Golf Problem, Lay Up or Go For It (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Problem, Lay Up or Go For It (Video) - by Pete Styles So now let's have a look at risk and reward when to lay up or when to go for it. Now, there's lots of different times when this would start to be a problem for you at the golf course or a consideration on the golf course. It might be your tee shot, your second shot into a green, or even with a chip or a putt. Is this the time when I can afford to be aggressive or I should apply a little bit more conservative? Now, I'm going to go back to a quote from Barbara Teller that I really like and this is, "Play the shot you know you can play rather than the shot you think you should." So just because Tiger Woods is going to hit it 220 yards on to the 13th green Augusta with his five -iron doesn't mean you need to try that if you are playing that hole in 13th Augusta classic risk and reward hole. If you've driven it around the corner, you got 220 off a hanging lie with a five-iron you're going to play that shot or you're going to bump in eight-iron down to the front of the green and chip on. I know which one I'd be doing and I'd be chipping on, really. But a lot of it can depend on how you feel about your game, how you feel on that day and also the position you're in in the round and in the competition. Maybe you might decide that in medal play or stroke play, you'll be slightly more conservative. You'd lay up more. You'd play for a par bogey. Whereas if you're playing maybe a match play, you might be slightly more aggressive knowing that the risk or the reward is slightly more in your favor. The reward is that you make a birdie in the hole. The risk is you dump it in the water, you make double bogey, but you've only lost one hole. You haven't lost two shots. So think about all these different things when you're weighing up the shots but make sure you stick to this idea that you play the shot you know you can play rather than the shot that you think you should play and hopefully that will help you have a better balance over the risk and reward in your course management decisions. 2012-05-09

So now let's have a look at risk and reward when to lay up or when to go for it. Now, there's lots of different times when this would start to be a problem for you at the golf course or a consideration on the golf course. It might be your tee shot, your second shot into a green, or even with a chip or a putt. Is this the time when I can afford to be aggressive or I should apply a little bit more conservative?

Now, I'm going to go back to a quote from Barbara Teller that I really like and this is, “Play the shot you know you can play rather than the shot you think you should.” So just because Tiger Woods is going to hit it 220 yards on to the 13th green Augusta with his five -iron doesn't mean you need to try that if you are playing that hole in 13th Augusta classic risk and reward hole. If you've driven it around the corner, you got 220 off a hanging lie with a five-iron you're going to play that shot or you're going to bump in eight-iron down to the front of the green and chip on. I know which one I'd be doing and I'd be chipping on, really.

But a lot of it can depend on how you feel about your game, how you feel on that day and also the position you're in in the round and in the competition. Maybe you might decide that in medal play or stroke play, you'll be slightly more conservative. You'd lay up more. You'd play for a par bogey. Whereas if you're playing maybe a match play, you might be slightly more aggressive knowing that the risk or the reward is slightly more in your favor. The reward is that you make a birdie in the hole. The risk is you dump it in the water, you make double bogey, but you've only lost one hole. You haven't lost two shots.

So think about all these different things when you're weighing up the shots but make sure you stick to this idea that you play the shot you know you can play rather than the shot that you think you should play and hopefully that will help you have a better balance over the risk and reward in your course management decisions.