Par 4 Course Management

Learn to use the whole tee box on a par 4 to give yourself the best chance of hitting the fairway and staying away from the trouble.  This can also include giving yourself the best angle for your second shot.

Transcript

Very often I see players not using the tee box they’ve been given, the space they’ve been given to make the hole they’re playing that little bit easier. By changing the position of where you tee your ball up, you can change the angle of the shot, making it a little bit easier to hit a certain target or stay away from hazard or some trouble.

I’ll give you an example of that. I’m about to play a par four. I’ve got a hazard on the left hand side of the hole, a bunker on the left hand side of the hole. So I really want to favor the right side of this fairway. To do that, I’ll tee the ball up as far to the left hand side of the tee box as I can. Because now I have changed the angle, I’m playing from left to right and I’m hitting the ball away from the trouble.

That’s a good general rule to go by. If the trouble is on the left, tee up on the left hand side of the hole, left hand side of the tee box. If the trouble’s on the right hand side of the hole, tee up to the right side of the tee box. Again you’ll be hitting the ball away from the trouble.

Basically you’re teeing the ball up on the opposite side of the tee box to where you want the ball to start. That can also work if you’re a more advanced player looking to hit a draw or fade.

For a draw you’ll see up on the left hand side of the hole. It makes a little bit easier to play from the left side to the right side making the ball start down the right hand side of the hole and draw back to your target.

Right hand side of the tee box for fade. The opposite, it makes it easy to get the ball starting down the left side and fading back towards your target.

Let’s give this a try. We’ve got the trouble down the left hand side of the hole. I’m playing to the right side of the fairway and I’ve teed it up on the left hand side of the tee box.

Even if means I have to stand off the tee box sometimes that’s OK. Use all the tee that you’ve been given.