Course Strategy – developing a go to shot

Golfer gets on tee at 400 yard par 4. He pulls out the driver with his thinking being to hit it down the middle and 250+. His mind-set is to hit one of his best shots ever. He addresses the ball and promptly dribbles it 75 yards ahead of him. But wait, because the story continues. Golfer is still short of the fairway in the rough and has 325 yards to the green. His plan of attack? Pull out the biggest club he can and hit his best shot ever. So he pulls out a 3 wood. He addresses the ball, takes another big cut, and dribbles the ball another 75 yards ahead of him and to the left of the fairway in the rough. Golfer is now 250 to the green. His mind-set? Yet again, pull out the biggest club he can and hit it as far as he can. Do you recognize a pattern?

This type of thinking is something that has plagued me since I was a kid. My strategy was to hit it as far as I could as often as I could. I would envision my best shot ever as my typical shot. I see many other golfers with the same mind-set. Unfortunately, this mind-set more often leads to triple bogey than to par. Let’s follow through from the second shot but assuming the golfer does hit it well from 325 out and from the rough. If the golfer pulls off this extremely low percentage shot (I’ll estimate his percentage of pulling this off at 20%) perfectly, then he probably hits it 220. He is left with 105 to the green. A distance that is not a full swing for most weekend golfers. Thus he has left himself with a tougher, in-betweener shot than perhaps his 3 wood out of the rough. Chances are he misses the green from 105. He chips on and two putts for a double bogey.

The story continues because the golfer goes on to the next tee with the same mind-set but is also infuriated after the double-bogey. Do you think he’ll hit a good tee shot?

So what was the recommended detour to avoid this disaster. Develop a go-to distance. The benefits of this strategy are manifold. The same golfer assesses his golf game and

decides that he has always felt comfortable from 140-145 out with his 8-iron. His plan is to go to the range and spend the majority of his time practicing that shot. This golfer is smart because although he knows he can really get on an 8-iron and hit it 160, he also know that his average or C+ 8-iron is 140-145. That’s a good way of assessing a shot on the golf course too. Think to yourself well what is my C+ shot from this distance with this club instead of what is my A+ shot from this distance with this club. The golfer also develops an alternative go-to shot with his 9-iron from 100 yards. This shot is a half-swing, low-flier that flies about 90 yards and may roll 10 more.

The golfer has developed two strengths that he can not only use if he dribbles one off the tee but can center his entire round upon. Let’s go back to the example first. After dribbling it off the tee 75 yards, the golfer is, of course, frustrated. But this time he doesn’t let his frustration cloud his thinking. He realizes that now par is almost completely out of the equation and bogey is his goal. He does some math and determines that he needs a 180 yard shot to get to his pet distance of 145. He assesses the lay of the course at 145 yards to the green and determines there is no penalty to hit it there. He also determines that his C+ 5 wood will easily cover 180 yards from the rough (compare his chances with the A+ 3 wood he tried to hit earlier). If he pulls off an average 5 wood and hits the fairway at 145 from the green, now he’s found a shot right in his wheel-house. He’s thinking give me 145 yards out and an 8-iron all day baby cause daddy needs a new pair of shoes and this is money in the bank. The point is that his confidence is huge from that distance ‘cause this is his money shot. And guess what, he now has an outside shot at par.

Notice also the change in expectations that will lead to better swings and shots. Instead of trying to crank an A+ 3-wood 220 yards from the rough which will probably result in over-swinging, the golfer now only must hit a very average C+ 5-wood 180 yards. I doubt that he will over-swing, and if he doesn’t, I bet he will hit a nice shot.

What are the other benefits of developing a couple strengths? You can center your entire game on them. Most par 3’s on a public course are right around 150 yards. For the sake of argument, we’ll say they vary from 135 to 170 yards. Three of the four par 3’s are probably very near your 140-145 wheel house. You always have two club-lengths to work with from the tee. So you can adjust the hole an additional two yards. You can also generally play all the par 5’s to your strength if you play to reach them in three shots. It would also be generally fair to say that five of the ten par 4’s could be played to your strength with a decent tee shot. Generally speaking, two thirds of the golf course is yours for the taking if you center your game around your strengths.

Developing a couple go-to shots takes some of the pressure off your tee shot. It also gives you a plan of attack following a poor tee shot. You know if you dribble it off the tee then bogey is your goal. Your plan of attack from that point should not vary. Play to the go-to shot, if you can, and give yourself an outside shot at par and a great shot at bogey.