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Course Management Lesson (Gomez wins Sony)


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I just wanted to point out that although Fabian Gomez had an outstanding day Sunday, shooting -8 and getting into a playoff with Sned's, he won by using his head not his heart.

 

The 18th at Waialae is statistically one of the hardest to hit fairways on tour at 31%. Both he and Sned's missed it on the first playoff hole and made pars. Gomez told his caddie on the way back to the 18th Tee to play the second playoff hole he was going to hit hybrid because he had to keep the ball in play.

 

IMG_1249.png

 

Gomez hit the fairway and Sned's found the bunker and had to lay up. Gomez then smoked a 3 iron to the edge of the green for a two putt birdie and the win.

 

This is in Lessons rather than Tour Chatter because this is so much more than just a play by play. Tiger, Jack, and Jordan (for the past year-ish) have not racked up all those wins by hitting driver every time. Gomez gave up 30-40 yards to Sned's off that tee.

 

*****

 

I think back to my Sunday morning round. Our third hole is a par 5 dogleg right. OB down the entire right side with trees right and water left. This does not set up well for me. There is all kinds of trouble around the green once you get there. With the 15 mph wind from the front left, there was no way I could reach in two if I would have smoked a driver. But I hit driver anyway into the water on the left and made bogie and ultimately my team lost the round by 1 stroke.

 

For the record, I did not hit the ball well at all on Sunday, but my chipping and putting was great. On Friday I was striking the ball well and hit a hybrid off that hole on Friday and made birdie.

 

How could you manage your game better?

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Rover... that graphic you posted is almost an exact replica of a backside par 5 on my course. The only real difference is the bunkers on the left fairway is water on my course/hole. Using your graphic... I quit hitting driver long ago on that hole. I use either a hybrid 3 or my 4 FW metal. The hole isn't that long; measuring only 487 from the back tee. However, most guys hit driver either straight through the fairway into tree trouble or they try to cut the dogleg over tall pines. It's a recipe for disaster. Most of the time I see guys clip the pines and if lucky are way short in the woods if they aren't wet. The safe play is always straight down the middle with a slight draw. The green is heavily bunkered around the front with severe sloping drop offs at the back. The layup is to about 80 yds.for me then a SW to the elevated green. It's a fairly difficult birdie hole but an easy par if you're smart.

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This time of year, it is easy to forget about the grass bunkers on my course. The grass is dormant and the ball generally stay sitting up. But when the warm weather gets here, those grass bunkers are TROUBLE. We have four bunkers on every hole and at least 2 of them are grass bunkers. The exception are the 2 island greens and 4 with water on at least 2 sides.

 

In the summer they let those grass bunkers get about 6-8 inches deep. Often there is a search party when someone goes in one, and getting out of one and near the flag is pure luck. Out and on the green requires skill.

 

On the third hole, the one I mentioned earlier, there is one just to the right of the fairway 220-280 out from the box. Hit one in there and virtually no chance of reaching the green. 

 

Sand bunkers are much easier to deal with than the grass in the summer. However, grass is easier in the winter months, because it is usually wet below the top layer of the sand.

 

My point is, distance is not quite as important as placement.

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Course management is always a good thread.  I think it's an incredibly under rated part of the game and much like distance most people think they are better at it than they are.

 

Having said that a part of being a good course manager is hitting the shot that will fit the situation and that you know that you will hit successfully 80 percent plus of the time.  Since I hit driver more solidly and more accurately than 3 wood there are times where it is the best play unless it is bringing penalty into play (Plaid's example.) This may not be true for other golfers but that's part of golf management - knowing what you do well and playing to your strengths. 

 

I couldn't believe Snedeker hit driver again on that hole, it was almost as if he didn't care if he won or not.

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I try to manage the course, but it seems like everytime I try to make the right choice I screw up the next shot. There is a par 5 number 12, it's fairly long but there is a revine about 40 yards short of the green and it is a forced carry, unless you are the long guys it's very difficult to reach, so it is almost always a lay up, I've tried 5 iron to driver from the tee,, but I almost everytime hook it left into the trees, no matter what I hit, so I figure I'll just hit driver, sine it puts my closer for my third shot when I take my drop.

