Course Management – Be Smart and Save Strokes

In general beginners don’t really care about strategy or course management because they are occupied with their technique and staying afloat.

But even the newcomers to golf can benefit greatly from having a strategy on how to approach each hole.

The basic idea of course management is to approach each hole with your strengths instead of fighting your weak points again and again.

Your goal should be to avoid all the traps the architects incorporated into the course by having a game plan that has the highest chance for good results. [clearboth]

The Plan to Success

Every good athlete follows a specific game plan. A football coach for example analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent team to develop a game plan that minimizes the strengths of the opponents and uses their weaknesses to score.

A cyclist plans the race to know exactly when he’s able to attack and when he has to be more defensive.

The plans are the keys to success.

For a successful course strategy it’s not necessary to place each shot exactly on the spot.

In fact you know that this won’t be the reality which makes it even more important to have a reasonable and working game plan.

In general there are two important things for successful course management.

First of all you need to know how far you can hit the ball with each club.

Secondly you need to know the layout of each hole you will be playing.

The ideal solution will be different for each player depending on his individual skills.

Playing From Zone to Zone

Start by dividing each hole into different zones.

The green should have three zones: front, middle and back.

A Par-4 has a set of possible landing zones for the tee shot and a set of landing zones for the approach.

A Par-5 has one more set of landing zones for the second shot. The idea isn’t to simply bringing the ball from zone to zone but to find the best way according to your skills on each hole.

How you attack each zone depends on which zones make you feel most comfortable.

You can plan your zones on the range with the help of  a birdie book.

Being Clever

When you are playing you will be faced with positions you didn’t expect.

In these situations you must be flexible and develop a new strategy on the fly or get your ball back into a position to follow your original plan.

Always remember that the game plan can be different for each golfer. Don’t throw your own plan away just because other players are playing different or more agressive.

Use your strengths on the course and work on your weaknesses on the practice tee. Accept situations when the course has the upper hand and you have no chance to attack.

On the other hand realize opportunities if you can go for it. Course management doesn’t mean to play safe no matter what but simply to play cleverly!