Golf My Way: Effective course strategy for imperfect golfer

Golf My Way is my own personal series of golf tips aimed at the mid to high handicapper. As Tin Cup once said perfection is unattainable and my series highlights the imperfect golf that most of us play. I normally post this on another golfing forum but I figured I would start cross posting them here. I call this particular tip:

Effective course strategy and knowing where to miss

One part of effective course strategy is knowing where to miss your shot. A small miss one way could put you in proverbial jail while a big miss in the other direction will leave you with a relatively simple up and down. You don't always want to fire at the pin when you are trying to preserve a good score if there is trouble around the pin. Playing it safe and missing my shots in the right location helped me preserve a 79 on Sunday. Let me highlight my course strategy for you so you can see into the mind of the strategy that it takes to be a 13 handicap golfer.

Let me set the stage. Walking off of 16 green after a disastrous double bogey from 125 yards out with a PW in my hand for my approach. I now need to par in to preserve a round of 79. Great tee shot with a 4W put me in prime position to attack the flag which lasered at only 103 yards away. It's 41 degrees out and the ball hasn't been carrying as well as I like most of the way. AW gets me to 105 on solid contact but a miss hit brings a pot bunker on the left into play or short sided with and icy frozen bunker on the right which is a guaranteed bogey. Do I fire at the pin hoping for that perfect shot? Maybe if I need the strokes but I'm looking at preserving a good score. A punched PW would put give me 110 and in the middle to back of the green. I caught it a little thin because I knew hitting fat would lead to a bogey and got unlucky with the bounce. But... I played to the wide side of the green and I have plenty of green to work with to get up and down with. I didn't hit the perfect shot but at least I still have a good chance at getting up and down for my par.



After apologizing to the people on the 14th green I found I had 75 yard shot out of some rough with the ball about 9" below my feet. That's the perfect yardage for a 3/4 length punch SW for me. I simply punched my SW on to the green about 8ft away and tapped in for my par. Playing to the wide side of the green left me at a good yardage with plenty of green to work with and favorable chance at up and down.



18 is the #3 handicap hole on the course. 395 yards into a 5mph 41 degree wind I hit my best drive of the day down to 135 yards on the left side of the fairway. I'm left with 135 uphill into the wind so I'm playing for 145 yard shot to a front left pin position. Left is bad as the rough is still deep there and the ground slopes aggressively away from the green on the left side. I want to miss to the right of the flag as the left makes a tough up and down opportunity. I might have played this one a little too far to the right as I got the club stuck to the inside and the club face was wide open at impact but I did miss on the correct side of the flag.



I was able to place my ball in a position I could take advantage of the rules of golf and give myself a favorable drop from a man made obstruction. This left me with a perfect lie with plenty of green to work with. The 40 yards was an awkward distance but to miss it far enough right to get a good 75 yard shot just wasn't feasible with the clubhouse position. After apologizing to the people on 17 tee box and taking my drop I was able to wedge it onto the green and use the slope of the green to take the ball all the way to the hole for a simple 3 foot putt for par to preserve my 79. Knowing where to miss is very effective course strategy.



Here is a great short article from Tom Watson on the same subject.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/tom-watson-risk-reward