My Local Course: Front Nine

As a beginner, I've identified my goals and have chosen ways of meeting them. Basically, I want to break 80 on my nearby public course. In all my previous posts, I've talked at length about developing my swing, but never about where I would apply it. Just today, that impetus arrived.

I subscribe to the Andy Brown email, and I spent some time today with his latest two emails, both about the common mistakes that amateurs, like me, make. The videos were great, and I highly recommend them. Go to the videos or subscribe to Andy.

The first lessons come from John Richardson, a Scot who has written a book called Dream On about learning how to shoot par within a year, after never breaking 100 before. You'll definitely benefit from watching the videos, but they reminded me about the importance of having goals and strategies. I think I've kept both in mind as I've concentrated on building my swing, and I've also thought about how to play the course that I'll probably play most regularly, my local public course, Mohansic, one of Westchester County's public courses. John advocates developing a plan for playing your primary course, something I've been thinking about for about the last six months or so, or ever since I could tell that my swing was becoming effective. This is a good time to lay out the ways I can see myself playing this difficult (in my opinion) public course.

Located in Northern Westchester just off the Taconic Parkway, it features a hilly landscape, trees and woods lining narrow fairways, and some very difficult greens. After playing it, on and off, for a couple of years, as I've been building my swing, I have some clear ideas of the way a novice golfer, like me, can play this course successfully. That means breaking 80. Even though I feel good about my game, I'm not so sure I can really do that on this course.

When I think about strategy for Mohansic, I think that most amateurs, with the amount of experience I have, will usually shoot in the 90s here. You really have to be sharp to do better than that. The main reason for this is the greens. I'd say that all of them pitch toward the fairway, and many are so tough that it's better not to attempt to get on in regulation. You're probably better off hitting a lag and pitching or chipping up to the pin. If you find yourself above the hole, most of the time, you better get ready to three- or four-putt. It's really discouraging. Basically, at least the next few times out, I'm going to try this strategy and see what happens. If my short game is accurate and dependable, I'll have a shot at breaking 90.

A pro from a driving range near me, Brian Lamberti, during some kind of pro-am last fall, shot 18 consecutive pars, the best score of the day by a couple of strokes, and something that seems quite remarkable to me. He's a top-notch golfer, to begin with, finishing high in the Massachusetts Open last summer and winning the New York State Open at Bethpage Black last fall, winning the tournament in awful conditions on the last day (rain and wind) with three consecutive birdies on the final three holes to win by a stroke. A superior golfer by any standards. And it takes a player like Brian to play Mohansic gracefully. The rest of us are constantly in trouble. Here are my thoughts on the best way I can play the course.

The first hole is the easiest on the course, although the green is hidden from the tee box. It's a gentle dogleg left, 340 yards or so (I'm going to use approximate yardages for my description, since I know, from pacing off my shots, that the yardages on the scorecard are not accurate), over a hill and then down a slope toward a green that, while relatively flat, is protected by bunkers on the right and left. If an approach shot is too strong, it'll fly the green, roll down a steep hill, and wind up somewhere near the entrance road to the course, a bad place to be.

So assuming I can hit either a straight drive, or, even better, a little draw, I should get over the hill and walk up to a second shot, probably a pitching wedge, to the protected green. If I'm in the rough, which is probably the case, given the narrow fairway, that makes the shot a little tougher, but, still, I have a PW into the green, which, since it's relatively level, I always decide to shoot for. From my drive position, I hit my second and probably land somewhere on the green. If the shot strays, and I find myself in a bunker, it's no big deal. The green is so relatively flat that I can blast out and still have a putt as my next shot. If I'm short of the green, that's a good place to be. I can chip or pitch on, going uphill slightly, and have a good chance of getting close. With any luck, I should get a par.

On the next hole, the course begins to exercise its personality. I'm faced with a drive uphill, with a tall tree on the right, around which I should try to hit a fade. Naturally, most of my tee shots find the branches of this tree and carom off to the right behind a red maintenance barn, with no option but to pitch out onto the fairway and take the third shot from there.

