Do courses you play a lot make you play a certain way?

[Carl Rogers]

I say yes.

If you play a narrow tree lined course, you eventually learn how to hit it straighter.

If you play a course with very difficult complex greens, then you learn how to read greens, approach putt, chip etc.

Is this self evident?

[Cliff Hamm]

Who is better on links type courses with lots of wind - those from the British Isles or Americans?

[D_Malley]

if you play a course that makes you think of your approach shot before you hit your drive.......

[Tom_Doak]

Carl:

There was a wonderful article by Bernard Darwin on this very subject in The Book of The Links in the early 1900's.  He described how, in the old days, there was a "St. Andrews swing" and a "North Berwick swing" and a "Prestwick swing", not only because local players imitated local stars, but because local stars' games were adapted to their home courses.

I doubt there is nearly as much cross-pollenation anymore, but if you play your own course long enough, it has to affect your game.  Next to Ben Crenshaw and Seve Ballesteros, one of the best short games I have seen belongs to the club professional at Crystal Downs, Fred Muller.  But if you didn't have a great short game after playing Crystal Downs five times a week, you would have to quit the game.

[Steve Burrows]

I have read that Nicklaus learned to play a cut because, in his mind, the course he played growing up, Scioto Country Club, "moves" from left to right.  Conversely, I have a friend whose home course asks very little of players off the tee, but requires a deft short game to score well, and sure enough, he is a pretty good player almost entirely because of his short game.

Ultimately, I don't think there is anything that can be empirically proved to support this concept, but it sure makes a lot of sense.

[John Moore II]

The course you play most might determine how you play the game a bit, certainly. I know when I was first starting out, I played a course that could be very windy at times. So depending on the day, or even time of day, I could play it as an 'American' style course with all aerial game or when the wind picked up, play the ball lower and run more stuff around the course. And now, having moved inland I have lost my ability to play in the wind as well as I used to. Even though I still am able to hit the ball straight in good conditions, my play suffers more than it should in less than stellar weather.

[Philippe Binette]

My former home course is a great example... a blocked right tee shot = OB on most holes, so it's hard not to be defensive of the tees... players hit it 20 yards shorter of the tee on it because they can't let loose.

[Don_Mahaffey]

It's not a course thing, but down here on the gulf coast you better have a stinger type drive and punch/knock down iron shots in your arsenal or the constant winds will eat you up. High fades don't work here.

[Tom Birkert]

I think it does.

Growing up playing golf in England, we tend to utilise the chip and run a lot more as courses tend to be firmer and that shot is the sensible one.

In the US, short shots are generally played in a more lofted manner, with soft hands sliding the clubface under the ball. It's a skill I find very hard to emulate, because I very rarely use it in my everyday play.

[John Moore II]

It's not a course thing, but down here on the gulf coast you better have a stinger type drive and punch/knock down iron shots in your arsenal or the constant winds will eat you up. High fades don't work here.

And when the winds calm down you can hit that high fade into the greens. Thats how I learned to play. With the big fade for calm conditions and the low, punch fade when it was windy.

I think it does.

Growing up playing golf in England, we tend to utilise the chip and run a lot more as courses tend to be firmer and that shot is the sensible one.

In the US, short shots are generally played in a more lofted manner, with soft hands sliding the clubface under the ball. It's a skill I find very hard to emulate, because I very rarely use it in my everyday play.

Same idea as above, you typically play in the wind a good bit, at least for the coastal courses.

[Carl Rogers]

I was trying to steer the thread in a manner that responds to the golfer of some but modest abilities.

As has been said here and elsewhere, there are lots of ways to be a 6 handicapper.

And to get personal, Riverfront has made me work a lot harder on second shots on the long holes, both practice wise and equipment changes.

[Harvey Dickens]

I play a course with small elevated greens. I am lost on a course where I have long chips or putts.

[John Moore II]

I was trying to steer the thread in a manner that responds to the golfer of some but modest abilities.

As has been said here and elsewhere, there are lots of ways to be a 6 handicapper.

And to get personal, Riverfront has made me work a lot harder on second shots on the long holes, both practice wise and equipment changes.

Carl-certainly wherever you play will make a difference on how you play. Before I got a job in the golf business I was a member at a course that was fairly short and also had very soft, slow greens. So, I didn't really have to worry a lot about roll and such on pitch shots and chips and such. I had a handicap that was sub-scratch. But I went to qualify for the US Amateur and missed by a huge margin because the course I was playing was longer, had firm fairways (so balls rolled more, into trouble, than they did at my other course) and I had a account for way more roll and bounce on the greens. Then after the thrashing I took that day, I went out 2 days later and shot 69 or 70. The course you play most often certainly builds you game in one way or another to score best on that given course.

