Course Strategy

Course Strategy

Golf is a game, which requires confidence, and without this most positive of feelings it is very difficult to hit the ball with the sort of authority needed to produce a good shot.

Everyone who plays the game will agree that if ever doubt enters the mind, then poor shots will follow because being unsure of your ability or of club selection will reduce your powers of concentration and result in unsatisfactory shots.

One common sense way to overcome doubt is to follow a course plan.

Most courses have yardage charts and these can be used to remind you of the route around the course which suits your game because it is no good standing on the tee and hitting the ball into space and expecting it to find the ideal place from where to play the next shot.

You must be playing the ball into position with the correct club, not just into a safe place but the best place from where to play the next shot because it’s a bit like playing chess, you must think before you play, one wrong move and you’re in trouble.

Golf would be a very boring game if we played in a flat field with no hazards and course architects plan a course to make you think and offer alternative routes according to your ability

Take for example the 10th at The Belfry, it has two routes,

The first is for those of you who are long enough off the tee and have the courage to go for the green and the second is for those who can’t make it physically or mentally, and have to lay short of the water.

It is not difficult to see that this is the way to plan the hole, and that all holes must be played with the same sort of reasoning, however the route is not always so obvious, but you must find the best one before you play, only then can you play the hole with confidence.

Good course strategy indicates ‘line and length’ but while line can be found from your course plan, do you know how far you can hit the ball with each club in your bag?