Lefties are always in their Right Mind

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I play with quite a varied group of players most of the time. I've really focused on course management the past few years too. I don't have the distance that many do. But on my course it's plenty still. If I manage it properly .... and we all know how best plans can go wrong sometimes. Here's a tip if you can call it that; I try to employ regularly and you've seen it too. Many times when gathering on the tee for the next hole guys like to jump up and be first to hit. (no honors in our game normally) Fine go ahead. I poke around and go slow. I like to think about the upcoming hole & shot. And, since we're usually gambling I prefer to go last most of the time. For me I can sorta relax a minute or two and watch everyone. Even when I'm up I still prefer the last position. I know for many especially if you're up on the game you want to go first. And that makes perfectly good since for most of us. But for me I feel pressure to produce a great shot 1st thereby putting everyone else on the defensive. Next time relax a little and try the last position and see what happens. You might be surprised.

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I play with quite a varied group of players most of the time. I've really focused on course management the past few years too. I don't have the distance that many do. But on my course it's plenty still. If I manage it properly .... and we all know how best plans can go wrong sometimes. Here's a tip if you can call it that; I try to employ regularly and you've seen it too. Many times when gathering on the tee for the next hole guys like to jump up and be first to hit. (no honors in our game normally) Fine go ahead. I poke around and go slow. I like to think about the upcoming hole & shot. And, since we're usually gambling I prefer to go last most of the time. For me I can sorta relax a minute or two and watch everyone. Even when I'm up I still prefer the last position. I know for many especially if you're up on the game you want to go first. And that makes perfectly good since for most of us. But for me I feel pressure to produce a great shot 1st thereby putting everyone else on the defensive. Next time relax a little and try the last position and see what happens. You might be surprised.

We play pretty much ready golf as well, the only time we don't is after someone makes birdie, I won't steal the tee from a birdie, nothing good ever comes when you do that.

Lefties are always in their Right Mind

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We play ready golf also. And usually I am the first one on the tee. This is because I already know what I am going to hit and where I want to hit it if u play tomorrow on every hole. Although I sometimes change my mind enroute to the next box.

 

I will grab my club and do my preshot routine complete with practice swings and go.

 

Playing fast or ready golf does not necessarily mean disregarding course management.

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We play ready golf also. And usually I am the first one on the tee. This is because I already know what I am going to hit and where I want to hit it if u play tomorrow on every hole. Although I sometimes change my mind enroute to the next box.

 

I will grab my club and do my preshot routine complete with practice swings and go.

 

Playing fast or ready golf does not necessarily mean disregarding course management.

+1 here. I play faster than anyone in the group, I usually have a club ready before we get to the tee. On Par 3's someone will usually shoot the pin with laser and then let everyone know the yardage, that helps speed up play as well for the Saturday dogfights. Tournaments are different.

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I wasn't talking about playing slow. Not at all. I like to keep the game moving as well. What I'm talking about for me is... I like to hit last most of the time. Even if I'm the first to walk up on the tee I will suggest someone else "go ahead". That's just my way of controlling my game.

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Every par 4 and 5 (and some long par 3's  :blush: ), I am pulling driver.  I am not going to run through the fairway.  For most par 3's I HAVE to get my own yardage.  It's not that I don't trust someone else's yardage, but... well, I guess I don't trust someone else!  Actually, I have to do it, otherwise I have a doubt that I will be thinking about when I shouldn't be thinking about it.

 

As for ready golf, I play it.  I will tee off if no one else is ready when I get to the tee, but I am a little like PJ in that I would rather watch what other people do first.  Of course birdies/eagles always have honors!  I think I got used to that because for years I played a lot of golf with our pro, and he ALWAYS had to go first whether he had the honors or not.

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Watching the Euros and Spieth in Abu Dhabi. So far when Spieth has missed the green, he has been left in the fairway with a relatively easy pitch leaving a short putt for par. Impressive to watch his course management.

