The best advice I can give higher handicappers... Course Management

[onthehunt526]

I play with and see a lot of high handicappers, who make solid contact who just make dumb dumb decisions on par fives especially...

Lets say we have a hypothetical 520-yard, par 5...

And Joe a 15-handicapper averages 250 yards from the tee... and has a good wedge game... but doesn't always play to his strengths...

This hole has a pond in front of the green, and is well bunkered...

Joe hits his drive... down the middle of the fairway about 260 yards, he has about 240 yards to the front of the green and 225 to carry the water, and 180 to the water... what should he do

A) Hit a 3-wood and hope to clear the water, and bound up near the green
B) Hit a 6 or 7 iron short of the water and play a delicate half-wedge shot into the green.
C) Hit a 9-iron or pitching wedge and leave about 100-110 yards and a pitching or gap wedge to the green...
D) Something else...

Let me know what you think Joe should do... and after I get some feedback... I'll tell you what he should do

[mapa94]

I would try to leave myself a 100-110 yard shot over a risky 3 wood or delicate wedge shot so I vote c)

[juanrjackson]

I vote "C". Or take a 8 iron & leave him/her seelf 80-90 yard shot wedge shot.

[picrig]

I also vote (c). That setup sounds pretty similar to my game. We actually have a similar hole at my home course. It's about 480 from the middle tees, double dogleg, with water guarding the front of the green. Hit a little fade off the tee and I'm usually left with about 200-215. Now, I could pull out a 3I and go for the green, and I'll admit, I've gotten it on the green on multiple occasions (but I miss it more often), but I've found the much smarter play is for me to go 3W off the tee, leave myself 230ish, hit a 9I to about 100-110, and then leave myself an easy PW to the green. I've birdied the hole more often like that then going for the green in 2.

[Stacey_E]

I vote D, something else. If he has 240 to the front/ 260 to middle (520-260=260) he probably has at least 280 to the back. I would want this guy to take a club on his third shot that when struck perfectly puts him on the back of the green, so he doesn't force a club and top or fat it in the water. He has 180 to the water, so I wouldn't want to push that either in case he got a hot bounce or thinned it.

Have him hit his 150 yard club so he doesn't have the water all in view on his third shot. Then have him hit whatever club left him on the back of the green with a dead solid perfect shot. If he plays this way he still has a chance for bird, a good chance at par no excuse for worse than bogie. If he misses the green that good wedge game he has will keep him from going double bogie and might save par.

[bogeyhitter25]

No doubt that I would say C). It's just the logical thing to do.

[M2R]

I'd go with C but I personally don't have a decent wedge game. I'd rather lay up to 125 than 100 in real life.

Probably wouldn't hit driver either since I'll need to lay up in any case and would rather lay up with a mid iron than a short iron (still crappy wedge game).

[i-Guy]

D) Somehting else...as follows:

I would make my decision on the tee box as follows:

1) If I think I may go for it then I would hit Driver and see what I am left with into the green...in your scenario I would then say answer "C"

2) If I decide I am not going to go for it then why would I hit driver?...I may hit 3 wood or even 5 wood and then go with either "b" or "c"...

Just my 2 cents...

[Big Padrigo]

C), though I agree thinking backwards from the tee, I'd probably start off with a 3-w for this kind of distance.

[iPutt]

Well I would go 3 wood but thats probably the wrong answer. Guess thats why my handicap is so high hahahaha

[Yanks Fan]

I vote C. I used to struggle with course management and would hit driver off the tee even though it wouldn't give me any advantage over hitting my 2 or 4 hybrid. I find myself hitting my hybrids off the tee and shooting lower scores now.

[microcrayfish]

Lately I've been playing those delicate wedge shots a lot better than my full swings so I'd probably go that route. Mind you, chances are I wouldn't hit the 6 or 7 iron well and end up with a full wedge swing onto the green anyway, so either works for me . You should play to your strengths whatever they may be.

[jforget1]

I agree with most here that C would be the smart course of action. This is not to say that in the past I would not have tried something riskier, but now I am really starting to learn the ins and outs and realize that smart decisions can shave points.

[misty_mountainhop]

I'd go C) as well although I agree if you're not going for it you might not bother with the driver off the tee.

I suspect most people can see what they should do, but overcoming a dumb urge to be macho or take on a shot that you'll maybe execute 1 in 100 times is part of the game; if we all made the percentage choices it'd be a lot duller! It's much more fun telling a 19th hole story about the ridiculous escape you achieved by threading a punched 3-iron through the trees to save par (we'll ignore the many times you'd end up with a pinball scenario trying this!) than saying I chipped out sideways and made bogey.

If you're playing matchplay, you may want to take on a high risk shot for the effect it has on the opponent if it comes off.

Laying up for the ~100 yard pitch may still leave you duffing it into the water in front of you with your third shot!

[i-Guy]

I suspect most people can see what they

Great point ...how does the saying go ..."Good golf is boring to the observer". I had a buddy (2 handicap) who quite a few years ago won a contest and got to play 18 holes at the TPC of Tampa with a PGA Tour Pro (I want to say it was Jeff Sluman for some reason)..anyway when I talked to him afterwards he said "it was quite boring actually"...what do you mean? He said "I out drove him a few times but he basically just hit every drive right down the middle and basically stuck every green...he did not make a lot of putts and shot a 70"...my buddy shot a 76. This is not a game (regardless of what the media says) of beautiful swings or 300 yard drives...as they say there are plenty of guys who can hit it off the end of the driving range but cannot score to save their lives...this is a game of getting the ball in the hole in the least amount of strokes possible (even if you have to putt out of a bunker...which I have never done but have seen it done) and one last saying that makes so much sense is that there are no pictures of your swing on the scorecard...just the score!!!

[og512]

C) Hit a 9-iron or pitching wedge and leave about 100-110 yards and a pitching or gap wedge to the green...

I say this because I tend to hit my irons longer than I should and I don't want to end up hitting it into the water. Also, my wedge game needs work so I would take any opportunity to use it and get better.

Plus it seems to be the safest way to stay away from the water.

[Neil]

Depends on so much. If he's playing well, feeling good go for it. If he's feeling a little tweeky lay up.

In an ideal world he'd try to lay up to a distance/shot he felt comfortable with - it's the Zach Johnson approach from Masters 07. (I love a half swing with my 56 degree wedge and feel very comfortable when hitting this shot.)

Let's be honest though, as stated above we all kniow what we should do...

[duffer888]

Depends on so much. If he's playing well, feeling good go for it. If he's feeling a little tweeky lay up.

Neil's answer is best.