4 On-Course Strategy Hacks that Will Lower Your Scores Instantly

1. Seriously… Club Up
You rarely hit the ball as far as you think

According to Arccos data gathered from 6+ million amateur golf shots, just over 40% of approach shots are left short, while only 5% of shots are hit long. That’s a difference of 800%! We’re all guilty of being a little overly optimistic, but if your statistics match the chart below, perhaps you should adjust your strategy. Just because you flushed your 8 iron 150 yards that one time on a calm sunny day doesn’t mean that it’s your new go-to club from this distance.

There are so many ways to improve your club choice and shot strategy, but the easiest way is to just simply club up. Hitting an approach shot with a smooth three-quarter 7-iron instead of a full 8-iron will not only give you a better chance of not leaving it short, but it is also easier to hit a straight shot. The harder you swing, the more spin you generate, and spin is what sends the ball further offline. Plus, how cool is it to hit that controlled three-quarter shot that lands softly and stops on the second bounce. Be cool - club up into greens!

If you don’t want to listen to me, listen to Jim Furyk discussing the best advice he ever received!

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2. Don’t Worry About Shots in the Rough, BUT Avoid Hazards at All Costs
The Rough Isn’t Nearly As Punishing as You Think… But Hazards Are

You’ve got a long par 4, there’s water up the entire left hand side and nothing but rough on the right. You’ve been fighting a nasty hook, and you start shaking in your Footjoys, knowing that you are one closed-clubface away from pulling another Supersoft out of your bag. As fate would have it, your ball starts straight, takes a left turn, and lands in the middle of that pond.  

What could we have done different here? First, know your tendencies. And second, alter your tee box alignment. Picking the correct angle of attack on the tee box is a huge piece of strategy that a lot of players overlook. In this scenario, since there’s water on the left hand side of the hole and you can miss WAY right in the rough, tee your ball up on the left hand side of the box, aim at the right edge of the fairway and pull the trigger! If you draw it, you’re in the middle. If you happen to hit the straight ball, you’re in the rough. Either way, you’re dry! 

For pretty much all handicaps, the rough isn’t nearly as punitive as you might think. Sure, it’s a different story for Tour Pros playing out of 6” U.S. Open jungle grass, but check out this chart showing the average strokes lost hitting in the rough vs. fairway across amateur handicaps. The rough really isn’t that bad of a place to be.

PRO TIP: Lower scores are achieved not by making more birdies, but by avoiding big numbers. Avoiding penalties and lost balls is the surest way to drop your score. Here’s a challenge - play your next round and simply try to just focus on not losing a single ball. 

3. Draw Out Your Shot Dispersion Patterns
Know when to be Conservative vs. Aggressive in your approach

For most right-handed players, your dispersion pattern is going to look like this oval below. It makes sense intuitively - a closed club face will typically be a pulled shot that goes long, while an open club face will miss short and right. You can certainly stop by your local simulator facility to map out your exact ovals with every club in your bag, but if that’s too much for you, just follow the rule of thumb laid out above. At a bare minimum, it can act as a clear mental picture that you can overlay on top of the green aerial image as you map out your approach shot (see the video below).

If there’s water short and right and the pin is tucked along the front edge, club up to avoid the potential lost ball. Conversely, if the pin is on the back left corner of the green and there’s a sand trap long and left, you might want club down one and aim a bit right, simply accepting that if you don’t hit it perfectly, you’ll likely come up short. Or maybe you actually pull one in this case and it ends up next to the pin!

PRO TIP: The key here is that you’re simply playing the odds. Using statistics of players like you (or your own data if you’ve had your dispersion patterns measured), you want to avoid trouble and play to your tendencies. It’s kind of like playing Texas Hold’em Poker. If you already see 2 Aces on the table and you need 1 more to be turned over on the final card in order to beat your competitor who’s all-in with 3 Kings showing, the odds really aren’t in your favor. Better to play it safe and live to fight another hand.

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4. Know What Game You’re Playing
Your strategy must evolve when the rules are different

There are all different types of games you can play out on the course - individual vs. team, stroke play vs. match play, handicap adjusted vs. straight up, 1 day qualifiers vs. 3 day tournaments, etc. The challenge is knowing what game you are playing and how your approach must be altered for the best possible outcome. At the end of the day, golf is a game, and games will always have winners and losers.

Most of what we talk about in this book will be catered to individual stroke play. Your job is of course to get through all 18 holes in as few strokes as possible. But what if you’re down 1 in a matchplay event sitting 150 yards out in the fairway on the final hole, and your competitor is already on the green with a 35 footer for birdie? They’re unlikely to make the putt based on statistics, but if you can get inside 15 feet, you might have a decent chance to tie. What if the green is protected by water short but the pin is upfront? Everything we preach in this book says you should club up to avoid a lost ball in the water. Then again lost balls don’t really factor in here, and adrenaline is a real thing. In this case, we might actually recommend going with your normal 150 yard club and taking dead aim.

If you’re a type-A planner, you might even map out your on-course strategy the night before. Heck, the pros certainly do that - they check weather conditions with prevailing winds and pin placements, and they factor in whether it’s a Thursday or Sunday round. The point is, you should take everything we say in this book and look at it through your own individual lens. Golf is a personal game, and no two players or swings are alike. So swing your swing!

PRO TIP: Even if you are just playing a casual 18 hole practice round by yourself, try to gamify it as much as possible. Give yourself incentives for positive outcomes and/or penalties for poor shots. Tell yourself you can get a that Snickers at the turn if you shoot <40 on the front. Or every time you miss a putt inside 5 feet, do 10 push-ups right there on the spot. Ingrain feelings of pressure so frequently that they seem normal and won’t phase you when you’re in a tournament or money-game environment.

TODAY’S TRIVIA
Answer to Win a Rypstick Speed Training & Radar Package
(1 winner chosen on 3/31/25 across all February trivia entries, 1,000 correct respondents minimum)

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