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I have always played borderline scared.  Keep it out of trouble and try to make a putt.  But the last couple of years, I abandoned that.  And my scores have skyrocketed.  I actually shot a 100 in a tournament.  Embarrassing!.  I used to get pissed if I shot an 80. 

 

I used to play the shortest club I could get away with.  Consistency was my game.  But for some stupid reason, I got overly aggressive.  I would hit driver on every hole, unless there was a good reason not to.  My new mindset is, hit the club that will best keep me out of trouble.  Get on the green, and make the putt.  Worst case scenario, a bogey.  No more penalties!!!!!!

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Every par 4 and 5 (and some long par 3's  :blush: ), I am pulling driver.  I am not going to run through the fairway....

 

With my length I am not concerned about running through the fairway very often. :rolleyes:

 

But you have to play to your strengths. Curving the ball to the right, and hitting a green from 200+ out is not one of my strengths. Bunkers are not one of my strengths. Chipping, Putting and 1/2 - 3/4 wedges are.

 

If I am going to play to my strength of hitting 1/2 - 3/4 wedge or 40-115 yards out, then I want to use a club off the tee that will get me in this range or in this case, a par 5, two club combo. This takes some of the trouble out of play, and while it means very little chance of an eagle (a lucky hole out) it also lessons the chance for a double bogie.

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I have always played borderline scared.  Keep it out of trouble and try to make a putt.  But the last couple of years, I abandoned that.  And my scores have skyrocketed.  I actually shot a 100 in a tournament.  Embarrassing!.  I used to get pissed if I shot an 80. 

 

I used to play the shortest club I could get away with.  Consistency was my game.  But for some stupid reason, I got overly aggressive.  I would hit driver on every hole, unless there was a good reason not to.  My new mindset is, hit the club that will best keep me out of trouble.  Get on the green, and make the putt.  Worst case scenario, a bogey.  No more penalties!!!!!!

 

I was the opposite. I had a strong leaning towards 'go big or go home', but in the last year I've really changed my approach to the game. First, I keep score, but I don't add it up until the end of the round. I don't want to know where I sit. I've gone so far as to change HOW I keep score. Instead of the strokes, I put down number of strokes off of par. When I look at the card, I -1 0 +1 +2 etc. At the same time I also changed how I view holes. 

 

I used to walk up to a tee box and see a 280-300 yard shot and I'd reach back and go for it. It was a 2-3% shot.  Today, I see that as 2 very makable 150 yard shots, worst case, a short up and down and a 2 putt for a bogey. Almost every shot now is target golf. The game stopped being about 'how far can I hit' to 'how far do I have to hit it to make the next shot the most favorable'. 

 

For me, the classic example is #5 at home. It's not a particularly long par 5 at under 500 yards. the landing zones are tricky. 240 straight away has about a 12 yard wide landing zone. Right side is a steep hill that you can hit and bounce down from in hard conditions, but normally? it's going to hang up there and you are swinging well above your feet.  You are going to have to go 190 to get up on to that middle section.  Left and you are probably taking a drop from the hazard. You might get a playable lie, but not anything you can do anything good with.

 

This hole, I have gone to playing almost exclusively, 7 or 8i depending upon the tee box location and landing short of the middle section, then playing a 4i down the left side, to take the tree in the final bend to the green out of play. Until I started playing this hole this way, it was by far the worst scoring hole on the course for me, with ball in my pocket taking a triple not being uncommon. 

 

These days, though birdie is rarely in play, par certainly is, and to me, a par on a guarded hole is every bit as good as birdie.

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'how far do I have to hit it to make the next shot the most favorable'. 

 

YES!!!!!!

There is no spoon.

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YES!!!!!!

 

And sometimes, 'the most favorable' does not translate to 'the shortest'. That's a TOUGH pill and lesson to swallow.

