overpowering the course not the best way to go?

**imtomtomim** · April 27, 2010

One of my favorite courses to play is the little 9 hole loop at my alma mater. 7 par 4's and 2 par 3's. All considerably short. Sounds pretty easy, wide open, pretty flat greens, no hazards, and only a few bunkers. However, I have seen this course give so much trouble to some incredible players. Anyways, I have the distance to hit 5 of those greens or get very close. The predicament is that it's difficult to hit greens like that all the time and a lot of times I'd rather not swing out of my shoes for every hole so I'm getting distances between 30-80 yards away, sometimes to the sides. I'm starting to realize that's a zone I almost never want to shoot in as those partial shots are harder to dial in giving me inconsistent and streaky results on the course.

Does anyone else make sure that their second shots on par 4's are full swings and notice better results in scoring? On short par 4's do you try to put your tee shot at your comfort yardage, or just try to get as close to the hole as possible?

**saevel25** · April 27, 2010

When ever i try to lay back on golf holes i end up playing worse off. I tried to take a mid-iron on a short hole once and put it behind a tree, when i know if i just blast it far enough i can get past all the trouble. I rather play my game, long ball. Its my advantage and if i am smart i would go practice more on my wedge game to really make it money. But you got to play what you think you can score best with. If you have troube with half shots then try to play your tee shots to an exact yardage. You are on a 320 par 4, if you know your 9 can go 120, hit your 200 yard club. Me, i will take my driver ;b

**ERdiesel** · April 27, 2010

You are on a 320 par 4, if you know your 9 can go 120, hit your 200 yard club. Me, i will take my driver ;b

Depends on how i'm doing that day. 1) If i'm driving well, i would just bomb it as far as I can and then pitch/chip onto the green 2) If i'm not driving very well but my iron play is on, I will work backwards so that i can have an approach shot with a yardage that i can hit consistently with a high degree of accuracy, i.e. 150 yards for example. So i would tee off with a mid iron and knock it onto the fairway only a 170 yards or so, and then onto the green from the 150 yard mark. Of course, with my handicap, i'm still pretty inconsistent, so my course management philosophy is very much day to day depending on what i'm hitting well and what i'm not, but usuallly when i'm not driving well, i will lay off the driver a bit and really focus more on course management where i work backwards. if i'm driving well, i'll just bomb it and hit an approach shot wherever the ball lands. I've read several articles that say that one should always work backwards from the green to leave themselves an approach shot with the highest % of landing on the green though......................

**Woters** · April 27, 2010

Im afraid its hit it with the boomstick on nearly every par4 I have ever played, only 1 or 2 holes have I deliberately laid up to give me a full pitch in. Id rather hit it as far as possible & give myself 6iron or 9 iron into the green depending on length than try to hit a specific yardage. Play the ball as it lies, & know how far you hit each club is my way to play.

**GaijinGolfer** · April 27, 2010

You think in way so that you are playing the hole backwards. That way you dont end up with weird yardages and can hit a full shot into the green. It can sometimes be difficult to be consistant with your distance on partial swings.

Keg0brew · April 27, 2010

IMHO, this brings up one of the biggest areas of improvement for 99% of golfers and yet one that relatively few people discuss....course management.

For me personally, I never play a shot based on yardage remaining, I always play instead based on margin for error. Its a different way to play a course than many amateurs are used to, but it saves strokes from day one....even for those who are not very good at half swing shots.

I always play for a miss. Where do I want my ball to end up worst case? I always aim for the fat part of the fairway and fat part of the green. I don't short side myself. Sure, I make less birdies and eagles than peers of the same ability, but I make far less bogies and higher. I score better, because I take the blowup hole out of the equation.

Once I moved to this strategy, I dropped by handicap by 4-5 shots. I basically took 2 blow-up holes that would have been double bogeys or worse, out of play and guaranteed myself no worse than bogey on every hole.

**delav** · April 27, 2010

IMHO, this brings up one of the biggest areas of improvement for 99% of golfers and yet one that relatively few people discuss....course management.

Hit the nail on the head. Learning to leave a full swing (or comfy distance for a pitch) helped my scoring tremendously.

**saevel25** · April 27, 2010

Well i guess its knowing the course, i know the holes i can let it fly with out worrying about any major issues. So i would head from there, knowing the course and knowing your limitations.

**microcrayfish** · April 28, 2010

For me personally, I never play a shot based on yardage remaining, I always play instead based on margin for error.

That's the way I play too. I don't think about how far I'll have left in when choosing what club to hit off the tee, I pick whatever club is going to get me on the fairway in a good position. Usually that means leaving the driver in the bag and hitting from further out but even on short holes I will often still hit a shorter club and give myself a 50 yard pitch, rather than risk putting one in the trees for a chance at making the green.

