Course Management and How To Use It To Your Advantage

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Course management is a skill which you can only develop by getting on the golf course and gaining experience. Inevitably you will make mistakes, but by learning from these and trying to avoid them in the future, you will maximize your chances of scoring 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.

Try to think of where you would like your shots to be when you start the hole and play to those positions. Being on the fairway is easier than being in the rough.

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

When playing dog legs it it always tempting to cut off too much. Is is usually a better plan to be too wide off the tee than too narrow as this will ensure that you have a good view of the next shot without obstacles in your path.

Recovery Shots

Even when you plan your positions carefully on a hole we often find that we need to play some kind of ‘escape’ shot. You should always take the safe option - something which wont land you in more trouble - it could be a sideways chip, but if played correctly will get you out of trouble. You should guard against ‘having a go’ unless you are very confident you can play 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.

Course management is the skill of assessing your ability and relating that to the demands of the course correctly. Achieving this to obtain the lowest possible score is what keeps us coming back each week…………………..