Dru - Owner, President & Janitor, Druware Software Designs

RH 13.1 Handicap in soggy Georgia 

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* 3W PXG 0211 ( HZRDUS Smoke Black X-Stiff ) 
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* 7W  Sub70 949x ( HZRDUS Smoke Black X-Stiff )
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With my length I am not concerned about running through the fairway very often. :rolleyes:

 

But you have to play to your strengths. Curving the ball to the right, and hitting a green from 200+ out is not one of my strengths. Bunkers are not one of my strengths. Chipping, Putting and 1/2 - 3/4 wedges are.

 

If I am going to play to my strength of hitting 1/2 - 3/4 wedge or 40-115 yards out, then I want to use a club off the tee that will get me in this range or in this case, a par 5, two club combo. This takes some of the trouble out of play, and while it means very little chance of an eagle (a lucky hole out) it also lessons the chance for a double bogie.

I don't curve the ball much one way or the other.  Sometimes I do, but it's usually a miss hit.  It's rare that I hit a green from 200+ (need a tailwind).  That wasn't always the case, but over the last few years it's becoming the new normal.  The good side of this is that my short game has improved because I get more chances than I used to and I practice it more now.  

 

However, I have a feeling that all my short game improvements will not be helpful in Florida in a couple of weeks.  Bermuda Grass!!!

We don’t stop playing the game because we get old; we get old because we stop playing the game.”

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2015, the year of the "Bad Tee Shot", driver, 3 wood, hybrid, 8-iron, didn't matter, this kinda of takes course management and dumps it on its ear.

 

The only course management left was where to drop.

 

One thing that gnaws at me is distance. How far to hazards, bunkers, what will I have left to the green, etc. all of the stuff is swimming around in the cranium during the backswing on the tee.

 

This year, find a small target, find the yardage to it, pull club and swing. A laser rangefinder would be awesome. If everybody sends one dollar...

Respectfully,
DHUCK WHOOKER

 

 

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But all this course management stuff flies in the face of one of the basic, incontrovertible rules of golf--if you play safe, you are guaranteed to chunk, blade, duck hook or slice into the next county the shot hit by your safety club.  

Nonchalant putts count the same as chalant putts.

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But all this course management stuff flies in the face of one of the basic, incontrovertible rules of golf--if you play safe, you are guaranteed to chunk, blade, duck hook or slice into the next county the shot hit by your safety club.

This is a corollary to the First Law of Golf:

LAW 1:   No matter how bad your last shot was, the worst is yet to come. This law does not expire on the 18th hole, since it has the supernatural tendency to extend over the course of a tournament, a summer and, eventually, a lifetime.

We don’t stop playing the game because we get old; we get old because we stop playing the game.”

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This is a corollary to the First Law of Golf:LAW 1: No matter how bad your last shot was, the worst is yet to come. This law does not expire on the 18th hole, since it has the supernatural tendency to extend over the course of a tournament, a summer and, eventually, a lifetime.

Is there a law for good shots? If not, can we make one? Personally, I'm tired of the bad shots and am ready for more good ones.

Respectfully,
DHUCK WHOOKER

 

 

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A good round can always go bad in a heart beat. A bad round seemingly never gets better. I vote for a law that says bad rounds can get a lot better!

 

LAW 2:   Your best round of golf will be followed almost immediately by your worst round ever. The probability of the latter increases with the number of people you tell about the former.  :)

We don’t stop playing the game because we get old; we get old because we stop playing the game.”

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I played today, and my plan for the day was to hit 3 iron (MP Fli Hi) off the tee on 3, 6, 7, 8, 12  and 16. On number 3 that I listed in the first post, I was the only one of 5 not to hit driver. I was center of the fairway about 220 out. But I was the closest to the green for the 3rd shot, and lipped a birdie putt out.

 

This strategy worked great and was 1 over on the front with 2 bogies and a birdie. The bogies were not on the play it safe holes. Then hit into a fairway bunker and had a horrendous lie. It was into the face of the bunker about a foot from the edge. One foot out of the bunker and higher than the other knee, no way to have any follow through. 100 yards from the green still. Had I been using my course management skills, I would have hit my 64 wedge out to the fairway and tried to get up and down.