**Arrogant_Kid** · April 28, 2010

I don't care what distance I have left. I'm very comfortable with all of my clubs and yardages. Except 230. I HATE that distance.
Anyways, I play by margin for error. Take the blow up holes out.

**laxbballgolf** · April 28, 2010

I don't care what distance I have left. I'm very comfortable with all of my clubs and yardages. Except 230. I HATE that distance.

Hahaha funny, I love 230 right now. I've just had a few good shots in a row from that distance...

Anyway, to answer the original question, I almost always try to leave myself as close to the hole as possible. Sure, I will adjust based on course management concerns (maybe the fairway is huge 100 yards away and really skinny up near 50 yards away), but if you hold all other things equal, I want to be as close to the hole as possible. I don't mind partial wedge shots at all, and I figure the closer I am to the hole, the closer I'll be able to hit the next shot. It makes sense to me (if you miss by the same % or number of degrees or whatever, it will translate to less total yards the closer you are), and I am pretty sure I've seen some statistics supporting this stance somewhere else on this site.

**Fairway_CY** · May 2, 2010

For the last 2 years or so... I played to the 150 marker. I knew that if I was between 140 and 150, I had a pretty good shot of getting it on the green, and if I DIDN'T hit the green... I wouldn't be far off. It was pretty much whatever club got me to 150 yards out... and then a 7 iron for me on par 4 holes. This year... my driver is a good 25-30 yards beyond what it was in previous years... so I'm now playing to get anywhere from 150 to about 100 yards. Again... I know my clubs (PW, 9 Iron, 8 Iron, 7 Iron) will get me on or around the green.

If I'm playing a par 5... my goal (if I have no shot in getting there in 2) is to try and leave my FAVORITE distance, which right now is 70 yards. That's a perfect sand wedge for me and from that distance, I'm almost guaranteed to be inside 20 feet unless I skull it or something. Problem is... I've been running in to a LOT of issue with par 5 tee shots, so by the time I GET to my 70 yard shot... I'm already hitting 5 and playing for double bogey by that point.

My game has been improving by leaps and bounds over the course of the last month to two months... but where I REALLY need work is off the tee. I'm either hitting it 265 yards... or 80 yards. I seem to top a LOT of shots. I THINK I've got that figured out (teeing the ball up a little higher allowed me to hit 10 of 13 fairways in my last round).

So... to answer the OP... yes, I believe that playing from the green back is a good strategy. If I attempt to overpower the course... I get myself in a lot of trouble, which leads to much higher scores.

CY

**delav** · May 2, 2010

60 yard approaches are tough.

**sean_miller** · May 2, 2010

60 yard approaches are tough.

Why is that?

**soloredd** · May 2, 2010

I try to play each hole figuring distance on a shot to the green but like was said earlier, I play to my misses (which right now is a hook). I have a great draw swing going but it can hook on me once I get to my 6 and 5 irons so I have to be careful about those 160-180 yard shots. If I have a lot of fairway to work with I'll aim right side as a safe bet. If it's rather narrow I will lay up.

I'm playing a course tomorrow that has 2 par 3s around 170. Now, what I have decided to do is go for front of green, which is about 155. I'm fine with a 2 putt and I'm even ok if I'm just off the green. Trying to go 170 though gets me in trouble. I think I can knock off a significant amount of strokes like this.

**mtsalmela80** · May 2, 2010

Nice topic. For me, on short par fours, I always pull the long stick, just in hopes of saying "I drove the green on a par 4!!".

However if I really am trying to score, on something like a 300 yard par 4, for the best chance of scoring, I would be best hitting a 200 yard shot, and then an easy 9 or PW into the green.

Perfect example. Yesterday we get to a short par 4, about 290 or so. I have the best drive of my day, measuring 255 with gps golfshot, and then I totally blade a AW 50 yards PAST the green. There I end up with a terrible lie in some brush, and blade it 40 or so yards past the other side of the green with the same club end up with an 8. Now if I hit a 200 yard shot, I would be able to play a 9 or PW and ease it on to the green, and even if I bladed it it would probably not go too far past the green from 90-100 yards.

**delav** · May 2, 2010

Why is that?

For me, 60 yards is a finesse shot and the lie can play into the shot quite a bit. If I can, I prefer to have a full swing 60 or 56 into the green.

**upah** · May 4, 2010

For me, it depends on the shape of the hole and the size of the landing area. If hitting driver means a 10 yard landing area versus 30 yards for a 3 iron, I'll hit the iron. This past week I drove the green on a 287 yd par 4. It had a slight dogleg left and was wide open up tp the green. No problems hitting driver and I was fortunate enough to make a good shot. Naturally, i three-putted, but that's a different story...

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