The Holy Grail of Course Management in Golf for Everyday Golfers

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course management is the most underutilized and least spoken about Talent you can have in golf it’s not something you have to be born with you can develop it very simply by watching this Holy Grail of course management video over nine holes the first step in course management is the t-shot we have a couple things to think about the first thing is what would we like into the green is it possible from where we standing if it’s not the next thing we need to be thinking is just get a ball in play but there’s many ways to get a ball in play or get the ball to where you want it to be you have to assess the whole and the likelihood of each thing happening the widest part is not where my driver will land actually where my seven wood would land which is a better management play because it’s going to get me in play the best but because I’m feeling confidential I want to eat a slightly longer shot and have a shorter approach into the green something like a sandwich so I have moved up from just trying to get the ball in play to getting it to a place I want it to be which is my sand wedge range so I’m hitting the driver so I’m going to set this up way to the left I’m going to slice this in let if you see a PGA tour pro from 112 yards in the rough what distance does he put the ball to the hole after his shot what do you think I’ll put it up on the screen there now you realize that they don’t hit it as close as we think they do because we watch highlights reels that can lower your expectations making your course management that much better excellent we’ve got 23 ft over here if we understand how far the pros put the ball from that distance wow we relieve a lot of pressure on ourselves thinking we have to put it to 6 ft 10 ft every time from 112 yards just like that money Pace oh nearly made the putt when you got these short putts don’t be Reckless don’t be careless at least take a glance okay you can rush them then you miss them then you have to hit another one so the time you took to miss and hit another one is the same time it would take just to get a quick glance 2 seconds get your instinct go say it’s going to go straight and just putt it that way you make more you miss less a lot of course management can be down on Google Earth where you can see where the Fairway Narrows now my target was always those trees on the left hand side expecting a fader but if that fader doesn’t come I can go in those trees with a driver which then stunts my chances of even making a par so on this hole I don’t find it’s been worth going for it in two or trying to go for it in two I can that an expert golfer makes a power on this hole hitting the Green in three shots an expert golfer that’s what power is so I know if I hit my seven wood lay it up to a sandwich I have a better than 30% chance of making a birdie the main thing you can do is to start using your brain and start thinking clearly so a seven wood here is a very safe shot I’m going to be in play in the widest part of the Fairway turning this into a three shotter easy game even going that far left is absolutely perfect because it’s never going to reach those trees if I hit a driver on that line double bogey so what we’ve done is we’ve left 300 to the front of the green and we have hit basically the maximum width area allowed on this hole probably 80 yards from tree to tree perfect up there it gets very narrow where my driver will finish what a man so with 300 to the front of the green I’d like some form of wedge into this green that’s how I like to play Power FS get a wedge in and for my third shot I never ever want my third shot to a par five to be from a fairway bunker I have failed at life then so we have to eliminate this bunker right in front of us and there’s a white marker right next to it that’s the 150 yard marker so if I want to carry that bunker I have to hit at 160 or more that means I bring out my six iron but priority number one avoid that silly bunker we don’t have to hit any fancy shot shape because we have space out to the right we don’t have to hook this around the trees we can play one shot shape the whole way around this golf course and the most important thing when you’re in a distance range is not to get too preoccupied with the exact distance we want good distance control that’s our number one priority but if you got 132 and you don’t have the club that you know that’s a comfortable range hit the club that’s going to have a mediocre shot of reaching the front of the green at 120 and a great strike at 150 at the back and that’s how we do it hit to a distance range better to have gone long than to not have gone at all o spicy me ball little putting management tip we have here when you putt uphill take a little bit less break than you would on a flat or downhill putt because you’re hitting it firmer through that first like 60% of the putt it’s not going to take as much break as a downhiller or flat putt not too bad not too bad par three course management is a very nuanced because you’re going to have clubs that you can really go at the pin it’s going to be depending on your distance depending on your clubs and you have to take advantage of that when you have a long one like this though 175 with a lot of Bunker to carry there’s only one thing to do and that’s avoid the chance of going in the deep being on the left side here and taking a three part four is actually not bad if you go in that bunker it’s quite difficult to hit a 30 40 yard bunker shot onto a raised green it’s really difficult just find a way to miss in a great place that allows you a very easy shot here I don’t mind a little bump and run from the left Edge or a long putt you take your shot shape into account and you try hit that left Edge where you take the bunker out of play aiming left of it just like that and that’s money that’s going to miss the green on the left there’s a lot of feedback sometimes on the videos that I seem to expect people not to Duff a shot of course we don’t want to Duff shots but duffing shots is not reserved for an special Elite everybody duffs a shot the difference is people who Duff shots think that defines them that that