 

Instead, I hit pitching wedge as hard as I could with a sharp descending strike. I got out of the bunker but it felt like I had broken my body in two at impact. My leg position was such that it impeded my follow through and all that torque was absorbed in the middle and lower part of my back.

 

I was unable to make full swings for the next several holes. Even after that I never completed my backswing.

 

Now that I think about this, it is another example of course management. I went for the hero shot when I had a terrible lie. I not only lost that hole, I screwed up my golf swing for the rest of the round, if not the weekend, and lost all but $3 I had won on the front 9 playing it smart.

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While practicing good course management, it is not only important where to hit the shot, but when.

 

If possible, I never hit a shot with the beer cart girl watching. The cuter the girl, the worst the result.

 

This could be one of Kenny B's laws, or maybe we could sneak it in as a corollary?

Respectfully,
DHUCK WHOOKER

 

 

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I played today, and my plan for the day was to hit 3 iron (MP Fli Hi) off the tee on 3, 6, 7, 8, 12 and 16. On number 3 that I listed in the first post, I was the only one of 5 not to hit driver. I was center of the fairway about 220 out. But I was the closest to the green for the 3rd shot, and lipped a birdie putt out.

 

This strategy worked great and was 1 over on the front with 2 bogies and a birdie. The bogies were not on the play it safe holes. Then hit into a fairway bunker and had a horrendous lie. It was into the face of the bunker about a foot from the edge. One foot out of the bunker and higher than the other knee, no way to have any follow through. 100 yards from the green still. Had I been using my course management skills, I would have hit my 64 wedge out to the fairway and tried to get up and down.

 

Instead, I hit pitching wedge as hard as I could with a sharp descending strike. I got out of the bunker but it felt like I had broken my body in two at impact. My leg position was such that it impeded my follow through and all that torque was absorbed in the middle and lower part of my back.

 

I was unable to make full swings for the next several holes. Even after that I never completed my backswing.

 

Now that I think about this, it is another example of course management. I went for the hero shot when I had a terrible lie. I not only lost that hole, I screwed up my golf swing for the rest of the round, if not the weekend, and lost all but $3 I had won on the front 9 playing it smart.

Owwwwwww, geez, yes, avoid those hero shots, especially dangerous ones, take your medicine on the course figuratively, so you don't have to take medicine off the course literally.

 

Hope you bounce back from that one.

Respectfully,
DHUCK WHOOKER

 

 

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Owwwwwww, geez, yes, avoid those hero shots, especially dangerous ones, take your medicine on the course figuratively, so you don't have to take medicine off the course literally.

 

Hope you bounce back from that one.

Thanks. No problem bouncing back. I already feel better Han I expected.

 

But on the second par 5 on the front today. I usually drive the ball well on this hole. But with the wind and cold and a poor hit I was still 250+ yards out and almost in another fairway. Instead of hitting a 3 wood or something towards the green, I pulled out my Mobitee app on the phone and positioned my target so that I had an angle to the green where it took the bunkers and undulation out of play.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1453616481.454618.jpg

I hit an 8 iron to the exact spot I wanted and then hit my next shot to 10-12' and made my only birdie of the day.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

:ping-small:G430LST 10.5° on     T P T    POWER 18 Hi Driver 

:ping-small:G430MAX 3w  on     T P T    POWER 18 Hi Fairway 

:ping-small:G425 3H on     T P T    POWER 18 Hi Hybrid 

:taylormade-small:P790 Black 4-A 
on :kbs: TGI 80S
 

:mizuno-small: ES21 54-8° & 58-12° on :kbs: Hi Rev

:L.A.B.:DF2.1 on :accra: White

:titelist-small: ProV1  

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All Iron grips are BestGrips Micro-Perforated Mid

Driver, 3w, 3H are JumboMax JMX UltraLite XS 

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What's interesting about this "course management" tip is that he still went for the green in two and succeeded. He didn't lay up at all and that was never his plan. He had no interest in laying up. The fairways were rock hard and running, impossible to keep most anything in the fairway.

What I take from it is that on Par 5's you should hit the most accurate club off the tee that still gives you an opportunity to go for it in two.

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