Becoming too familiar with your home course

[Tarantula]

On Saturday, I played my home course and shot my best score to date. 40 on the front, and 42 on the back. Was very, very happy. As a result, to my horror, my handicap jumped from 17 to 14 just on entering that score.

On Sunday, I played a course which I had not played before. It was an old school parkland and very different to my home course. Tough but fair. The result was my worst round of golf in over a year. 48 on the front, 49 on the back. Weather was bad, and I was really not feeling up for the round in the morning.

That is a 15 shot swing in 24 hours.

So my thinking is, I have become far too familiar with my home course and how to play it, and when I arrive at a different course I am a bit like a fish out of water. Secondly, I feel my handicap has become distorted because 80% of my rounds are at my home course, and generally score well as I know it well.

Do you guys have this same problem? Do you purposely try to play other courses just to keep your game up? Do you struggle with pts on other courses compared to your home? On my home course I can keep up with the best on point scores.

I may be reading too much into this, and it could just have been a really bad day. I had unlucky bounces, felt a bit under the weather, nothing I tried worked. But still, this game of golf can really bring you back down to earth.

[596]

I definately find the same thing. I play better on the home course overall. I will score well on a new course, but it is much tougher to do that on a course you have not played or played only a few times. On the new courses it will take alot of concentration to play well. One wrong club, one wrong mis-placed shot, not noting the wind above the trees, etc can cost you.

When playing on your home course you can go into an auto mode.....you know the wind on each hole, you know the elevation changes, you know the distances, you know the speed of each green and each bump, you know exactly which club to hit and when. On new courses you must consciously evaluate each of these each time you hit the ball.

I played a course near the Colorado River a few weeks ago. Wow, lots to consider as far as wind, elevation changes, and canyon walls. I played a 3 iron on a par 4 with the canyon wall on the left, the ball went out 150 yards, cleared the canyon wall, and was pushed 30 yards right as soon as it cleared the wall due to the wind coming around the wall. It was like that all day long. Some elevation changes of over 100ft on par 3's.....what club do you hit? If you play there you KNOW all this. If you don't, you better consider each shot and conditions on every stroke or it WILL cost you.

[HAVOC]

on courses i dont know ill play with a local who plays their all the time

home course make it a challenge play from different tees or leave the big dog in the car

[WUTiger]

Most golfers have a learning curve on playing a new golf course. I normally shoot several shots better the second time I play a course.

Also, each golfer finds some some courses where he just don't play well. For example, PGA veteran Lee Trevino often skipped the Masters tournament because Augusta National favored players who could draw the ball. Lee was Mr. Fade throughout his career.

One pro I know said amateurs shouldn't worry so much about "shooting well" the first time we play a course. Just chalk it up to experience, try to remember where the funny bounces were.

[sean_miller]

  WUTiger said:

Most golfers have a learning curve on playing a new golf course. I normally shoot several shots better the second time I play a course.

Is that the only reason Senor Trevino didn't feel welcomed at Augusta National?

When I play a new course, I just enjoy the day. IF I score well, it's an unexpeted bonus. Some of my all time favourite rounds and courses have been while on vacation. I don't recally what I shot there - selective memory is an avid golfer's best friend.

[Deryck Griffith]

Becoming overly familiar with your home course is certainly something that can affect your game at other courses; however, there are people who's home course is very difficult and the opposite could apply where they play better on other courses with easier course and slope ratings than their home course. It all depends I guess.

In the case where you are playing another course for the first time, I always urge on the side of caution and play smart golf. At my home course, I may take chances because I know there are bail out areas on certain holes that allow me to play aggressively. When playing a course for the first time, this type of knowledge doesn't exist until the course is at least played once. So during the first time, I may take safter club selections i.e. hybrids off of shorter par 4s vs. play an aggressive driver shot of the tee etc. just to ensure that I keep the integrity of my score the same and if I ever get a chance to play the course again, the knowledge I documented from playing the first time will help me to play more aggressively the second time.

[Fourputt]

It's natural to play better on a course you know well, all else being equal. I would find it odd if you didn't. I've had a 15 stroke swing from one day to the next just playing both rounds on my home course, let alone playing an unfamiliar one the second day.

Heck, I've had a 9 stroke swing from the front 9 to the back 9 on my home course just in the last month (40 front, 49 back ). All it takes is a lapse of focus at the wrong time and one's game can go downhill quickly.

[Bullitt5339]

I typically score better at other courses, even ones that are rated more difficult than my home course. For some reason, my home course has trouble in all the right places for my game.

[sean_miller]

  Bullitt5339 said:

I typically score better at other courses, even ones that are rated more difficult than my home course. For some reason, my home course has trouble in all the right places for my game.

