Advanced Strategy

All great golfers are great strategists.  They treat golf strategy like an art form painting magical masterpieces of athletic performance.  Like a painter using a brush to transform a lifeless canvas into a beautiful masterpiece, so goes the great player and his golf clubs.

Great Strategy Holds Up To Pressure

The best strategies  will hold up under pressure. Too many golfers start abandoning their strategies after the first signs of trouble.  A couple of missed shots and they start pressing and trying to make up for errant shots.  Professional’s speak endlessly about "remaining patient".  They know the power of strategy and the success that comes with persistence…holding on to their strategy thru good and bad. 

The Advanced Golf Strategy Ebook from StrategicGolfer.com will teach the art of strategy.  The result will be lower scores and you will become a better player. The Advances Strategy Series has two parts; the Ebook and the companion video lessons.

Below you will find an example of the Ebook instruction from the Advanced Golf Strategy Ebook.

   Golf Instruction That Will Make A Difference

The golf course instruction below has been modified from it’s original content and formatting to enable it to fit the formatting restrictions of this space.  The content is a fair representation of the material but it is not a complete representation of the Ebook instruction.

Par 4 – 435 Yards

• The large tree in the right center of the fairway makes accuracy off the tee very important.

• The prevailing wind is into the players face.

• The design of the hole causes the player to hit away from the hazard on the left. From the right side all of the trees are more in play limiting access to the green.

A par on this hole is a very good score!!!

From the tee the hole gently slopes down and away from the player until the fairway flattens in the landing area around the tree located in the right center of the fairway. If the player is unable to hit the tee shot beyond the tree, the second shot will be completely blocked out due to the size of the tree. The second shot is a significantly uphill to a green that slopes from right to left and back to front. Pin positions on this green can be very demanding. The green side bunker in front of the green is very deep. The green side bunker on the back right is sloped towards the green making up and down attempts very difficult. An errant approach shot to the left of the green will find a very steep bank that deflects the ball into the left hazard for a dropped stroke under penalty.

Remember we map our strategy starting at the green and working backwards towards the tee. The pin placement today is front right and the wind is 10MPH and into our face. A 10 MPH wind is approximately a “1 club wind” meaning we will need one more club than usual. This is very important in trying to pick the right club for our approach shot into the green. Today’s yardage with the pin placed on the front of the green is 420 yards.

Low Handicap Player  (Black Tee – 435 yds)

Today, we know that the pin is on the right front portion of the green. The easiest approach shot will come from the left center of the fairway. If we don’t have an unobstructed line of play to the flag on our second shot, we know that it will be easier to move the ball from left to right taking the trees guarding the right front of the green out of play. If we miss the shot and hit our tee shot right and we get lucky we can still hit a hit shot over the trees onto the back left center of the green…a difficult shot but not impossible for this players skill level. The goal from these tees is to hit the ball solidly in order to position our second shot at or beyond the tree in the fairway.

The tree in the fairway is 285 yards from this tee.  Good timing and a smooth swing are the keys here. Because we are favoring the left center of the fairway, an overly aggressive swing, magnified by the wind could cause an errant shot into the left hazard. 

From the left center of the fairway we want to hit the ball into the middle of the green just beyond and left of the flag. If we miss the green to the right into the rough, it will be virtually impossible to get the ball up and down. Our choices would be to carry the ball all the way onto the green with very little spin to a green that slopes significantly away from the player. The other choice would be to bump the ball into the bank and hope for a perfect bounce. Anything short of this green and to the right is practically “dead”.

From the right green side bunker we would face a bunker shot with the ball below our feet and a green sloping away from the player. Chances of an up and down from this position would be slim. Of the two green side bunkers, the left bunker provides the player the best chance for a save.

A high percentage strategy for the player would include:

• Use the driver to hit a tee shot with a slight draw. Using the right edge of the tree as his target with a ball hit solidly, we can expect a drive of approximately 275 yards. If the ball goes straight we can still get the ball around the tree by challenging the right side of the green. If we hit the ball as planned we will have a great view of the flag from the left center of the fairway.

• The second shot hit target area is 139 – 148 yards. A well struck iron 145 yards to the left the center of the green is perfect. We do not want to challenge this pin location.

• One putt for birdie, two putts for par…”mission accomplished”….get the heck out of here!!!

Mid Handicap Player  (White Tee – 400 yds)

This hole gets progressively harder as the handicap range increases for these reasons:

1. The hole is normally played into the wind.  Mid and higher handicap players tend to put more spin on the ball which compounds the errant flight of the ball,  and because the ball is hit with a glancing blow it balloons and will not travel as far.

2. Mid to higher handicap players tend to swing harder into the wind as a mental compensation that works against the player.

3. The holes’ design is very demanding which causes players to try a steer the ball into position.

4. The majority of misses from these players will tend to be right.  Players instinctively know this and try to keep the ball from going right.  They tend to over compensate, forcing the ball into the left hazard.

