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Course management is developed only by going to the golf course and getting experience to develop your skills. Of course you will make mistakes, but we can avoid making the same mistakes by learning from them and increase the chances of making a good score.

You must bear in mind your own limitations and play to your strengths.

Positional Play

Try to look at the angles, easiest is usually best. Observe the position of flag before you get to the green. It is an easier shot to make if you have the right angle, so if the flag is on the left of the green, coming in from the right of the fairway is best.

It may be that the hole is near a hazard or a bunker, in which case a shot to the middle of the green will be the sensible play. The flag may be at the top of a slope, if this is the case it is better to play below the pin as this will give you an easier putt.

Before you start to play a hole, imagine where you would like to position your shots to have the easiest journey to the flag. Hitting from the fairway is much easier than hitting from the rough or a bunker.

Hazards

On some holes you may find hazards that you can’t get over. It’s sensible to lay up short in this case. A common error in ‘laying up’ is to use too much club so ending up in the hazard! If you’re going to lay up, then don’t mess with with hazard, choose a club which will allow your ball to finish short of the hazard.

Dog Legs

We all think we can hit further than we actually can and therefore the temptation to cut off ‘as much as possible’ is a real one. In most cases it is better to be wider off the tee than too narrow as this will keep you out of trouble and give a better view.

Recovery Shots

Even when you plan your positions carefully on a hole we often find that we need to play some kind of ‘escape’ shot. You should always take the safe option - something which wont land you in more trouble - it could be a sideways chip, but if played correctly will get you out of trouble. You should guard against ‘having a go’ unless you are very confident you can play the shot.

The same applies to bunkers, take enough loft to get you out of the bunker. This is the object of the exercise - not to try for the longest shot and in doing so hit the top of the bunker and land back in it!

Course management is the skill of assessing your ability and relating that to the demands of the course correctly. Achieving this to obtain the lowest possible score is what keeps us coming back each week…………………..