I agree with that one. On "foreign" courses, I tend to play safer off the tee, aim at the middle of the green, and not take any putts for granted.

[SouthernILGolfer]

The problem I have is that i almost always score better on my home course not only because im more familiar with it but because its a very simple and easy course, at least the front 9, which is what i usually play. Wayward tee shots are not really punished and most of the holes are so short, that im simply hitting driver/PW on basically almost all the par 4's. Im typically 3-4 shots better per 9 at my home course than at anywhere else.

[CassinoNorth]

First time I play a course is usually a rough situation especially on a course with alot of blind tee shots and tough greens.


My home resort is 7 courses but I play 2 of them much more often than the other 5 (1's a family course, 1's just too hard to consistently play, 1's too expensive and the other is only a 9) so yeah, I usually play better on the other 2.

[ohiolefty]

I have a harder time dealing with bad shots on a course with which I'm not familiar.

At my home course, if I hook my drive on the first tee I know, from the 18th fairway, what my yardage is. I know, based on the pin placement, how the ball is going to feed and what to aim at. I know what the trouble is. I know that there's a patch of burned-out grass at this place to avoid, etc.

The only time I wish I had a rangefinder/GPS is playing a new course, because it's really hard to get proper yardages (without a rangefinder/GPS) unless you've played a place 3-5 times. Also, the local knowledge about greens complexes and other trouble is worth a few strokes.

That being said, I never get tired of my home course. It's not super long. But its small, Donald Ross-esque greens make approach shots and positioning interesting. Also, it's a very windy course due to it's location (at the top of a ridge) so the wind makes the holes play in different, interesting ways. It's also a course when the wind is down and it's not playing firm, I can go out and shoot a really low round. That's fun. Who doesn't like throwing numbers in the 60's into the handicap calculator?

[Lefty-Golfer]

I joined my club 3 years ago and have been lucky enough to now have over 150 rounds on it...so far i am not tired of it one bit. I do shoot some of my best rounds on it just because i play there most often and obviously i know it better then any other.

I find the first time i play a course i tend to put up a decent number. part of it is not trying to do to much, part of it paying attention because it is all new to you...the 2nd 3rd time around when i am attempting to use something i learned is when it gets ugly.

[stealthduffer]

Definitely easier to play a course you are familiar with. The bigger danger (at least as I see it) is that it is easy at a home course to get out of a consistent shot routine - evaluating distance, lie, wind, hazards, club selection, etc. because you know all these things from experience. When you get on a new course that routine is important but it may be rusty. As others have suggested change up your home course by playing a different set of tees, using different clubs off the tee, etc. That will keep your routine "sharp" for when you are away from home.

[Tarantula]

Glad you guys feel the same!

I must say, during my round on Sunday I was wishing I was back at my home course. Hating every second of this long, old school, dog leg, blind shot course. The bizarre thing is, when I first played my home course as a visitor, I vowed there and then to never play the course again! Two months later I was a full member and now I cannot wait to play it every weekend.

So although a course can seem impossible at first, enough rounds under the belt, and you'll begin to love it. That being said, there are some courses I have played once and certainly will never again.

[dzdncfsd]

It's sad but I have the exact opposite problem. I play at one course at least 3 times a week and for some reason it's just in my head and can never post a great round. Whenever I play anywhere else even for the first time I put up much better scores. I guess my problem is that I know where I shouldn't be hitting the ball so obviously those spots are like magnets for me. Talk about frustrating . My home course is a short par 66 but very narrow and basically a dog track where everything is a bad lie. I put up the same scores when I play a par 72 rated with a much higher slope rating.

Oh yeah I hate this game haha

[allin]

  Bullitt5339 said:

I typically score better at other courses, even ones that are rated more difficult than my home course. For some reason, my home course has trouble in all the right places for my game.

I tend to as well, I believe it is either my memory of previous bad shots, or expectations that I should shoot low because I do know the course well. It might be playing automatically without really adjusting my decisions to that days playing conditions. I have 165 carry left to land it the best place on the green, its a 5iron. Maybe it rained earlier, temp, wind, my old man body better or worse than usual etc. On a course I don't know I probably pay closer attention to the days course conditions. Maybe a new course just gets me charged up, I bore easily. Self talk on home course even, OMG this is an easy hole I can't believe I might bogey it, followed by an overly aggressive recovery shot. My excuses obviously are endless, an impotant skill for a mid handicapper.

[adamgoodman]

Playing a course you're familiar with is obviously easier...
But I have found that the better ball-striker I become, the less new courses intimidate me.
I figure as long as I can execute shots the way I want to, my scores won't change significantly.