Does Your Game Travel?

[PlaidJacket]

Recently RevKev asked in another post if your course travels. I'd never thought of my home course or game that way. Which got me to thinking.... Does Your Game Travel? That's really what is important I think. My course can't travel but I can. Normally during a years time I travel and play many courses. Most of them are much different than what I play at home. My home course and the others around my local area are mostly flat with limited elevation change or sloped fairways. I've just returned from the Santa Fe - Albuquerque area and had a great time. This was my second away trip of the season. In both instances I played well. And.. both times the courses I played were much more challenging. It's easy to get comfortable playing day in day out at home. (Brag coming) But, thinking back over the last few years of golf travel I've concluded that my game travels quite well. How about you guys?

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

Mine didn't used to travel well at all - I'm guessing because I played ALL my rounds at a home course. Then whenever I traveled or played at a different course locally the game would struggle.  Since being in Hack to Jack and playing lots of local courses I've found my game is travelling much better.  

[wbealsd]

It takes me awhile to get used to a course, particularly on the greens.

 

I'm trying to play more courses this year, so hopefully it will get better.

[jaskanski]

Interesting debate. 

I would refer back to the "go-to shot" thread - where most folks tend to have a stock shot they hit, whether   they're playing at their home course or maybe under pressure in competition. 

Long story short - don't!

Try to treat each shot on it's own merit. Every shot you play should be unique to the lie, the prevailing conditions and the intended direction and trajectory. Use visualisation to see the shot before you play it. 

It's all very easy to get into a comfort zone at your home course when you simply pull out a club based on whatever you have hit in the past without paying too much attention to the shot in hand. A classic case of this is also the short game when many players pull out a lofted club and play a clumsy pitch to the green without thinking about the shot at all.

Once you can get into the habit of treating each shot in a carefully considered manner, then you'll find your game travels quite well to any course.

[Mr_Theoo]

My game travels very well because I don't have a home course. I play lots of different courses throughout the season and tend to shoot around the same no matter where I play.

[revkev]

Interesting debate. 

I would refer back to the "go-to shot" thread - where most folks tend to have a stock shot they hit, whether   they're playing at their home course or maybe under pressure in competition. 

Long story short - don't!

Try to treat each shot on it's own merit. Every shot you play should be unique to the lie, the prevailing conditions and the intended direction and trajectory. Use visualisation to see the shot before you play it. 

It's all very easy to get into a comfort zone at your home course when you simply pull out a club based on whatever you have hit in the past without paying too much attention to the shot in hand. A classic case of this is also the short game when many players pull out a lofted club and play a clumsy pitch to the green without thinking about the shot at all.

Once you can get into the habit of treating each shot in a carefully considered manner, then you'll find your game travels quite well to any course.

I'm going to respectfully disagree here. I do agree that each shot should be carefully considered but in the end my swing produces draws. I'd have to be daft to try and force it to do other things unless I have to. For example, 165, pin behind a trap on the right side of the green, it calls for a fade but I'm only executing that fade properly half the time. I'm 90 percent hitting the draw. I will take the 35 footer and trust the putter rather than the mess I could be in trying to hit the "proper" shot. You have to know your game and what shots you play well. Ive played enough golf to know that very few people are comfortable hitting all the shots.

 

Back to the original question my game travels fine with the exception of elevation change. I can't do anything about that, I live in Florida and it is basically flat. When I lived in Upstate New York and Connecticut I was fine with elevation change. Beyond being fairly flat my course is tough, it presents lots of differing looks so it's helpful in creating a game that travels well. You have to be very precise in your ball striking to score well there.

[Jmikecpa]

I grew up in the mountains and lived on an island for the last five years. I generally play all over the place and my game is forced to travel.

[westy]

I'm able to play a huge variety of courses within a small distance of home, so I play links, parkland, heathland, chalk hill etc courses regularly. I've found ways to play all of them - the only major change to my game is choosing how to approach the short game.

 

obviously greens vary, bunkers vary, turf varies..... That's the big variable that can be hard to adapt to.

 

In good news I can be average with the putter on any type of green!