now they have to chase their losses and play some other game if you Duff a shot nothing changes you just carry on with the same process it’s just one extra shot you’ve added to the hole that’s all it doesn’t change anything when you go chase your distance to try and make up for that shot you screw it up worse I can’t help you to stop duffing shots you got to go see a pro for that so if I chunk this chip here to One Foot In Front of Me what do I do different absolutely nothing I just hit the same shot again and try work on that shot off the course to make it more successful next time so I don’t Duff it that’s why I like tow down tripping eight iron onto the front there about a yard onto the green going to break left to right and it’s going to just filter down to the hole there if I Duff it here I hit the same shot and I try and make a par or tap in bogey beautiful thank you very much I see the 150 yard marker in the middle of the Fairway there so I shoot my range Pinder to that marker and I see it’s 210 yard so if I can hit the ball 210 I’m going to hit both the widest part of the Fairway I’m going to stay short of that bunker on the right which means no 80 yard bunker shot over a whole bunker which means my target shot of 150 yard 140 yard 210 yard to the 150 playing downhill I might grab another extra couple yards had got a pitching wedge nine iron 48° into the green and it’s going to it’s going to go straight on that line we found ourselves in the rough unfortunately position a fairway position B here position CDE E and F in that bunker in the rough the club face will get grassp between the ball and the club face meaning it can take off some distance a lot of the time and reduce the spin so from 118 I was going to hit a 56° downwind but I’m going to update to a 52° to make sure I want to carry this bunker and if it finishes at the back of the green or over I’m happy with that we have to adjust our expectations when managing a course based on the difficulty of the shot this shot is not easy this is difficult grass I made pretty clean contact with that oh it actually went on the green when you’re doing this golf stuff you’re going to have a lot of poo poo coming into your brain from dingleberries all over the show just do what works for you think clearly about your own game and what’s really working for you and then allow that into your game but there’s a lot of nonsense coming from 16 handicap 24 handicap people that you may know who don’t know much and that can hurt your game doing things you don’t need to do you know that’s why I’m the best part on YouTube I get it online every time I just don’t get the strength right because my caddy didn’t tell me it’s much slower got a 450 yard hole that’s a very very long hole we want to be sure to get the ball in play I’m going to try attack with the driver but show you an alternate where you don’t really have to understanding that any hole that’s 430 y plus basically a bogey hole for 90% of golfers let’s say that you don’t have long distance a like a golf sidekick let’s say you got like a 200 210 yard shot we go at that tree there something easy to aim at and we just accept that this is a long hole we just get a ball in play cuz we playing for the bogey anyway for 99% of golfers a great score wow when it comes to a dog leg LIF we always feel tempted to try and manufacturer hook if you don’t have a drawer try not to put it on because if you do and overhook it you’re dead it’s much easier to be dead when you hook it on a dog leg left I prefer just hitting the fade to the fat side of the dog leg it’s safe if you have a dog leg right though with your fade shot now you have a real advantage to take advantage of your shot shape wait be patient for the hole to match your shot shape and you can take advantage so I got 195 because it’s very it’s very easy for me to just rip out a seven iron and stick it to seven feet like an absolute monster that I am but what I’m going to do is just take out the seven wood let’s say you hear a little fader with your seven wood all you do is you set this ball up to left middle of the green so if it goes straight you have a really nice Putt and if you fader it and it lands a bit short you have a easy chip or putter like that we faded a seven wood up there on the right side and we understand that we don’t have the distance now we have a pit shot onto the green when they say further is longer for everybody regardless of handicap this is where it falls apart because that data doesn’t take into account this kind of bad lie I’ve hit this like 310 yards I’d rather take a 280 270 yard shot in the Fairway giving me Supreme control over my Approach shot I’m now off a bare lie ball above my feet from 142 I have to adapt my club if I’ve got 150 yards 160 yards back there it’s an automatic 99 down the breeze I’m sticking it close I’m chasing birdies ball above my feet 144 142 whatever it is I can’t hit a pitching wtch because it’s very firm here so I got to try hit like a punch CH Chip Shot which means I have to Club up which means I don’t have exact control over this ball and with the ball above my feet it’s going to have a tendency to turn right to left and the pin is on the right hand side of the green so we’re not really attacking because we aim it at the pin move it toward the left side of the middle of the green so would I take a 310 y drive here or 270 y drive back there I’ll take the 270 in the Fairway every day so we have to manufacturer shot here cuz a full pitching wedge will surely leave us well short so we have to grip down cuz the ball’s above our feet we’ve got nine a nine iron higher Loft likes to turn over more right to left we’re going to hit like a little chip Punchy shot complicated see it just turned over and it’s going to land on the Green and we’ve got a long putt from the left whereas let me show you the same shot from back there 20 30 yards back from the Fairway so we’ve moved it 30 yards back into the Fairway on a slight downhill lie but at least we have a confident shot we know how to hit I’m going to hit the same Club ironically the 99 from 174 same as what I H from 144 up there in the rough let’s see what the difference is what better longer always better in the Shyer or 30 yards back and