question for good golfers

[fundy]

C'mon boys, play fair!! A description of the hole please???

Uphill par 4, but from a built up raised tee, water hazard about 140 to clear off the tee (not in play), bunker guards the right hand side of the fairway about 120 out, fairway narrows between trees uphil to a decent sized green. OOB left of the fairway all the way up the hole, hedge/ditch right of and behind the green, bunker runs down the left of the green. Green itself has a very big false front and slopes a lot from back to front

 

[fundy]

pretty good apart from no bunker front right, albeit the trees are now starting to overhang the front corner if you go right off the tee at all

 

[sawtooth]

Ok course management question for good players.

If on any par 4 your drive, whatever length you hit it, will leave you an approach shot to the green which is less than a full shot do you still reach for driver?

I'm talking approaches of around 30-70 yards for me. Also assume your driving the ball well and it doesn't bring any extra risk. There's also no chance of reaching the green.

Basically do you drive to get as close as possible or do you only hit tee shots that leave an approach of a certain length or above. I'd be interested in these lay up distances people go for if they do employ the put the driver away strategy.

I personally dont hit shorter for the reason of taking a preferred club next. I may elect to take a bit of the driver or reach for less club if it takes a lot of trouble out of play (Hazards, blocked out by trees, etc).

 

[jdchelsea]

Driver. the only reason not to is if you might find a hazard off the tee (eg fairway bunker) so lay up with a 3-wood.

See the problem is my consistency. I'm starting to really get to grips with my driver but I'm useless from there shorter distances. From 130-100 I'm always confident of getting it close. Problem is if I slightly mess up an approach to the higher distance I can end up a long way from the green with no chance of hitting the green. If I hit driver and don't get it right I'm still close enough to the green to retrieve the situation. If that makes sense.

Option: driver
Struck well-leaves funny wedge distance that I'm terrible from. Normally result bogey
Poorly struck-close enough to recover. Normal result bogey

Option: fairway wood/long iron
Well struck-leaves good yardage that gives me good chance of at least par. Normal result par or even birdie.
Poorly struck-might leave a very long approach that makes getting on the green tricky or impossible. Normal result bogey or worse

 

[Region3]

Get as close as possible.

You have to practice less than full shots with your wedges though. It's no good leaving yourself 50yds then not knowing how to play it.

 

[Oddsocks]

Driver. the only reason not to is if you might find a hazard off the tee (eg fairway bunker) so lay up with a 3-wood.

This!

 

[bobmac]

Get as close as possible.

You have to practice less than full shots with your wedges though. It's no good leaving yourself 50yds then not knowing how to play it.

I agree

 

[JustOne]

From 130-100 I'm always confident of getting it close. Problem is if I slightly mess up an approach to the higher distance I can end up a long way from the green with no chance of hitting the green. If I hit driver and don't get it right I'm still close enough to the green to retrieve the situation. If that makes sense.

It does make sense which is why you should hit driver. We should practice/use it as often as possible. It's got the biggest head and we play it off a nice high tee... how hard can it be?

I'm not sure I would be as confident as you from 130-100yds.... of even HITTING the green let alone being close.

I think you might be simply trying to be too cute with your chipping.... play for the middle of the green if there's any danger whatsoever and 2 putt. If you hole it BARGAIN, if not take your par and move on. Obviously we can't legislate for 3-putting, it happens, but then so do birdies.

Flag on the front? Then try and land it on the pin, it might roll 15ft by but that's a solid birdie chance.... trying to land one in the 8ft of green between front edge and pin is getting too cute... unless the green dramatically runs away from you.

Flag at the back? off the back of a green can be the most penalising so I'd normally play for middle and (hope) at worst it it stops on the back edge.


PLUS it's quite easy to practice 50yd shots... you can rattle off hundreds of them without tiring.

 

[Ian_S]

Get as close as possible.

You have to practice less than full shots with your wedges though. It's no good leaving yourself 50yds then not knowing how to play it.

I'd say this. No matter what your plan is you're nearly always going to be in a situation where you need to play some kind of half shots / pitches / chips.

That said, you should aim to get round in as few strokes as possible. If your 3-wood is more accurate than your driver then you need to weigh up whether the lost distance is made up for by the fact that you are playing fewer shots from the rough.

