Alan,

I was having a similar problem on a short, narrow course in my town. My bread and butter club is a PW to 125 yards. I can hit that shot straight, and stop it dead all day long. On this particular course I would drive it past my "go to" distance.

I decided to put together a yardage book for the course. I found out where a PW would be to the greens. Some tee shots are as little as a 4i, some a 5 wood, but a PW - 8i is what I was looking for. The first few times without the book I played in 12 over trying to hit 300 - 320 yard par 4's in a 15 yard wide fairway. Not a very smart thing to do. I played the same course in 5 over the last go around. I did the same thing on a Champions tour course recently. I think I learned my lesson.

If you want to play your home course better, my suggestion is to:

1. Walk the course backwards, from green to tee and see how the shots are designed to be played. Look for the landing areas to set up an easy next shot. Look for bailout areas, where is a good place to miss and still get a resonably good next shot.

2. Put together a yardage book, for your home course. I am using a 100 yard tape measure on a new course. You can see the lines of play much better. I plan on playing a few events there next year and want to get an edge on the field. I have found a few driving lanes and few escapes that I never would have known about.

When your swinging resonably well, course management can cut more strokes than a well executed swing to a bad area on the course. I like to think play smarter not harder.

Hope this helps, don't give up!!!

GolfBald

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