Carl-We will certainly have to meet and play sometime, I live in the Tidewater area as well.

[Paul Stephenson]

I noticed during the golf telecast yesterday when McIlroy was short sided and elected to play a flop shot, Faldo noted that he was surprised since Rory grew up playing links golf he didn't seem to "see" another option.

[Richard Choi]

I go the otherway. I find courses that suit my game - i.e. courses with lots of width!!!

[Ken Moum]

The two courses here in Topeka that I have played the most are good examples.

I have been a member at Shawnee CC since 1998, except for 2005 and 2006, when I played at Lake Shawnee GC.

SCC plays best with a righthander's draw on dogleg left holes 1, 3, 6, 11, 15 and 16.

Among those, even many of the straight holes have trouble on the left, so it's comfortable to aim right and hit a draw. That includes 2, 14 and 18.

On the remaining five holes that aren't par threes, 4 can be played with a draw or fade, but there's a swale in the fairway that has shorter carry on the right, so a draw works well, 8 is a par five with OB right, but it's far enough away that you don't have to aim out of bounds, and 12 has trees on both sides, but it's uphill so a draw might give a few more yards of roll.

Only 9 and 10 are dogleg right, and 10 plays very well with a draw.

On the par threes, 5 and 13 don't favor a ball flight, but on 7 (208 from the white tees) there's a tree on the left that slicers hit about half the time..  On 17, the prevailing wind and some trees make it easier to get at the hole with a fade.

So, of 18 holes at Shawnee CC, only two favor a fade, and nine favor a draw.  Some of the nine almost demand a draw.

At LSGC, OTOH,

Holes 1, 2, 3,  5, 7, 9, 12, 16, and 18 either demand or favor a left-to-right fade.

1, 2, 3, 7, and 18 all have right-to-left slopes so almost any draw that lands in the fairway ends up in the trees, water, OB, etc.  (To hit a significant draw on #2, you would need to drive the ball 50 yards right of the fairway onto a hillside of rough, and hope it rolls back to the fairway, but not accross it into the lake)

5, 9, and 16 all have one or more trees in front of the tree that prevent hitting a draw.

1, 7, 9 and 12 are dogleg right.

Only 8, 10, and 14 are dogleg left, but both 10 and 14 are difficult to negotiate with any significant left-to-right action.

None of the five par threes favor either ball flight.

So, at Lake Shawnee GC, nine favor a fade, and two favor a draw. Several of the nine demand a fade.
Since I spent a lot of time trying to learn to hit a draw, which then became a hook, you can see why I find SCC much more amenable to my game.

[Matthew Petersen]

I think it's somewhat inevitable that this will happen if you play often enough at one course (or one kind of course).

Growing up, I played the vast majority of my rounds at a muni in Aurora, CO called Meadow Hills. It had been built as a private club and later bought by the city. It was not long but was very tight with tiny greens and big trees everywhere. You had to hit the ball straight on that course or you were going to spend the entire day playing punch shots out of the woods. And sure enough, I hit the ball very straight as a kid. I never was as long as most of the other comparable players my age, but if we were competing at MH (or a similarly tight course) I could be competitive.

Then I moved to Arizona. While one thinks of target golf out here, the truth of it is that most holes out here are plenty wide. Moreover, you can hit shots with a lot of movement to them in a way that is not possible of a very tree-lined course. I learned to shape shots much more once I began playing the majority of my golf here (or, for that matter, on newer and open courses in Colorado).

I had never even really realized how much my game had changed until earlier this year when some friends and I played a round the the Wigwam Gold course. Here is one of Arizona's few "parkland" style layouts, with tight fairways, trees, small greens ... and lots of length. Just picking a line on many of the holes was very difficult because I have grown accustomed to being able to get away with playing a big draw. But that shot at Wigwam would probably hit tree limbs 50 yards off the tee down the right side if I tried it.

[Michael Huber]

something that really hasn't been discussed in this thread is the ability to hit from and cope with severely uneven lies.  Sometimes golf courses aren't built on the flattest, best property and as a result, you can get some funky lies.  Hitting off of the side of a hill with a steep grade isnt commonplace everywhere.