But let's be optimistic. My ideal shot is to aim right down the center of the fairway that I can see (since there's quite a hill in front of me) and hit a slight fade to the right. Hit correctly, this cut should take me down the fairway which slopes down toward the green. Let's suppose that I can do that. Now I'm looking at a shot of probably 150 yards. Here's where the subtleties of the course come in. It's not simply a 150 yard shot with an eight-iron. I'm probably on a downhill lie and it's probably slanted a little toward the right. Not a gimme, in other words. So now I'm hitting from a downhill, right-tilted lie toward a green that is slanted right, also. Right toward a larger bunker on the right. The whole landscape tilts toward the right.

This is where my general course strategy starts to come into play. To me, the smart play is to hit anything that will get me close to the green, but in front of it, taking the traps, left and right, out of play, and allowing me to chip aggressively toward the pin. Anything else is asking for plenty of trouble. I could find myself in a bunker, or on the green someplace where I couldn't possibly get a long first putt close to the hole. To minimize my difficulty, I think the wisest course is to hit something that will land short of the green, and because it's in longer grass, will stop, without rolling too much. From there, I'd like to be able to chip close to the hole and make the first putt. That would be the dream scenario.

After missing the first putt, I walk away with a bogey toward the third hole, a par three featuring an elevated green protected by two bunkers. If you miss with your tee shot, probably an eight-iron, you're either on the beach or pitching up a steep hillside. If I can hit the green, I'm pretty confident about two-putting for par.

The fourth is a long, long par four, with a long, uphill drive as the first shot. Assuming I hit a decent drive, about 235 or so uphill, I should have a second shot about 200 yards to the green. Like the first hole, this one is protected by bunkers and trouble behind the green. Again, the smart shot is to hit something that will get me short of the green. Then I can chip or pitch on. Are you starting to see a pattern? So, with luck, I get a par or, more likely, a bogey.

Now we come to a very difficult par four, with an uphill drive, followed by a second shot over a vale to an elevated green. Again, we're looking at bogey at best. My tee shot is woefully short, leaving me a three-hybrid second, which lands short of the green, but on the uphill, a good place to be. I hit a good chip and get close to the pin. A two putt, and I have bogey, a good score.

Feeling pretty good, I step onto the teeing ground on the next hole, an uphill par three with bunkers left and right and disastrous results for the golfer who hits over the green. This is probabably an eight-iron for me. I feel it's a seven, but it I hit that, I'm probably above the hole, and you don't want to be there.

So I hit an eight and find myself short. That's a good place. From there, I can chip up and then putt for par. A bogey here is not such a bad thing.

I can get back to par on the next hole, I think, a 370-something hole straightaway. If I can hit a good tee shot, I can get over the first hill on the fairway and with a good roll, find myself just a pitching wedge from the green. It's tricky, though, The green slants toward the right and front. The smart play, I still think, is to play to the front of the green, a shot which will take both right and left bunkers out of play, and then offer a nice chip shot close to the hole. One putt should do it. Of course, we can't one putt, and we take our bogey, feeling that we're even.

By now, we're used to conceding to the course, aren't we? The eighth hole reminds us of our limitations. Not a long hole from the middle tees, it is still an uphill layout and dogleg left, great for players who draw the ball. Still, even if the player hits a good draw, he still has a good pitching wedge up the the elevated green, a treacherous green under the best of circumstances. If you hit above the hole, this is one place where you cannot possibly keep the ball on the green if you miss your first putt. So you have to be below the hole, no matter what. Then, just take your medicine and putt uphill and take two or three putts. That's the best you can hope for.

The ninth hole is a conundrum. I can hit a great tee shot, hit a good second shot, and still have have no good view of the green. Your third shot is an act of faith. Two large bunkers right and left, and a huge fairway bunker just in front of the green, I'm not sure what the best play here is. I have hit the green in three, which means a good two-putt and I've got my par.

I've never broken 50 on this front nine, but with the progress I've made since last year, I should be able to keep my score close to 40 or so. We'll see. In the next post, I'll describe the back nine.