5. The green is significantly elevated from the fairway hitting area.  Higher handicap players try to help the ball into the air which results in the player coming up and out of the shot.

6. In many cases these players do not make the correct calculations for elevation and effects of the wind.

7. This hole requires players to hit shots from right to left and left to right, on demand.  Many mid to higher handicap players have not refined this ability.

We know the pin is on the right front portion of the green.  The easiest approach shot will come from the left half of the fairway.  The goal from these tees is to hit the ball solidly in order to position our second shot at or beyond the tree in the fairway.  The tree in the fairway is 240 yards from this tee.  The effect of the wind will make this distance more like 250 yards.  The gentle slope away from the player will maximize the ball rolling after landing in the fairway.

Many great players including Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan used a technique that can work for you as well.  Every player has a predominant shape to most of their golf shots, right to left (draw/hook) or left to right (fade/slice).  As the handicap increases, most golfers tend to slice or fade the ball because they are not hitting the ball from the inside.  Whatever the case for you, decide what you believe the shape will be and make allowance for that type of shot.  If you tend to slice or fade the ball, pick a target that is just inside the left edge of the fairway.  If you hook or draw the ball, aim down the right edge of the fairway.  This technique will give you the widest margin for error.  In effect it gives you the entire fairway to work with.  Be cautious not to aim your ball out of bounds or over a major hazard.  If the ball travels straight without any sidespin movement you will hit the ball into trouble.  The same applies for approaching greens.  Aim to one side of the green or the other to maximize the amount of landing area.

Our mid handicap strategy should include picking a target that leaves us with an approach shot into the green from the left side of the fairway or light rough.  Use the maximum amount of club that you can keep in the fairway.  The way this hole is designed, a drop from the hazard or right trouble will make it difficult to find the green after your drop.

Try to hit the approach shot into the fat of the green.  DO NOT go flag hunting on this right front pin position.  Challenging the trees, the slope of the green, the rough around the green, and other obstacles could drive your score up quickly.

We agree with you that this seems simplistic; however, the success of a strategy is dependent upon your ability to picture a good result.  If the plan gets derailed by an errant shot, we have to adjust the plan.  We get into this in much greater detail in the Advanced Strategy Manual.  The first step towards great results is starting with a good initial plan.

A high percentage strategy for the player would include:

• Use the driver using one side of the fairway or the other to give you the maximum amount of landing area.  If you normally hit a left to right shot it will be difficult to keep the ball in the left half of the fairway.  That’s OK.  Make hitting any part of the fairway your goal.

• Hit your second shot left of the pin into the fat of the green with whatever club will get you to the middle of the green.  Allow for at least 1 club more due to elevation and wind.

• Two putts for par or bogie…”mission accomplished”….get the heck out of here!!!

High Handicap Player (White Tee – 385 yds)

Higher handicap players will struggle with this hole primarily because they try shots that have a very low probability based upon their skills. The best strategy should be based upon trying to hit the green from the fairway with less than 130 yards. The trouble around this green is significant. If you trying hitting this green from outside this distance the chances of hitting the green are low and the probability of penalty shots is high.

Use whatever club you can hit that keeps you in the fairway. The tree in the fairway is 225 yards from the tee. If you can hit your driver with accuracy 225 yards then go for it, it not use a 3 wood or whatever you have that will get the ball into the fairway and avoid the left hazard and trees. If you have more than 160 yards to the green you would be better off punching the ball to the 100 yard marker in the fairway. Hit the ball on the green with a wedge or 9-iron. Two putts or less and your score is less than double bogie. If you try to hit a shot outside of 160 yards out of heavy rough, with the ball below or above your feet because of slope, from a difficult position after a drop, trying to hit the ball over tall trees protecting the green, you are going to compound the problem.

If you were to sit and watch higher handicaps play this hole for a couple of hours, this is what you are likely to see more often:

• Wild swing with the driver that slices into the trees on the right or a duck hook into the left hazard155 yards from the green.

• A heroic effort to hit a high draw over the trees protecting the green fails and the ball is lost in the trees.

• Drop the ball back into play laying 3. No way to hit the green because of the trees. Punch out to middle of fairway laying 4.

• Hit the approach shot right of the green, chip and two putts for an 8.

Summary

The objective of this chapter was to introduce players to the process of strategy development best suited to shooting his or her best scores. While the layout of individual par 4 holes vary from hole to hole and course to course, the goal is the same…outline a strategy before playing the hole that gives you the best probability of making the lowest score based upon your skill level.  

We understand this discussion goes against the grain and natural tendency in golf to beat balls in an effort to find the longest possible distances. Even the best players have to learn the "art of strategy". It was not until Ben Hogan learned how to eliminate the left half of the course and develop playing strategies that he could predict with reasonable certainty, did he become the champion he was.