also angles. Do a little homework and find the best angle to attack the flag.

Par 5 Scoring is Essential I like to think of par 5's as really short par 3's. Why you ask? Because If I have the ability to hit two consecutive shots over 200 yards I will be left with 100 yards or less into a 500-yard par 5. I just covered a lot of yards in that last sentence, but just think how well you would score if every par 3 you played was 120 yards or less. Extremely long hitters make these into 30-yard par 3's and with any kind of short game they should birdie over 50% of the par 5's they play. These longer holes are truly the scoring holes; they're the reason for long hours working on a short game. If I can hit two shots and get close to the green, I now rely on getting a ball up and in for birdie. I think it's imperative to hit up as far as possible on a Par 5 as it gives you the best chance to make birdie or at least minimize the damage. If you know your angles and where to attack a hole location, par 5's should make for the least amount of stress in your round.

Approach the Green Knowing your Uphill Spots If you play the same golf course on a regular basis or have experience playing a golf course year in and year out, you probably have a great idea of how the greens slope from hole to hole. Experience plays a large role in this part of course management and this is the reason for practice rounds or yardage books when it comes to competition. If I know exactly how the green slopes i.e. back to front, front to back, right to left etc. I can then determine where to attempt to place my shot on the green to give myself the straightest uphill putt. In golf the most make able putt for right handed players, is the uphill breaking slightly right to left putt and the opposite is true for left handed players. If a player can give himself the majority of his birdie and par putts from that spot and

angle, we will see some dramatically lower scores. I sometimes prefer chipping uphill rather then putting downhill from the opposite side. When looking at a green, the best option may not be to hit it in the middle. Find the most uphill spot to a particular hole location and attempt to hit it there. Sometimes this is not an option, due to being forced to play to a particular side or area of the green. However, when the opportunity presents itself, don't be afraid to play aggressive and attack the flag to find the straight uphill spot. Be Decisive and Confident This is the most important aspect to course management. Trusting your decision, being confident while playing the particular shot, and finally accepting your decision. When you get a yardage make sure you do a little math and find three yardages when you're getting ready to play your approach shot. With range finders this is a little easier, but I still see most people not utilizing them properly. To create the most decisive play and confident swing, one must know three yardages. For example, if you find yourself 145 yards to the middle of the green (most markers are to the middle of the green), we then must determine the yardage to the flag and either the yardage to the front or back of the green, depending on where the flag is located. If the green is 40 yards deep and the pin is 6 yards from the back edge that means you have +14 yards to the flag and +20 yards to the back edge. When selecting a club, we must make sure the minimum we hit it is 145 yards and the maximum is 165 yards. Therefore your 155-yard club would be ideal. I see so many players in this situation, select a club that will go maximum 145 yards, mishit it, land it 130 yards and have a nice 90 foot putt or long pitch/bunker shot. With the use of range finders, I see lots of players just zap the flag and disregard the yardage to carry bunkers, water, back of green, front of green, and middle of the green. Knowing the proper yardage and getting a firm number in your head, with the club you know will cover that yardage, makes for a much quieter mind. In the end you will become decisive and much more confident with all parts of your game.

Not hitting enough club on approach shots I think this stems from not knowing how far each club carries to begin with. I encourage

you to find someone who has a launch monitor and do a mapping session. Most golfers rely on their absolute best-shot distance instead of their average, which doesnt leave room for a slight miss hit. Make a card with your distances for reference. Aim ing at every flag no m atter what I use the stop light color code system when coaching students around the course. There are three types of flags. 1) red a flag that is tucked behind a bunker or a water hazard or that is very close to the edge of one side. 2) yellow this is an exposed pin that is closer to the front or the back of the green. It will bait you into trying to get it close but you have to make sure to take the correct club. 3) Green This is a flag that is in the middle of the green or is very accessible for the ball to land and stop. These are Go Zone opportunities. There are typically about 6 of these per round so take advantage of these. For the average golfer (15-25 handicap) you will be well served to play to the largest part of the green and take your chances. You will be amazed at how your scores will decrease. Hitting Driver On Every Hole There is no rule that you have to hit driver on every par 4 or 5. It is important to know your strengths and weaknesses and driving can be a key weakness if you dont play smart. Everyone has certain holes that you struggle with at our home course. My advice is to change your strategy. Hit a fairway wood or a hybrid off the tee and see if your scores dont improve. You must have room to miss your tee ball and still keep it in play. If the hole is super tight, play a shot that you know that you can get in play 80% of the time even if you give up a little distance. Dont let your playing partners dictate your game plan. Stick to it! Trying To Play the Hero Shot One of my NEVERs in course management is never hit two bad shots in a row if you can help it. This usually refers to trouble shots. You have pushed your tee shots into the trees and have to decide on what to do. 1) Hit an 80-yard slice with a hybrid through a 6foot gap just to hit the green or 2) punch out into the fairway in the large gap that you could drive your truck through. Most players choose #1 just because they saw

