Let's talk about the right course management, when playing holes with loose ground in play. If you can make better decisions before you get into trouble, you may never wind up in the trouble spot at all.

For many players, winding up on loose ground is simply a matter of not giving the course the respect it deserves. When you stand on the tee and you see a fairway, some rough, and waste area beyond the rough, what do you think? If you are like most people, you think that there is nothing out there to grab your attention. You grab your driver, aim down the middle, and swing away. On the other hand, if there were a water hazard – or out of bounds stakes – in play, you would think twice and maybe club down before hitting your tee shot.

Unfortunately, this standard way of thinking is a mistake. Most of the time, you should think of a waste area in the same way that you think of a water hazard. In other words, it is something to be avoided. You don’t want to hit your ball in the water, of course, but you also don’t want to hit your ball out into the desert (or whatever kind of waste area may be in play). Straying from the grass is likely to cost you at least one stroke, no matter what kind of trouble happens to be waiting.

So, the lesson here is simple – you need to prioritize keeping your ball on the short grass whenever possible. That is likely to mean you’ll hit less drivers round after round, since you should have better control off the tee with shorter clubs. Also, you will want to pick more conservative lines to keep your ball away from trouble spots. The vast majority of the time, golf is a game which is going to favor the conservative player. An aggressive play will pay off from time to time, but those shots are always going to be the exception. If you are willing to play it safe and focus on keeping your ball on the grass, you should be rewarded in the long run.

It should be noted that you don’t need to play scared when on the course – you just need to play smart. There is nothing wrong with making confident, aggressive swings (when playing from the grass), as long as you have picked a conservative club and target to go with that swing. In many cases, this is the kind of golf played on the professional tours around the world. Pro golfers don’t play nearly as aggressively as most people think – they just make aggressive swings once they have settled on a smart target.

It’s always going to be tough to hit good shots from loose ground, but we hope the advice offered in this article will help you improve your performance in this part of the game. And, of course, we also hope that you are able to stay away from these situations as often as possible. With more shots hit from the grass and fewer from the loose ground, your scores are sure to improve. Good luck!