[fozcycle]

I like to think that my game travels fairly well. I enjoy returning to my roots in Kentucky and playing the course that I grew up on.....I have always been able to return to Juniper Hills GC and shoot in the 80's. When I play some of the other courses I the central KY area, I usually play pretty good.

[mizuno_lover]

I think my game travels reasonably well, possibly the only element that doesn't is my putting.  The struggle I have there is speed adjustments.  My home club is quite quick the others I visit being public are pedestrian in comparison.

[Kenny B]

My game travels fairly well. I normally shoot about the same scores (low/mid 80's) on courses away from home as ones in my area. In fact, it might be better on away courses because I am a little more focused. The only time it doesn't travel well is when I go to courses with Bermuda or mountainous areas with a prevailing break on the greens. We have had the discussion about Bermuda grass before; it takes me several days to get used to the grain. I also struggle on courses on the sides of mountains. Most notably, the Plantation course at Kapalua, but also any course east of the Rio Grande towards Sandia Peak in Albuquerque. You have to know where the river is when you putt!! It's also helpful to know where Indio is in the Palm Springs area. Once I figure out the breaks on these greens, I do OK, but by then it's time to head home!

[PlaidJacket]

Couple of things MizunoLover and Kenny mentioned. I also feel that when I'm away I focus much better than when I'm knocking it around my home course. Especially my driving accuracy. Green speeds usually take a toll somewhat on me as well. Especially in mountain areas. This past week when I was in Santa Fe the club and other course we played had some pretty fast greens. In fact, at the private club we played they posted the greens stimped at 10.5. Based on that experience I'd guess my home course putts at around an 8-9. Another thing I usually run into when playing away is primary rough. Again, this past week; the rough was longer with a rather thick green blade. Very difficult to hit out of as opposed to the Bermuda grass I normally encounter at home. I can really appreciate the Pros when they are hitting from that type of grass. Takes a lot of strength to get through that stuff successfully and then produce a decent shot.   

[Hula Rock]

My Game "Travles" so to say.  It takes a couple of holes to get use to not playing on South Texas hard-pan Fairways.  On a recent trip back to Virginia and North Carolina, it took me a good 9 holes to reaquaint myself with bentgrass greens.....

[kfilly20]

I play better on new courses generally because I play smarter. I'll put the driver away if I'm not confident I can keep it in bounds. I'll lay up instead of going over the lake from 210. At my home course it bombs away, and that is usually my downfall. 

[Mike Z]

I think a lo of it depends on where your nomally play.  It used to be that my game would not travel so well.  Most of the time I found the trouble wherever I played.  Made some pars a birdie or two ... but I could count on some "others". 

 

I joined the club I am at in 2007.  Its tight trouble on both sides usually and small fast greens.  I play most of my golf there.  It has made me a better player.  Most of the time when I go to another course the fairways look as wide as freeways to me.  The extra confidence that gives helps me adjust to differing green speeds without having disasters.  I will usually have some poor putting but it results in bogey and not double.  After a few holes I get it dialed-in a little better. 

[sp0rtsfan86]

The answer is yes and no. I can usually expect to shoot 10 strokes above my average at a home course. I'd say at least half are because I am not familiar with the layout or where trouble lies. Can't tell you how many times I've found a bunker that I didn't know existed or hit one into the water when I should have played a punch out to a safe area.

[Kenny B]

I would say that my game travels much better these days than it did even a few years ago. Not b/c of improvements in my game (well maybe a little brag here), but b/c of more GPS and laser use. When I go to resort courses, they have GPS on carts and you can see each hole and get yardages to hazards.

 

I had a meeting once at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix. They have the Wildfire GC with a Palmer course and a Faldo course. The Palmer is more traditional with a few trees and some water. Of course, the Faldo course is more linksy with lots of bunkers. This was before GPS on carts and I just bombed away to a miserable round on the Faldo course. For some reason the next time we played the course, the pro shop gave us yardage books that showed each hole and distances to each bunker. I Zach'ed it around the course using clubs that wouldn't put me in bunkers. Had a pretty good round.