I’ve been eagerly watching the poll that I currently have going in the sidebar asking you what your most dreaded golf shots are.  It’s early, but as results have been trickling in, many of you have voted that your most dreaded are tee shots on tight driving holes.

We’ve all been there.  You stand on the tee and the hole you’re faced with looks about ten yards wide.  There is trouble on both sides.  Maybe it’s water, woods, out of bounds, or some combination of the three.  There are deep fairway bunkers and the green looks so far away.

You stand over the ball and all that trouble is swirling around in your mind.  You’re thinking about penalty shots, water splashing, double- and triple-bogeys.  It’s not a pretty picture.

The most important thing to do on a tight driving hole is to get on the short grass.  You need to eliminate the trouble to give yourself a chance to score well on the hole.

Let’s see if we can get you on the right track.

Rule Number One

To conquer your tight tee shot nemesis hole, you first need to improve your mental outlook.

If you’re standing on the tee with all the stuff I outlined above swirling in your head, then your mental game needs serious work.  You need to pick up a stack of Dr. Bob Rotella’s books and get reading.

The biggest improvement you can make in that area is to train yourself to not be results oriented.  Know that you’re going to plan your shot, commit to it, hit your shot, accept the result – whatever it may be, then hit it again.  That’s all you have to do.  If you hit in the water, you’re going to drop a new ball, assess a penalty stroke and hit it again.  You’re not going to be mauled by a lion.  In the grand scheme of life, it’s only one shot and should be treated accordingly.

This is a boiled-down look at solid mental game of golf so you may want to read more.  You can start with my mental game category, but all roads lead to the books of Dr. Bob Rotella for me.

Getting It in the Fairway

Obviously, a sound mental approach isn’t enough if your course management plan is lacking.  If you’re going to stand on that tight driving hole and grab your driver and hit a banana ball out of bounds, then it doesn’t much matter that you have a solid mental outlook.

As I said above, every choice you make should be about getting the ball in the fairway.  Nothing else matters when you stand on the tee.

Let’s look at some things you can do in that area, as well as some tips to help you get the ball in the fairway.

Shorten the Driver

This is something I’ve been experimenting with for months.  If you decide that driver is the club to hit on the hole, then don’t be afraid to choke down an inch or two.  If you read the post linked a couple of sentences back, you’ll see that Tour pros use shorter drivers than we do because of the added control.  In my own experiment, choking down on my driver 1.5-2 inches has given me a lot more control.

I have given myself more confidence on the tee, especially on tight driving holes.  If you’re a regular reader, then you know I’m struggling with my long irons.  I’ve gained so much confidence with my driver that it has become a better option for me on a narrow hole than long irons.

Check the Macho Attitude

Sometimes it’s tough to reach for something other than driver when standing on the tee.  I guarantee, though, that every time you hit driver on that dreaded hole and your ball splashes down in the water, you wish you had selected a different club.

As I said earlier, your number one priority should be getting on the short grass.

I was once given a tip by an assistant pro at the course I worked at during college.  He told me that on a hole where I’m not confident in my driver, I should club down until I get to something I’m sure I can put in the fairway.  That’s one of the most important pieces of golf advice I’ve ever gotten.

What’s your go-to club?  3-wood? 5-iron?  7-iron?  Don’t be afraid to hit it.  Hit the longest club that you’re positive that you can get in the fairway.

Bogey Can Be Like Par

That brings me to the other thing that I was taught along with the tip about clubbing down.  He also taught me that sometimes it’s alright to plan for bogey.

Look at it this way.  You’re on the tight driving hole.  It’s about 400 yards to the flag.  You hit driver and end up out of bounds.  Now you’re on the tee hitting your third shot.  What do you do?  At best, if you hit driver again and get in the fairway, you’re probably still looking at a double bogey.

Say you have to go all the way down to your 7-iron before you have a club in your hands that you know you can hit in the fairway.  And let’s also say you hit your 7-iron 150 yards, for the sake of argument.

If you hit your 7-iron off the tee, then hit it again, you’ll be left with 100 yards.  A wedge and two putts and you’re looking at an almost certain bogey.

It might feel wrong, but not as wrong as the double-, triple-, or even quadruple-bogey will.

Choose Sides Carefully

Do you walk onto the tee and plop your ball down on any old patch of turf and swing away?  Or, do you use the tee box to your advantage?  If your typical miss is a hook or a slice, then you can usually minimize the damage by setting up on one side of the tee or the other.

If you slice the ball, then you’ll want to set up to the right side of the tee.  If you do, you will naturally aim diagonally left across the hole.  That will give your boomerang ball a lot more room to move right before trouble comes into play.  If you do the unthinkable and actually hit it straight, then you’ll be on the left side of the fairway.  Either way, you’ll have a much better chance of being in good shape off the tee.

If you tend to hook the ball, then the same principles apply, but you’ll want to tee off on the left side of the teeing area.

Not a Technical Swing Challenge

In the end, hitting tee shots on tight driving holes is not about practicing with your driver at the range or getting lessons to banish your slice. Those things are important, but once you step on the tee, the only things you have to rely on are course management and mental game.

You have to live with the swing you brought to the course that day.  To make the most of your game, you need to be willing to commit to a sensible course management plan.  Of the tips I mentioned above, the only one that requires any sort of work is improvement of your mental game.  The rest comes down to forcing yourself to make logical, realistic choices.

Before you set foot on the course for your next round, resolve to create a course management plan.  Planning for the whole round is preferrable, but planning for your dreaded tight driving hole is a start.  Make the tough choices about club selection ahead of time and don’t waiver when you step onto the tee.

Work on these things and you won’t dread a tight tee shot any longer.

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