You’ll almost always be hitting over the trees, pretty straight at the green.  However, club selection is very important!  A 5-wood can usually clear the trees no problem, a 4-wood clears all but the highest spots of tree, and a 3-wood needs to be over the gap in the middle or around the upper sides […]

This one is tough to reach in 2.  The fairway sand is strategically-placed to envelop a tee shot that’s too aggressive, and then you’d have to lay up.  Similarly, if you’re not aggressive enough and leave your tee shot too far to the left, you can’t make it in 2 either.  However, a 9-wood can […]

This shot can be a little intimidating with some cross wind, but don’t panic.  In the case of a cross-wind, play a very small cut shot into the wind to keep your ball straight through the gap.  If you don’t play cut shots very often, be careful to only pull very slightly to the left […]

The best play off the tee is to aim out left, giving you a clean look into the green with a 5-wood or 3-wood.  Here’s a 3-wood knocked down perfectly by the tree guarding the green, and here’s another one that lands cleanly and finds the hole.  If you do stay to the right, a […]

There’s no big advantage here to carry the water around the corner off the tee, so just lay back for an approach shot that’s not much more difficult.  Here’s a holeout from the middle fairway, well behind the winding river.  The green is pretty long, so if the pin is in the back, lay off […]

Don’t just blindly blast a drive as far as you can here — the better play is to hit something like a 5-wood off the tee, close to the water.  This gives you another lofted 5-wood to work with on the approach, where you can float it over the trees instead of having to curve […]

From the back box, lay up in the fairway as long and left as you can.  From here, you can bring an A1-type approach shot into the green, usually with no backspin, as shown here.  It’s better to be left than long, because even if you don’t tee off long, you could still have a […]

Here you’ll almost always be hitting a straight-180 shot, usually with backspin (unless there’s a strong headwind), aimed at the rough between the green and the hill to the right of it.  Use as much loft as you can while still giving you the distance you need.  A 5-wood has the perfect loft, a 4-wood […]

This is a really tough par 3 that requires a very precise tee shot to have a birdie putt.  You’ll often be working the ball right-to-left to hold the green.  From the front box, hit 3-wood or a 5-wood, like this. From the middle box, hit 3-wood or driver.  Here’s a hole-out with the driver. […]

Just lay up long next to the water to bring in your approach shot — make sure you’re far enough out there to have a straight shot in, and the farther left you are, the less club you’ll need.  Make sure you carry the green on the fly, because there are some weird bounces if […]

From the far right box, you’ll have to hook it around the trees with backspin, possibly needing a water skip for the correct distance to hold the green.  A 5-wood A2-type shot with backspin can work too if you’re good at cutting back distance.  Or, you can use the hill as a backstop, as was […]

HOLE-OUT FROM THE BACK BOX HOLE-OUT FROM THE SECOND-CLOSEST BOX HOLE-OUT FROM THE SECOND-FURTHEST BOX

First, take a look at your teebox and wind, because you might consider driving this hole!  If you have the standard driver, and especially the red D2 balls that add distance with a straight 180 off the tee, you can pound a drive right at the green with either roll or backspin depending on the […]

Now here is a fun tee shot!  Take a close look at the log seemingly lying across the fairway.  You’ll notice there’s room underneath, and this is important because you’re going to be rolling your tee shot right under there!  Pick a low-lofted club that has the distance marker right on the log.  Now just […]

There are a lot of ways to attack this hole depending on the wind and pin placement.  A lower-lofted club works best, and you can even use the hill in front to your advantage, because the ball rolls pretty generously forward onto the green if you land on the back end of this hill.  Try […]

Take a look at your tee box and wind, and figure out whether or not you can safely hit a C3 that will stay in the fairway.  If so, you’ll have a pretty easy approach shot, like this one! If not, then try to lay back for a 5-wood into this green, because you’ll want […]

On this hole, I’ve been lining up with the green, rotating twice to the right, and playing a C2 shot with backspin through the gap in the rock — here’s a great example!  If you can really get the ball going right-to-left (via the C2), you have a better chance of holding the green with […]

From most tee box positions, you can carry either a 3-wood or a 5-wood over the top right at this green.  From the front left tee box, you should be able to take a 5-wood over the top, or maybe a 3-wood with a slight curve — here’s a hole-out from that box. From the […]

HOLE-OUT FROM THE BACK RIGHT BOX HOLE-OUT FROM BACK LEFT BOX

Some pros are driving this hole under certain conditions — I had never considered going for it!  So take a look next time before you tee off, because there’s really no harm in giving it a shot. EXAMPLE HOLE-OUT FROM THE FAIRWAY

Some pros are driving this hole with the right equipment and wind! EXAMPLE HOLE-OUT

Your first decision will be whether or not you can reach the second fairway here, which may require a monster C3 at times (and other times it’s easy). If you get across, you have a good shot at eagle. If you’re on the back of the box and into a wind, don’t try it unless […]

If this hole is icy, you can get close to the green, even maybe making it with a couple lucky bounces (be careful for some of the ice holes, because there’s water still in a couple). This hole usually plays tough because of the wind and a downhill shot into the green. Try to leave […]

The fairway is separated in two here. Most of the time, you’ll just want to lay up toward the end of the first fairway, which will leave you with an easy 5-wood to the green.  Here’s a hole-out from in front of the snow. If there’s a big wind and you’re at the front of […]

To reach this par 5 in two, you’ll have to get on or past the little bottleneck between the fairways. Of course, there’s trouble on either side, with water on the left and nasty rough on the right. Normally, you can aim at the right small path along the lake and hit a big C3. […]

This par 4 is drivable 90% of the time. The left side of this tee box is money – hit a straight wood with backspin to the green.  Here’s a nice 3-wood down and in! From the middle of the box, you’ll need to hit a B1 or a small A1 around the mountain to […]

This shot is tough because the wind affects it so much.  Play one less club because of the downhill shot, and compensate for the wind more than usual since the ball will be in the air longer!  Here’s a great floater to a back pin.

Don’t take this tee shot for granted – make sure you end up in the middle of the fairway, because there’s trouble right and left! Stay in the middle and you’re in good shape to birdie.  Here’s an example hole-out.

On this par 5, you should always be able to reach the bottom fairway off the tee. Don’t worry about clearing the mountain either – even a low-loft driver with roll will go straight over the edge of the mountain. Simply turn left until you are lined up to land in the rough between the […]

This par 3 plays slightly uphill, so above all else, make sure you don’t leave it short in the water!  Here’s a backspin hole-out to a front pin, and here’s an example hole-out to a back pin.