Intentionally not aiming for the fairway

[Matt_Cohn]

I played a qualifier at Coyote Creek (Valley) yesterday near San Jose. I hit one fairway and shot two under par. Now, I didn't drive it super awesome, but a lot of it was because of the golf course itself. There are a lot of dogleg holes with just short open rough on a direct line to the green, or where there's trouble on one side and open space on the other. There were probably 4 holes where I didn't even aim for the fairway, and only about 6 holes where my target was the center of the fairway. Obviously the short rough helped, but still.

I started wondering about other courses where the premium on hitting fairways is so low. Are there any great courses where one can hit just a couple of fairways and still play basically a normal, successful round? Or where one intentionally aims outside of any fairways, let alone 3 or 4?

[Tom Huckaby]

Matt:

First, congrats on the success!  But now to your question.. oh yes the course you played exhibits this in spades and good on you for figuring this out.  When it gets problematic is when they let the rough get high there... and it does occur... then that course gets very stupid.

But also, I play a lot of courses like this... pretty much any muni that doesn't grow high rough.  Santa Teresa exhibits this, for example.

TH

[Carl Johnson]

A couple of times on TOC my caddie directed me to hit drives into the rough (which I did with successful results), in order to be sure to stay away from certain bunkers.

[Mark Smolens]

Alas  the way I'm playing these days, I couldn't hit it in the fairway even if I was trying.  I'm just hitting it and hoping it doesn't end up in a really bad place. . .

[Padraig Dooley]

Christy O'Connor Snr used to talk about aiming for the left rough on the 13th in Royal Dublin, his explanation was the flyer would  benefit playing a long hole into the wind and a long green as well.

However one wouldn't want to miss the fairway by too much, particularly this year after the damp spring and jungle rough on most links.

[Chris Cupit]

There are four holes at Linville Golf Club (old Donald Ross) that have such severe greens with so much back to front pitch that the ideal approach comes in with little or no spin.

One hole in particular, #10 has a distinct top shelf.  If the hole is in the back short is OK and anything on the top shelf is a great shot.  The left rough is the best approach and from there a ball landing in the middle of the green has a chance of chasing back to the hole.

The real fun is when the hole is on the front.  I guess it is easier to get a ball close on the front but anything short is back in the fairway, anything long but not back to the top tier will pick up so much speed it will roll back to the first level and usually off the green and down the fairway as well   The play is from the rough just landing on the front.   Without much spin it should settle on the lower tier.

Greens #2, #7, and #16 are also very severe but unlike #10 it is not really practical to try and hit the rough off of the tee.  I really like the golf course and it is sporty and fun although I do wish they had flattened those four greens given the pace they normally keep the greens.

[JC Jones]

Similar to Mark, I actually aim for the rough because it gives me a better chance at hitting the fairway.

[Jaeger Kovich]

I had a very similar question/problem while working a tournament at Winged Foot East last week....

On #4, the long par 5, "Old Soak". I'm sure some of you are familiar with this hole. It is virtually unreachable, as the hole bends around a pond on the right. The pond is also guarded by some very tall trees on the inside of the fairway, making nearly impossible to hit over them, especially with a fairway wood that would be necessary to hit the green in 2.

So, during a practice round, one of the players in my group pushed his drive right and into the rough, close to the pond. At this part of the hole, there are no trees defending a long wood into the green, because it is not needed to guard from the fairway, it is simply to long... Anyways, we get one of the best lies in that rough all week, its almost teed up. So I give him the 3-wood, the thing just takes off, clears the pond by a ton and we are looking at birdie.

The thing is... If you hit the ball in the fairway at ANY distance, you have no shot across. NONE. Only a long push into the rough has a shot at reaching in two... Is this a "problem" with the strategy?... I lean towards yes... My feeling is either another tree should go in to prevent it, or it should be mowed down to fairway, and played like that, because 99.9* of golfers still aint gettin there!

[Adam Clayman]

Sadly winged foot is populated with way too many trees. Adding another to prevent someone from taking the line you took has to be the worst justification I know of. Covering that wonderful ground with too many trees should be included on Ran's architectural blunder list.

[Doug Siebert]

On my home course's par 5 6th, if I'm laying up and the pin is in the very treacherous back left pin, I'll deliberately play to into the right rough.  That gives the only angle where its possible to have a shot at getting it close without requiring a healthy dose of blind luck, and lets me deliberately hit my wedge a bit fat to let it run in which is the only sane way to play that shot.  If I pull it left into the fairway I play 25 feet short of that pin and pray for a two putt...

[Mark Smolens]

Similar to Mark, I actually aim for the rough because it gives me a better chance at hitting the fairway.

Thank you JC.  I will try that tomorrow. . .