All avid golfers (should) know the importance of course management. For those who don’t, course management is strategically positioning your ball to give the most optimal lay for the next shot. This advice may not be for those weekend warriors who refuse to lay up and always ‘smash bombs’ – it is for those golfers who are looking to drop strokes without re-hauling their swing.
One of the best examples of course management is Tiger’s win at the 2019 Masters. Unarguably, Tiger has played Augusta National more than his competition that year. On Sunday, Tiger was trailing the lead by 2 strokes and wasn’t particularly playing better than the rest of the pack – but he was playing smarter.
Dubbed ‘Golden Bell’, Hole 12 is the shortest par 3 at Augusta National and is tucked away in Amen Corner. Although it’s short, four of the final six players found the water that Sunday including, Ian Poulter, Brooks Koepka, Tony Finau, and Francesco Molinari. The pin placement was in the front right corner, the lowest tier of the green.
So, why did Tiger purposefully carry the bunker leaving himself a 51-ft lag which he ultimately 2-putted for par? Simply because he had better course management skills then his peers. Tiger didn’t seek the pin because he knew the swirling winds above the hole were unpredictable, he knew the pin placement forced him to carry the furthest part of the water, and he knew the risk of back spinning off the green into the water. If all the other players had the same course management skills then ask yourself ‘if Molinari knew this as well, then why did he go pin seeking with a 2 stroke lead?’.
Try creating a course management strategy next time you play and you may be surprised with how low your score. There are countless books helping golfers with their course management and I personally recommend “Play Strategic Golf – Course Navigation: How to Position Yourself Like the Pros” by Eric Jones (Link below). For golfers who understand course management but are playing a new course, I recommend visiting the course’s website to study their scorecard and reviewing the course on google maps (satellite overlay). There is always the chance the course you’re playing has The Member’s Bounce so you can access course drone videos from your phone.
