[George Freeman]

"I am a high single digit handicapper, however most of the time just finding the fairway with a solid drive is good enough for me. 

Unless the fairway is very wide, there is a potential dogleg to carry, a tree, or some other very advantageous outcome by risking going after a small area of a fairway, I usually aim center left and let the ole power fade bring her back.

I appreciate very much the idea of playing angles and advantages being gained from placing ones ball in certain sides/areas of fairways, whether it be a drive or a lay-up.   However, I would have to imagine that 80% or more of the people who play golf have such large variances in accruacy that picking certain sides of the fairway is out of the question; especially on many of the more "boom" era courses with narrower fairways. 

For the average golfer I believe that the finding "wrong" side of the fairway will result in less of a stroke penalty on average than attempting to hit a certain side of a fairway and missing the shot, leaving a pitch-out or worse, a ball in the hazard..."

I thought this subject was interesting enough to warrant its own thread apart from the "tree" thread.

I would be interested to hear some architects take on this subject seeing that (I assume) this is such a large peice in planning the strategy of a course...

How do you take into consideration that the majority of the people who play your courses simply don't have the skill to pick an area and execute a shot to the proper side of a fairway?

[Kirk Gill]

Forgive me for sticking my hand in on this one........

I also found that observation to be most interesting........and it seems to beg two answers.

One, an analogy. A musical artist might put in a lot of work subtly crafting that perfect mandolin part that hardly anyone will ever notice anyway. There's some worth to performing craft at the highest level you can, regardless of whether or not the world at large notices, or cares.

And secondly, as the title of the thread mentions, there are plenty of folks who will notice and attempt to execute a shot that will give them an advantage on their next shot. The fact that they don't pull it off on one particular occasion doesn't mean that they won't be back, and won't try again, and won't enjoy the "quest."

[Carl Rogers]

My experience tells me that unless you are in the top 500 golfers in the world, your ability to conceptualize the game vastly out weighs your ability to physically execute.

Go back to the old Tommy Armour books ... to paraphrase... 'play the shot you know how to play and play the shot that makes the next shot easy'

[Tom_Doak]

The odd thing about that quote (to me) is that the writer says in some circumstances (dogleg to carry, tree, etc.) he WILL try to do something other than aim for the center of the fairway, but in other circumstances, he won't or can't.

On a proper strategic hole, being in the rough on the correct side of the fairway should yield a better approach than being in the fairway on the wrong side.  If that's the case, then aiming at the left-center of the fairway is the wrong play ... he should be aiming somewhere between OB and the fairway center.  If the rough is too thick for that, then the rough is too thick, in my opinion.  It's the same reason I argue about the set-up of U.S. Open courses ... they rob the holes of their strategy by making the rough so thick that not even a Tour pro would dare favor one side.

[George Pazin]

My experience tells me that unless you are in the top 500 golfers in the world, your ability to conceptualize the game vastly out weighs your ability to physically execute.

Go back to the old Tommy Armour books ... to paraphrase... 'play the shot you know how to play and play the shot that makes the next shot easy'

Unless you're playing for fun and the love of the game.

I'm surprised Barney challenges himself so little.

[Adrian_Stiff]

The odd thing about that quote (to me) is that the writer says in some circumstances (dogleg to carry, tree, etc.) he WILL try to do something other than aim for the center of the fairway, but in other circumstances, he won't or can't.

On a proper strategic hole, being in the rough on the correct side of the fairway should yield a better approach than being in the fairway on the wrong side. 

I am not sure I totally agree with that Tom. I think I can see where your coming from, but I think really the rough should be penal enough that its not better to be 'in the rough' than the fairway. I can see how the alignment would be easier though.

[John Kavanaugh]

My experience tells me that unless you are in the top 500 golfers in the world, your ability to conceptualize the game vastly out weighs your ability to physically execute.

Go back to the old Tommy Armour books ... to paraphrase... 'play the shot you know how to play and play the shot that makes the next shot easy'

Unless you're playing for fun and the love of the game.

I'm surprised Barney challenges himself so little.

George,

Unless it is a GCA outing I only play for money.  I would quit golf if it wasn't for the action.  Besides the money, losers are openly humiliated from town to town.  My fragile psyche can not afford the risk of a poor round because I wanted to have fun.  I can ride a good win for weeks and every loss gets me out the next day.  It is not a curse I would wish on anyone.

[George Pazin]

That's a very interesting perspective.

I wish I had the game and the money to say I could relate.

[JohnH]

On a proper strategic hole, being in the rough on the correct side of the fairway should yield a better approach than being in the fairway on the wrong side. 

Is that your opinion Tom or is it generally accepted by all architects?  In my opinion, in this example you should try to be on the correct side of the fairway rather than the "correct" side in the rough.  There should be some penalty for missing the fairway regardless if it's on the correct side or not.  I realize much of that has to do with severity of the rough, but it makes little sense to me to allow a poorly played shot to not be penalized from an architectural standpoint.  Then again, I'm just a novice.

[John Kavanaugh]

That's a very interesting perspective.

I wish I had the game and the money to say I could relate.

George,

I did not mean to imply that we play for very much money.  The key to any good golf money game is knowing your opponents game, which results in playing with friends.  It is very much a pride thing.

I doubt if I have ever wagered more than a cart fee with a stranger or someone I could not get a rematch with the next week.  Where I am lucky is that I have well over 100 of this type of friend in many different towns.  I would estimate my beat to value ratio at 1.7.

Beat to value ratio is how much a dollar of a mark is worth when gained in a golf game.  

[George Pazin]

On a proper strategic hole, being in the rough on the correct side of the fairway should yield a better approach than being in the fairway on the wrong side. 

Is that your opinion Tom or is it generally accepted by all architects?  In my opinion, in this example you should try to be on the correct side of the fairway rather than the "correct" side in the rough.  There should be some penalty for missing the fairway regardless if it's on the correct side or not.  I realize much of that has to do with severity of the rough, but it makes little sense to me to allow a poorly played shot to not be penalized from an architectural standpoint.  Then again, I'm just a novice.

Regarding your and Aidan's posts, if there is so little advantage to be gained by playing the angles, then you essentially eliminate any desirability to do so.

I'm with Tom (and not just because I'm a charter member of the DBB club).

JK -

I didn't mean to imply that you play for big money, either, it's really more the game aspect. Even more than the folks who zip around the country playing any and every course out there, I really envy those who have the game to make competition fun and worthwhile. I think I could get there if I had the time, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

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