Golf Course Management Strategy - 5 Tips For Better Strategy

What is golf course management strategy and how to form one? Golf strategy is a very complex thing and even more complex to form, but you can greatly benefit from it when you have one in place. Here are the 5 things you need to cover before forming your own golf course management strategy:

What is your goal with golf course management strategy?

Before each round ask yourself what you want to achieve and then play accordingly. For example, if your handicap is 16 and you want to play to your handicap, then just play steady golf. Don’t take unneeded risks, don’t be flashy, hit simple shots, the ones that you’re most confident hitting.

Plod along and keep the ball in play. On the other hand, maybe you’re looking to go for a personal best score, in which case you’ll probably want to take greater risks and play more attacking golf.

Setting out your goals for the round before you tee off will help you to know how to approach the round and play smart golf. 

If you're playing the same course frequently form a steady strategy which you should follow every round for the best possible result.

Play the course not the opponent

A big part of course management involves focusing on your own game. Far too many golfers allow what their playing partners do to dictate their own game, rather than doing what is best for them in accordance with the course that they’re playing.

For example, let’s say a water hazard stretches right across the fairway. The hazard is roughly 220 yards from the tee. Your playing partner opts for a driver and clears the hazard without any fuss, prompting you to do the same. However, you’re not as lengthy as your partner off the tee, and therefore, cannot say with confidence that you’ll clear the hazard.

In this case, a player with good course management skills would hit a club with which they will not reach the hazard. They simply lay up, leaving themselves with a simple second shot. Don’t forget it’s better to hit a nice, easy iron off the tee and leave yourself comfortably short of the water before playing a second from there than it is to take it on and be penalised for causing a splash.

Know your yardages

Something that holds a lot of amateurs back is failing to know their yardages, which leads to ineffective course management. If you don’t know what you need to do with what club to cover a certain distance, then you simply won’t be able to manage the course properly.

Practice sufficiently with each club and track your yardages, get to know what you can and can’t do, so that you know exactly how far you can hit each club. If you know your yardages, then you’ll know what you need to do when in certain situations, and this will lead to arriving at the right choice more often, which is a key part of course management.

Course conditions

Another huge part of course management is factoring in the course conditions. So many amateurs let themselves down simply because they’re trying to do something that the conditions won’t allow. It’s no use trying to rip one down the middle of the fairway if there’s an aggressive left-to-right wind.

Just like there’s little point in trying to play a bump and run if the green is wet and soft, as the ball isn’t going to run as it would in dry, firmer conditions. It’s important to learn how different conditions affect your game, then be able to assess conditions and play accordingly. Being able to adapt your game based on course conditions is a key part of a proper course management strategy.

Keep it simple

The best golf course management strategies are the simplest ones. The best thing you can do is to keep it simple. When going out to play, decide what you want to achieve and stick to it. Know your yardages, don’t guess. By removing a lot of guesswork, you’ll know what to do club wise far more often, and this will allow you to hit shots with more conviction.

Focus on your own game, make the decisions that are right for you based on your knowledge of the course or what you can see in relation to your own game. Ignore what other players do. Lastly, make sure you understand how course conditions can alter your game and learn how to adapt and factor the course conditions in. Each of these steps can combine to complete a simple but effective course management strategy.

Conclusion

Golf course management strategy is a crucial part of the game of golf. If you don't have a strategy for every golf course you play, or at least for the courses you play often, you most likely lose shots without even knowing by bad decisions. Having a good strategy and following it will help you play smarter golf and position yourself in better positions for the next shot😉