How do you play a course with tight fairways?

[MiniMoe]

I hit the ball very, very straight, so a tight course does not bother me. But there are a few things I do that help me when I have a extra difficult tee shot. I tee the ball a little lower and play a little fade. I personally believe the higher you hit the ball, the less you have control over it. Also, the less a ball spins, the less you have control over it. If it spins, I can predict what it will do. If it does not spin, if I hit push it, it has no chance to get back to the fairway because it has no spin... because if I push it, I normally will hook it too. The body has a unique ability to fix a swing flaw subconsciously. It knows where you want to hit the ball, and it tries to hit it there no matter how it is done. That's why you can push or pull a putt and still make it. Your subconscious knows where you are aiming is wrong and is trying to get the ball into the hole....because that is the goal.

[topspin4hand]

I go to my 3 wood to see and just see how the first few teeshots go. If i'm feeling confident I'll go to my driver. If not, I'll stick with my 3 wood. It's not much shorter anyways.

I read the following article after my earlier post:

Golf.com article The article showed the following chart which basically suggested that I tee it higher and actually gain yards: At the range, I hit the ball great and significantly further than normal. I mean I felt like pumping my fists, but I remembered the context of the good shots. I did have an occasional pop up but I'll take that this upcoming weekend rather than hitting it OB. In the end, even though I was crushing my driver, I was hitting my 3W as far as my normal driver with the ball teed up higher, so I think I'll keep my driver covered except on the longer par 5's this weekend - though if that plan is going well I KNOW I'll reach for the driver on the back nine and that's another reason I'm a 20+ handicapper!

[ks8829]

The best way is to play the shape of your shot, if you draw the ball you should start with the tee box and use the far left side and start the ball on the far right and let it draw back into the middle of the fairway.

The control fade is a better shot because it is more controlled

the other option is to hit the fairway with your 3 wood or 5 wood and give up distance for control.