Most club golfers spend an hour on the range and no time at all thinking about the course. Yet the shots that wreck a card rarely come from a bad swing. They come from the wrong club, the wrong target, or taking on a carry that only comes off one time in three.
Planning a round takes about ten minutes. Here's how to do it.
1. Know your real distances
Not your best 7 iron. Your normal one, the one you hit when it's a bit cold and you're on the 14th. Most golfers overestimate every club by 10 to 15 yards, which is why so many approach shots finish short.
If you don't know them, start with two: your driver and your 7 iron. Most of the rest of the bag can be worked out from those.
2. Know how you miss
Do you fade it or draw it? Is your bad shot a slice or a hook? This matters more than distance. If your miss goes right, a hole with water right is a different hole for you than for your playing partner who hooks it.
3. Find the holes that decide your score
On every course there are three or four holes where a big number lives. Usually they have water or out of bounds close to where your drive lands. Find them before you play and decide now, in the warm, what you'll hit off the tee. On those holes a bogey is a good score.
Then find the two or three holes where you can score: short par 4s, par 5s you can reach in three easy shots, and par 3s with no trouble short. That's where you can be a bit braver.
4. Pick a target for every tee shot
Not "the fairway". A specific spot: the left edge of the bunker, the gap between two trees. Then pick the club that gets you there with your normal miss still in play. Often that won't be driver. See our guide on driver or iron off the tee.
5. Plan the approach, not just the drive
Where is the trouble around the green? If there's water short and right, your target is the left half of the green, whatever the flag is doing. There's more on that in why you should aim away from the flag.
Or let Bag to Flag do it
This is exactly what Bag to Flag does for you. Put in your handicap, two distances and your usual miss, pick a course, and it simulates every shot on every hole. It then gives you the club and target that save you the most shots, with the odds of finding the fairway, the green and trouble.
