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Most pivotal holes each course

• DarSum 1,440 Posts

  Fri, Dec 23 2011 6:39 AM

  I'd like to see your opinions on the most pivotal holes on each course in a 18 hole tournament.

  I'll start it off with KIA 4, 5 & 6. Then 12, 13 & 14 on the back. I feel you need to birdie at LEAST 4 out of the 6 of these holes to stay even or slightly edge the field.

  Hopefully I'll get some replies from others with every course so people can get an idea of where they need to score well during tourneys or what holes to get practice on.

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Fri, Dec 23 2011 6:53 AM

  DarSum:

  the most pivotal holes on each course in a 18 hole tournament.

  The 4th hole on any course after you start with 3 birdies or better. For some odd reason that hole seems to determine the rest of the round. See a lot of complaints about the game changing then. No tin foiling here, just an observation.

• renniw52 5,385 Posts

  Fri, Dec 23 2011 7:17 AM

  Glad to see this comment YJ. I wasn't going to start this discussion. Yesterday, I had 2 games in a row, 1 on Kia and 1 on BPB where I started with 3 birdies. The 4th hole on both ended with a bogey and went south from there. Thought I was just getting excited, and falling apart. 

• DarSum 1,440 Posts

  Fri, Dec 23 2011 9:03 AM

  And it degrades into a tin foil hatters post in record time. fk me.

• stevenharkin 1,921 Posts

  Fri, Dec 23 2011 9:34 AM

  most pivital holes is the first few i think

  your spot on about kiawah darsum...should be 3 under after 3...through 4,5,6 im thinkin 2 birds/1 par great...through 12,13,14 and 15 i'm thinkin 3 birds/1 par even greater :)

  st andys im thinkin i need to be at least 4 under after the par 5 5th if im gonna do anything decent

  at bethpage most definately have to birdy at least 2 of 1st 3 holes...if so your sitting on the 5th tee at 4 under more or less, which is a good starting point to work from for the rest of the course

  same goes for congressional...if you can get a good start there you can go on 2 shoot low as 6 through to 9 ain't too difficult... i find that if i don't birdy the 1st at CCC it doesn't usually bode well for the next couple

  yeah so all n all..most pivotal holes i believe are the 1st half dozen :)

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Fri, Dec 23 2011 9:49 AM

  DarSum:

  And it degrades into a tin foil hatters post in record time. fk me.

  LOL. That was my fault, DS, didn't mean to open that can. My scenario literally is what makes the round for me. The game doesn't change but I think I do mentally and what happens on the 4th hole just seems to set the tone for me. If I go 4 under I'm going to finish good but if I don't, the doubt starts creeping in and I think the head gets in the way after that. You're shooting away knowing full well if you aren't birding you're falling further behind.

• DarSum 1,440 Posts

  Fri, Dec 23 2011 12:45 PM

  stevenharkin:

  st andys im thinkin i need to be at least 4 under after the par 5 5th if im gonna do anything decent

  Yep. I absolutely hate getting to the 5th tee at 2 under. So that means you should birdie #2 or #4. If not you better you pretty much need to birdie out. And if you don't birdie 8 it still puts you in the top 5 at 30. Usually.

   

  stevenharkin:

  at bethpage most definately have to birdy at least 2 of 1st 3 holes...if so your sitting on the 5th tee at 4 under more or less, which is a good starting point to work from for the rest of the course

  If I'm on standing on the 5th tee at 4 under I'm extremely happy. 3 under is more like it for me. 5, 6 & 7 are the pivotal front 9 holes for sure. 2 under out of those 3 holes is good golf. The back is tricky. If you can birdie 10 or 12 (assuming 11 & 13 are the gimme birds) you're sitting pretty good on the par 3 14th at 3 under on the back. From 14 on you need to play solid golf. None of these holes are considered easy birds IMO. But it seems if you birdie 15 it can make the remaining 3 holes easier. If that makes any sense.

  stevenharkin:

  same goes for congressional...if you can get a good start there you can go on 2 shoot low as 6 through to 9 ain't too difficult... i find that if i don't birdy the 1st at CCC it doesn't usually bode well for the next couple

  yeah so all n all..most pivotal holes i believe are the 1st half dozen :)

  I haven't played CCC enough to get in a flow while playing it. I'm either lights out on that course or just plain terrible. Same goes for RSG. I hope others chime in with their thoughts on these two.

   

   

• DavidTomsFanatic 43 Posts

  Fri, Dec 23 2011 2:15 PM

  The key for CCC is Holes 6-8 in which I'd expect to birdie at least 2 of the 3 holes, and on the back nine Holes 11-15 in which I have to play those holes no worse than 1 over par.

  And for St. Andrews it's shooting no worse than 1 over par on holes 11 to 18. Despite most of the first 10 holes being birdieable, the last 8 holes I just want to get in with pars.

• tiffer67 1,764 Posts

  Fri, Dec 23 2011 2:33 PM

  On Beth you really have to get off to a good start and at least be -4 after 6, then hope you make 2 more birds by the turn. 10,12,15 and 16 are all holes that if you make birdies you're going to be shooting well under 60.

  On Kia for me 4-6 and 13-15 are where a great round is made.

  Congressional is all about your starting holes. Birds on 1,3 and 5 and a favourable wind on 6 can see you get to the turn in 29/30. On the back if you play 11 and 15 well then another sub 60 is likely.

  St Andrews has 2,4 and 8 on the front and 13, 15 and 17 on the back.