Dissecting a Golf Course
 

John,

Hope all is well with you. I am fascinated with tour players (particularly the old guys) ability to breakdown golf courses. I know a guy that caddies for a senior tour player. He said that in one practice round they will know more about a golf course than most people who have played that course their whole life.

I have attended practice rounds for the US Open and the Masters. You guys obviously are going about your business differently than the guy (like me) with the hot dog chili stain on his shirt.

What type of things are you guys observing and detailing in your development of strategy for a course? What type of advice would you give to amateurs with regards to developing a sound strategy to play to their strenghts (assuming any)? How much do you think hackers are losing on having poor strategy or no strategy at all?

Thanks a ton! And good luck!

Bucket

I'm not John (duh!!!duh!!!!)....but I think it's really important for those who hack to more or less just know their limits and to play the percentages.

It's hard to strategize and really pick your spots (where you want your ball to go or not go) if it can go ANY random place at any random time.

....

That's what comes to my noggin right up front.

A lot of it is distances and knowing where to place your ball off the tee. The yardage books they have are ridiculously detailed. Every sprinkler head's yardage is noted, both to front and middle of the green. Distances to trees, bunkers, hazards, where the fairway tapers in, to the green over the left greenside bunker, everything you could imagine.

Yes, you still have to hit the shots. But when a tour player knows it's 219 yards to the right fairway bunker, they can plan for it much better than the average guy.

Ya....u can be pretty confident in your yardage before you hit it eh.