Course management the key?

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masterosouffle

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I'm having a bit of a rollercoaster time on the course at the moment and have come to the conclusion my head is wrecking my cards! For example last Sunday I had 4 birdies, missed an eagle chip by an inch (and the 3ft returning birdie putt lipped out), but in the middle of the round I blobbed 3 holes on the trot and ended up with 37 points off 18hcp - now this should have been a great round / score but was ruined by bad decisions.
So, back to the question - what is the best way to get to grips with course management? (I'm very good at realising what I should have done rather than what I should do). What has worked for you? Are there any good books on the subject? A great video? Is a course lesson worthwhile? Or is it purely down to experience...
 
Course management for me summed up is

Play to your strengths , the impossible shot is impossible for a reason , understand your limitations. Always understand that will always have a second option when playing every shot IMO

If you apply that to how you plot round a course I don't think you will go far wrong.
 
Don't take risks. Off 18 you don't need to go for any shot that could have serious consequences.
If you have a tough tee shot on a par 4, hit a 7 iron and play for a 5.
Work on your putting pace to limit 3 putts etc.
 
To me it was pretty simple. Buy a course yardage book for your course and get three sharpies.

Highlight ::

green areas (places where it's easiest to make par)
Yellow/other color ( where you can make par/ bogey at worst)
Red ( places where par is impossible / bogey is best outcome)

From here you know exactly what areas to avoid at all costs, and what are best to aim for. Natural shot shape will put a completely different view on this for most people , but it takes your nightmare holes away very quickly.

Also it's good to identify holes where potential trouble lerks, long par 4's with water/deep rough that you struggle to carry is a prime example. Laying up for your second and chipping on its almost a certain bogey with an almost Sure bogey. Miss in deep rough and it's lost ball 2 or 3 shot drop at worst .

I've also found playing par 5's as 5's is a great way to gain shots back. Most par 5's have trouble where most people's second shot would land, lay up before that and wedge in.

On the par 5's alone taking that approach knocked 3 shots off my hc last season season although I did go back up one , and I had more birdies from it!
 
My course management has improved massively and it was on show today and what made it better for me today was, a player was doing what I used to do, he couldn't reach the green, or he might do 2 from 10 but still reached for the biggest club in his bag and either double if treble bogied, meanwhile I played up short of the hazards, chipped close to the flag and was par putting most the round, only the greens and par 3's cost me today having a great score, I've stopped the hero shots and play to my limitations which will pay dividends this year, why, because it's the #YOTF 👍😉🏌
 
Oddsocks said:
To me it was pretty simple. Buy a course yardage book for your course and get three sharpies.

Highlight ::

green areas (places where it's easiest to make par)
Yellow/other color ( where you can make par/ bogey at worst)
Red ( places where par is impossible / bogey is best outcome)

From here you know exactly what areas to avoid at all costs, and what are best to aim for. Natural shot shape will put a completely different view on this for most people , but it takes your nightmare holes away very quickly.

Also it's good to identify holes where potential trouble lerks, long par 4's with water/deep rough that you struggle to carry is a prime example. Laying up for your second and chipping on its almost a certain bogey with an almost Sure bogey. Miss in deep rough and it's lost ball 2 or 3 shot drop at worst .

I've also found playing par 5's as 5's is a great way to gain shots back. Most par 5's have trouble where most people's second shot would land, lay up before that and wedge in.

On the par 5's alone taking that approach knocked 3 shots off my hc last season season although I did go back up one , and I had more birdies from it!
Click to expand...

Good post :thup:
 
Liverpoolphil said:
Good post :thup:
Click to expand...

Cheers Phil, a good playing partner was stuck on 28 despite hitting a pretty solid ball, six months on he's off 21 and I reckon by the end of this summer he will be closer to 14. If he halves his hc in 12 months I don't think that's bad going.

You can think yourself out of trouble, but you can't unthink with the same result :thup:
 
Cheers for the replies guys, some great advice that will endeavour to put it in to action this weekend.
Play a tight little course with a game more suited to long open ones... It is set in 3 fields dissected by road and rail with the sea even coming into play on one hole, just worked out 12 of 18 holes have one side as OOB with a further one has it on both sides!
 
Some good tips here.



What actually happened with the 3 blanks? did they come from poor course management or just some poor shots?
 
I'm the same H/C as you and whilst my course management has improved I still make mistakes, I shoot a gross 90 the other day which was good for this time of year.

But on one of our par 4s I went for the green for my second shot with a 3wood,this hole has a water hazard running right across the front of the green,needless to say I ended up in the water and carded a 6 ,now if I only choose a different club I would have left a relatively easy chip and possibly got a par but at worst a 5 which would have helped me to break 90.

This shoot is around 4/10 success for me so I shouldn't really take it on, as I've been on the green before it's hard to get out of the mindset of not going for it.

I've been playing long enough now and should know better, so it's about, as others have said disciplineing yourself not to go for the glory shots, if only I could take my own advice;)

Good luck with your game.
 
Last edited:
I questioned this the other month. I get on my course and want to smash it, so much so sometimes I nearly put my back out.
However, in Mauritius I played one of the toughest courses I have ever played and course managed the course to an extent that I kicked its backside. Laid up when I had to and chipped/ pitched on for three, one or two putted Andersen was only one winner. Me.
So why don't I do it on my course.
 
HomerJSimpson said:
He and I have a little challenge on. He's certainly got the bit between his teeth and I think he's going to have a big year and give me a lot to deal with
Click to expand...
Thats not going to be to hard for Mr Fish is it, you're going up and he is coming down :rofl:
 
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