funnily enough hitting the same Club 1749 what a shot good sh beautiful this one is a 99 from 144 proximity to the whole I don’t know what this must be about 40 ft or so all we’re really looking for from here is a twoy get in get in get in no not in not in from the 174 yard 9 iron we’ve hit it to much closer proximity more realistic chance of making little right to left or up the hill we’re still not going to make many of these maybe we’re going to make one in 10 of these or one in 15 yeah we put it out too far too far to the right leaving ourselves apart for the par beautiful what a day now when it comes to course management you can do both aggressive and conservative strategy an aggressive strategy here may be a driver but you have to stop and think to yourself best case worst case scenario worst case with a driver I go through those trees into the water deados or I slicer too much into the water on the right I bring all kinds of stuff into play if I get the perfect shot best case scenario I’m going through that tree onto the Fairway there leaving me a 50 60 70 yard shot which I don’t like so everything about the driver play doesn’t make sense to me though I’m going to hit it for you anyway with a big fader trying to get around that corner down toward the wow now we go with the conservative but cocky swing right so this is a conservative Target at the 150 with a cocky swing knowing we’re going to pull the shot off leaving ourselves our preferred shot into the hole which is just a nine or pitching wedge very cool key to be conscious of when you’re managing the course is that they measure the hole down the middle of the Fairway probably to the 150 yard marker to the middle of the green so if you can move your shot over on the dog leg toward the side of the the way it’s dog legging you can actually cut off some yardage so the same shot here let’s say we moved this around to the middle of the dog leg if I move it more 20 30 yards to the left I’ve added maybe 10 10 yards whom I shot into the Green from here I’ve got 136 from there I might have 146 it can make a club difference I’m not an exceptional Talent at golf I’m a generational Talent got a right to left her down the hill slowest green on the course wow it’s bumpy and slow and nasty I hit the ball too long on this hole if I catch the down slope my driver is going in the water at 340 yard that’s the nature of the game don’t hate the player hate the game we understand that a par five is the expectation for an expert golfer C at a certain stage you become an expert at a par five and this is expert surgical par five play we’ve LIF ourself 240 to the front of the green where we have a clear shot over here if you’re feeling confident and you have a great lie like this the ball sitting up on the grass and there’s not much danger as long as I don’t hit a big sweeping draw I can really hit a shot at the green here with a club I think that can go 240 but it must go 240 without pushing it if my club only goes 220 I should hit that shot normally don’t try squeeze out another 20 yard just leave it 20 yard short of the green and we’re money so what I’ll do here is I’ll hit my 6 iron which goes 200 yard and that should leave me 55 Yard short of the green if you cannot do that you have to chip up to the left there try set it up to the 150 yard marker for your third shot in if I were further right I would have to do that but I’m in a position where I can can go over the water in front of me with a six iron and I think it’s going to work over I think this one’s going to break a little lator got the burn mark on the right hand side of the hole I’m a bit tired so I don’t really care about making Parts at the moment see it’s just not going to break I’m too hungry I am too hungry but the pace control is perfect leaving a tap in we’re seeing double now we’re very hungry we’re starting to want to vomit from the Hunger but we got to stay in the game and we got to manage ourselves as well as the course as you start to flail later in the day you’re losing your strength you’re losing your Rhythm you got to go to your goto clubs the ones that are going to help you stay in play help you stay in the game till you get that surge of energy the last three or four holes so understand yourself and then adapt yourself with your habits and what you normally do on the course I’m fading fast here so I’m going to hit a drive and I’m going to actually try hit a Big Slice because it’s easy with this driver it’s the most controllable shot I’m going to hit it way left and if it goes straight that’s all good and if it does a big feder I’m going to be Bubba Watson in the middle of Fairway little little power feder that’s my shot when I’m feeling tired and I have a great gallery of ladies here not our largest hit but absolutely money 270 in the Fairway is what we want do we want 310 in the rough heading over a bunker toward W water no give me 270 in the Fairway every day of the week twice on Sunday and a subscription to only page we’ve left ourselves 138 yards you know what that means that’s a 48° why because if I hit the pitching wedge too hard or too well it’s going over the green into those hedges in the water that pin is on probably 10 to 12 y meaning I have 124 to carry and with a 48° that’s going to be my worst shot and with my best shot I’m going to be right next to the hole at about 138 140 just manage yourself manage your disc down says manage your expectations manage the shots you can play by hitting them to the places you want to hit them on the golf course all about you and yourself not the best not the best but it’ll [Applause] do that’s how you manage the hell out of a golf course using the Holy Grail of course management as you find out the more you play the more you understand course management and course design the more you’re going to understand it’s about you your preference your shots the places you like to hit from your free throw distance your distances everything you like on the golf course makes you play better golf learn your weaknesses work on them learn your strengths play to them if you want more help on course management check this video right over here you’re going to be a boss just like me a Sant a genius okay thank you very much thank you