Monday, December 22, 2008

Choosing a Golf Course

Lesson 4


It's been some time since I made my last post on golf equipment. I am not proud of it, but I admit to some serious slacking........about two months!!! Hard to believe but I've done work in other areas for the blog so not a COMPLETE waste of time. Enough about my motivation, we need to find out which golf course to play! Again, I am going over this information because not everyone is at the same stage in terms of golf experience.


Golf Instructions Online Tip: A blog needs constant work (self-realized)


For ease of use purposes, golf courses can be grouped into 3 different layout styles:
1) Links
2) Heavily wooded
3) "Normal"



Links



Links courses are about as literally straight forward as they come. I define a links course as a wide open, low trouble golf course. Large fairways, medium to large greens, thick rough and fairway bunkers are traditional characteristics. Usually, you see the entire hole from the tee without obstacles blocking your view. One positive are the fairways, the extended landing areas allow golfers a better opportunity to keep the ball in the short grass. One negative is the rough, usually the tall grass is extremely thick. The course designers rewarded us with big ol' fairways, its our job to stay in them or risk hacking at our ball in the rough. I describe this course as "low trouble" because the bunkers and the rough are really the only two danger areas. Getting out of a true links fairway bunker is very similar to the rough there. The steep walls can force a couple shots before successfully leaving the sand. The British Open is played on links style courses.


Tip: If the bunker wall reaches above your head, think about chipping backwards and out



Heavily Wooded



The dreaded forest courses. I dread them because I hate playing tree golf. Nothing boils my blood more then hitting a bad drive into the trees, then trying to hit a good shot into play, only to see my shot pinball off some bark farther into the woods. Ugh. Very frustrating but a great mental test. These golf courses pressure you, even more, to hit the ball straight down middle or risk having your view to the green blocked by a tree. Yes, the heavily wooded courses stay true to their given name, with an over abundance of trees. Other trouble areas are common: bunkers around the greens, ponds to hit over on par 3's and par 5's, scattered long rough, OB (out of bounds). I don't suggest this type of course nor do I choose to play them, only if I'm really looking for a challenge or if someone pays for my round...



Tip: A par made after hitting a tree is called a Barky



"Normal"


I'm not even gonna go there. What is normal? I should really say average golf course, but then again, if you averaged every golf course, you'd produce some really funky holes....now I'm interested in this fantasy golf adventure I created in my head. Anyways, an ideal normal course is fair in all respects. Not an over abundance of trees or hazards, medium to large greens, average rough, decent fairways etc. I'd say most public courses fall under my categorizing of "normal" except for maybe Bethpage which is ridiculous, a few par 4 holes measured over 5oo yards! Talk about tough! I spend most of my time playing these normal courses and keeping my links and heavily wooded play to a minimum or until I get bored.


Tip: Playing average golf courses DOES NOT mean you are an average golfer ;)


Expect another soon,

Foxy

Thanks for Visiting!