 

[garyinderry]

depends how strong the wind is but generally i like to get as close to the green as possible. i lay up every time at our par 4 10th. iron can be as from 4 iron - 7 iron depending on wind. theres water left and ob right. i never take any chances. if anything ill err on the side of the water for the obvious reasons.

 

[pbrown7582]

im in the leave yourself 100 yards camp much happier hitting full shot in than half a wedge, there are several holes on my home course which suits this idea and it also takes several fairway bunkers out of play.

 

[boondi]

quite a few holes on my new course is about hitting anything from 3wood to 4iron,hopefully leaving youself a better approach to the green

 

[Smiffy]

Get as close as possible.

You have to practice less than full shots with your wedges though. It's no good leaving yourself 50yds then not knowing how to play it.

Is the correct answer.

 

[Liverbirdie]

It may depend on your wedge play more than your driver play, unless your woeful at driving and dont put yourself in the positions.

Off our normal yellow tees I will take on the par 4/5's:-

I will take driver definitely 8 times.
I will take 3 wood definitely once.
I will swap between driver and 3 wood on 3 holes depending on which length yellow tee/wind/temperature/winter or summer.
I may take a rescue 3 wood or 3 wood on our 16th par 5 (OOB right, OOB/lateral water hazard left) dependent on my score.

I am more than happy hitting 1/2 wedge shots, so generally like to get as close to the green as possible, but our course has 5 doglegs/sharp turns, so you can run out of fairway with straight over 230 yard drives.

I was struggling with my driving last year and my 3 wood was pretty straight so half way through the year, I went with if its up to 400 yards take the 3 wood, over 400 yards take the driver.

I would say get on each tee and think, how can I hit this green in reg, if only a 3 rescue wood and a wedge go with that, for a probable par/potential birdie.

 

[JezzE]

I am a poor full wedge player for my handicap, so would actually go the other way to most here. If I think I can get it down to there to somewhere within 50 yards or so, I would normally go for it if I think I might be able to play some sort of chip and run shot into the green as I'm more confident of getting it close with that type of shot than a 100-yard wedge.
Not great to be no good with a full wedge off 5, but that's the way it is!

 

[CMAC]

Not great to be no good with a full wedge off 5, but that's the way it is!

similar to you Jezze, I've found Luke Donalds masterclass vids on wedge play quite refreshing with a high degree of success, have a look, he must be doing something right as world no1 and short game Master

 

[jammydodger]

I would always go with the driver if as you say there is no trouble to find. Short wedge shots have never held any fear for me as thats what I used to practice most of the time. If you genuinely want to get better at this game then you should not have any fear of any shot. Get out on the range and practice from 100 yards and in until you can commit 100% to every shot with no fear. Then get out on the course and smack that driver as close to the green as possible and rack up some birdies.

 

[FairwayDodger]

If/when I choose to lay up off the tee it's usually to remove the risk of going in a hazard, to try and ensure hitting a tight fairway (more of safety first rather than laying up) or to avoid an awkward (e.g. sloping) spot on the fairway.

All things being even I'd whack my driver as close to the green as I can manage. I'm more likely to get close from 30, 40, 50 yards - whatever - than 100, 110.

I don't think I ever lay up purely to give myself a shot of a specific distance.

 

[bobmac]

I would always go with the driver if as you say there is no trouble to find. Short wedge shots have never held any fear for me as thats what I used to practice most of the time. If you genuinely want to get better at this game then you should not have any fear of any shot. Get out on the range and practice from 100 yards and in until you can commit 100% to every shot with no fear. Then get out on the course and smack that driver as close to the green as possible and rack up some birdies.

I don't know who you are but you're talking a lot of sense

 

[MadAdey]

In my opinion the correct shot is the one that is right for you. If you feel more confident with hitting the 3-wood to leave yourself a better shot then that is the correct one. The 12th at my place is a 345 yard par 4 dogleg. I can take the driver take on the big trees over the dogleg with thick trees if you go to far right, or hte risk of hitting the trees and dropping in them leaving no shot, but hte outcome is htat I can get it 10-20 yards short of the green if I go this way. The option I normally take is a 3-wood to the corner leaving me a 90ish yard shot to the middle of the green. I do this on a few holes at my course as it is the percentage shot. To me course management means taking the percentage shot over the risk and reward shot.