Avoid disaster on the golf course with this strategy. 💯

Avoid disaster on the golf course with this strategy. 💯

The final mistake that virtually guarantees a double bogey or worse is an approach shot into a penalty hazard. According to Aros data, scratch golfers make a double bogey almost 60% of the time when this happens. For a 10 handicap, it’s almost 80% of the time. The key to avoiding these is to learn the art of the bailout. Think of this as a kind of strategic retreat from a difficult hole design. And pros know how to do this and they actually do it quite often. Generally, you’ll see them bail out either short or long in this situation. So, for example, if the trouble is short of the green, as it tends to be on a lot of newer courses, the best way to bail out is by going long. PJ Tool Caddy Paulauri says pros use a pretty simple formula for this. They take the number to the pin or to the middle of the green, whichever one is further away, and then they take the number to the back edge and then they play the average number between the two. You may not realize it, but because older courses were designed in the Hickory era where the ball was played mostly along the ground, lots of holes were designed with little runways in front of the greens. These are slopes that are actually designed to feed a rolling ball not just towards the green, but often towards the pinnable hole location. These are great places to aim when the time comes