Bubba Watson do it in the Masters. No. Take your medicine and eliminate the big number. Wedge it on and try to make par the hard way, but take double or worse out of the equation. Putting To the Apex of the Putt As an Aimpoint Green reading instructor, this is a huge pet peeve. I am not going to go into this as it could become an entire article but I hear this constantly from golfers when asked to read a putt. The apex is the top of the curve on a breaking putt. If you Aim at the apex, your ball will begin to break early in the putt and always miss low and will never make it to the Apex. The apex is an area that ball will roll through if the ball is started on the correct line. My advice is twofold 1) Take an AimPoint Class and 2) Play 20% more break than you think and you will come out ahead in the long run. You always want the ball breaking toward the hole. If you under read your putts, you must hit the ball too hard or miss on the low side and have no chance. Not taking advantage of the teeing ground After you have picked your target off the tee, I would suggest you tee off on the side that you dont want to miss it. For example You have a par 4 with water down left side. Tee of on the left side of box, which will open up your target area Using Too M uch Loft Around the Green There are times when you must play your toss shots up in the air over obstacles. But there are many more times when you have lots of green between you and hole and you still hit it up in the air and come up short. Dont be one-dimensional. Learn to use your gap wedge to hit toss shots and learn to use less lofted clubs and hybrids to hit the higher percentage shots. Know your strengths and weaknesses For higher handicappers, I suggest that you find your favorite club that you can hit into the air just about every time. Fairway woods are difficult to hit off of the ground for most players. It is OK to hit your tee shot, hit 2 seven irons up to the green and finish the hole. Work on your weaknesses on the practice range and have fun shooting lower scores. I once had a twice a year golfer shoot 43 during a playing lesson by hitting his 7 wood off

the tee, 7 iron until you reached the green and pitched it on and made many pars and bogeys. There is no blueprint. Letting A Bad Shot Ruin Your Round Its easier said than done but you must have an effective post shot routine. You all get upset over bad shots but when they carry over for several holes then you have a problem. I allow my students 10 seconds to be angry and once that club goes back into the bag you focus on the next shot. This takes practice but it will pay off in the long run. Carrying Too M any Negative Thoughts or Swing Thoughts into the Play Box (address position) You have all heard how important a pre-shot routine is in helping you stay focused on the shot at hand. Here is what I recommend. As you are standing behind the ball and preparing to play, ask yourself 2 questions1) Where is my target? and 2) How do I want my ball to get there? This will help you block out distractions and help you focus on the whats important. Once you get into the play box, check your target, visualize the shot and Dont Forget To Breathe

Course M anagem ent Tips Have a gam e plan. Plan your strategy according to your ability. Less than 1% of all golfers have shot even par or better. Measuring your performance against par is a set-up for failure for the average golfer. Decide which holes you can par and which you can bogey, etc. and set your own par on each hole. In match play, play your own game and the golf course, not your opponent. In a scramble, you will probably want to swing all out, unless at least one other ball is not in a good position. In a stroke play tournament, you will want to play consistently and perhaps conservatively. On a team playing for one best ball, you might want to think about the best ways to make birdies.

M anage your m ental gam e. Use the same pre-shot routine on every shot. You will have more consistent results if your routine is consistent. Then your brain will know exactly what you want to do. Be positive. Be decisive. Indecision is the enemy of golfers. There are many ways to be indecisive, not just in club selection. Make a mental blueprint of your path to the hole. Decide on a specific target area for each shot and aim at it. Believe in your ability to hit it there! Manage your misses. If you hit five to seven shots per round just the way you want, that is a great achievement. The rest of your shots should be playable, or good misses. Don't dwell on a bad shot; concentrate on the shot at hand and stay focused. Then you can turn it around quickly. Eliminate tension. If too many thoughts are going on in your mind, you become tense. Make up your mind where and how you are going to hit the shot and just do it! When you get over the ball, all of your thoughts and emotions should be on the ball and where you are going to hit it. Manage your time in between shots. Since playing the ball only takes about 10 minutes in a four-hour round, decide how you will spend the time between shots to keep yourself in a positive frame of mind, loose and relaxed. Stick to your game plan. If you are behind, don't press and try harder. Be patient. Make up your mind that everything happened to help you. Plan to finish well. Most tournaments are won or lost on the last three holes. Play your game. Let your opponents match your performance.

Position your long shots Aim for the side of the fairway that opens up the approach to the green. Carefully balance what you are risking against the reward. When you plan your shot, allow for a margin of error. Play the percentages Know your best lay-up distance. Know when, and how to lay up. Don't try to hit it as close to the green as possible leaving a three-quarter wedge shot. Leave 80 to

100 yards to make a full swing. On long approach shots, aim for the center of the green. Short par fours usually have subtle trouble. Use less than a driver for position play. Hit your tee shot to a full shot distance into the green.

Plan your shots to the green Check the pin placement. There are usually six "sucker" pins, six easy pins and six medium pin placements. Hit to the pin when it is in the middle of the green. When there are "sucker" pin placements tucked behind the bunker or on a shallow part of the green, hit to the middle. Take enough club to hit over the greenside bunkers. Put approach shots below the hole on a course with fast, undulating greens. It is almost always better to leave yourself below the hole when possible.

On short approach shots go for the flag. Divide the green into thirds or quarters and get the ball into the right segment for the best chance at a one-putt.. If your shot is half way between clubs, use the longer club and choke down an inch or so. Master one approach shot so you can play it under pressure. Choose one approach shot you are comfortable with; pitch and run, chip shot, lob shot, etc. Don't try and execute a shot you don't know how to hit or have any confidence in.

Use the putter from off the green for highest percentage shot. Most people think their worst putt is as good as their best chip shot. If you putt to four feet you think you have hit a poor putt, but if you chip to four feet, it feels good. Play every shot you can with the putter just to get it close enough for a one putt.

Think carefully to get out of trouble Be prepared for bad shots and bad breaks. Let go of bad shots and bad breaks as they are over and done. Stay confident and focused to hit the next shot.

W hen in trouble, m aintain your equilibrium . Take your time to figure out all your options, what the percentage shot is, what you have confidence doing and carefully exercise your pre-shot routine. Take the shortest route out of trouble.

Look to see where the trouble is. Then turn your attention to where you want the ball to go. If your last look or thought is the trouble, there's a good chance that is where your ball will end up.

M ake sure you get the ball out of a fairway bunker. Look at the lip of the bunker and make sure you have a club with enough loft to get over the lip.