course management

My coach and I started what will probably be a five-year talk last week.  The topic was course management and it’s something that I am just starting to learn as I am finally heading out and playing, albeit from 100 yards, some of the courses around town.

Since I often play at Heron Lakes, I’ll use that course as an example.  The Great Blue course has a rating of 73.2 and slope of 140 (from the black tees), it’s a challenging course that holds tournaments regularly.  It was designed by Robert Trent Jones II and is a links style course, meaning it has a lot wide open fairways filled with rolling hills and bunkers and spots of tall grass.  The first lesson I learned about course management out there was where NOT to hit the ball on each hole.  From 100 yards out, the green typically looks open and inviting, but the flag is often tucked into a corner just past a bunker.  For about the first 10 times I played there I always went straight for the flagstick and except for that random perfect shot, usually ended up in the front bunker or just past the green in a thick mess of rough.

The second hole, in particular, is a tricky placed green.  It’s elevated and the approach fairway is sloping down towards water so us lefties have to hit the ball above our shoes.  In front of the green is a large bunker and behind the green it drops off into a ditch that often has standing water in it.  The flag is usually up front left on a little peninsula of the green.  If you aim for it and slightly overhit or under hit, your in trouble.  But, if you opt to go long and left, you can land in a huge section of green and being relatively flat up there can generally hit an easy two-putt.  Just one hole, but every one has little tricks like that.

Experience is a golfers best friend.  I can imagine how difficult it must be to pick out where NOT to hit a ball on a course you have never played before, especially in a tournament, but I’m sure that after playing for years on courses all over America, professional golfers have a knack for knowing course design.  This is something that I will know and am going to start studying pronto.

After having enough experience landing in trouble and talking with my coach about it, it was pretty obvious that there are times when you just have to lay it up and safely two-putt with a chance to sink that 40-foot lag, which is always a plus.  There are definitely times to get aggressive, but when approaching any new situation, it’s good to weigh your options.

The same is true with anything in life.  You can always play it safe, or opt to hit the home-run.  Just be sure you are ready for the consequences if you stick your ball in a foot of muck 10 yards past the green…

That’s it for course management for now, but this will be a recurring topic as more experience and courses come into play.

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