Game Plan

Continuing the series of #stayathome golf, we are going to move onto how you can prepare better and how creating a game plan will help you to improve your scores. We all know how to play our home courses, I mean we stand on the first knowing that it is a driver followed by an 8-iron (or similar, that is just an example). If we hit a poor drive we know we will need a 6-iron instead, we are stale stuck in the rut of playing the same course over and over again. It is monotonous, regardless of how we play, we know every possible outcome and requirement. (more or less!) and this shows when you head to a different course, it is like you are another player.

This is how preparing correctly and having a game plan at your home course can help you deal with visiting a different course. A game plan has to be born from learning to understand golf courses, how they are designed, and this starts with a course planner or course guide. Grabbing a copy before you play has become much easier as most courses have uploaded their guide to their webpage. Take a look and plan the best way to get around the course.

Planning for your home course, is not as easy as you may think. Remember the rut you are stuck in is not going to help you reduce your handicap, you need to think on your feet and change the way you approach each round. Base your game plan on a still day or the prevailing wind, this way you are not trying to second guess yourself in the planning stage.

I want you to think about the first hole, I am going to use a very famous hole that most people will know, the 1^st at Augusta National , for the members the hole plays 365 yards with a bunker to the right of the fairway creating a bottle neck and a bunker front left. Now the smart play is to avoid the bunker from the tee, but as a member we know that we would normally pull out a driver and give it whack, find the bunker and walk off with a 6. Good planning and the avoidance of being sucked in would be to play short of the bunker (aim at it) and play a mid-iron to the front right of the green and hope for a good chip and a putt. Worse case a 5. If the wind is from the north or the west, this is even more the play, using our handicap to help us out.

I want you to sit down, draw out each hole on your course and plan the best way to play each hole, based not on what you normally do, but how you should play the hole based on your own strengths (and weaknesses), correctly planning the strategy will hold you in good stead for the future. Golf is not all about the physical aspects, being mentally prepared and strong is a huge part of the game.