Bomb and Gouge...?

Strategy
#21

This chart (from Lou Stagner) suggests for tour pros the difference between fairway and rough is anywhere from 30-80 yards depending on the length of the hole.

Problem is if the premium on hitting the fairway is 40 yards, if you’re giving up 20 yards by laying up with 3-wood you’d have to hit a whopping 50% more fairways to make the trade off worth while.

Also I think the difference between fairway and rough is less for us amateurs than pros just because the rough we typically face is less penal. I tracked all my holes this year, and I’m only scoring 0.1 strokes better from the fairway than the rough.

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#22

I think amateurs face a significantly wider variable of rough… my course has six inch burmuda in certain spots… it’s unplayable.

#23

And current Arccos data is showing amateur golfers really don’t hit fairways more often with their 3w than their driver, so if you keep moving down the bag for that fairway, that distance premium becomes even further away.

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#24

Thanks, interesting with quite a big spread depending on the length of the hole. The 350 yard trade-off seems interesting (214 vs 293).

#25

Don’t want to hijack the thread, but how many of you enjoy ‘bomb & gouge’ courses? One of my faves is a “hit it there” course, what we used to call a “shotmakers” course. True three-shot par5s and short-mid iron tees due to angles, not mileage. Driver on 6 holes, max. As pretty (& challenging!) as they come.
That said, I enjoy pulling out ‘Heid’ as much as anyone (and do at every chance) and my game probably favors longer tracks.
Your thoughts?

#26

I like bomb & gouge courses but that’s just because they fit my style of play and I usually score well at them.

#27

The longer the course, the better, IMO. I don’t necessarily like the short, wide open courses because they do feel “easy” at times, but I also don’t want to play courses that take driver out of play completely. If I have to hit hybrid or long iron off a couple tees, no problem. But if you give me three par 5s that take driver out of my hands then you’ve lost me. The great courses find the balance between offering risk/reward tee shots, shot-shaping holes, and length. As golfers we should want every part of our game tested.

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#28

I’m with you! I like having risk vs reward. There should (usually) be an option to hit driver, even if it’s not consistently the smart play.

My least favorite holes are where the tee shot is a forced layup and then a long shot into a green… it punishes everyone and takes no strategy.

Plenty of great golf courses out there, though!