| Lesson Secrets |

SECRET # 31, COURSE MANAGEMENT

RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT: Use the "Stoplight" Approach to Select Your Best Shot
By Coach Trevor Broesamle, Santa Barbara, CA

REASON SECRET IS REVEALED:
Many times, poor execution of a shot is only part of the resulting problem. Poor choices leading up to the shot often play a determining role. Giving yourself a system to always make the right choice will surely benefit your game.

CHANGE RECOMMENDED:
Before every shot, filter it through the "stoplight" method. A stoplight has three definitive suggestions (they aren't absolutes as we all know): Green for Go, Red for Stop and Yellow for the often-ambiguous "Careful, going now could be dangerous (and illegal)."
Let's apply this to the course: for every drive, approach shot, bunker blast and even putt there are clearly safe (Green) choices and equally present don't-do-it choices (Red). In between, there exists a challenging zone that requires more information to process (much like a Yellow traffic light: how long has it been yellow, how fast does it change, are there cops around?)
Remember that if you hit the perfect shot all the time, every pin is a green light. What you're weighing is your tendency of variance when things don't go exactly as planned. For example, if you typically fade the ball off the tee and you're staring at a set of bunkers on the right side at landing zone distance, aiming to the center is a Yellow light missing even slightly right puts the bunkers in play. Aiming slightly into the rough expecting the fade is the Green choice. An "accidental" straight shot into the rough is still a better option than a difficult fairway bunker approach shot.
For most golfers, the fact is that if you're thinking about it and processing your chances of pulling it you will tend to steer toward the safe play. If you're questioning it, chances are that uncertainty will be reflected in the shot you hit and the resulting next-shot scenario.

OTHER FACTORS:
This runs deeper than simply choosing where to aim based on where the Green Zone is located. It can also affect the club choice (i.e., if long is a certain bogey, choose one club less), shape you settle on (working a draw into a back right pin couldn't be harder), and even which side you tee off from (water all along the right, tee off on the far right side and hit away from it). The more factors you consider, the easier your choice becomes.

RESULTS TO ANTICIPATE:
By giving yourself an "out" like you are doing when you aim at a Green Area, you allow for your mis-hits to remain playable. Hitting a poor shot into a good place isn't always just lucky. As with the play of consistent tour professionals, it's the result of planning ahead.

COMMON FALSE STARTS:
Just aiming to the widest part of the fairway or the middle of the green isn't automatically the safest choice. Think one shot ahead. Consider the angle of approach to the green/ cup if you execute your shot as planned. Is it within your ability? Is it leaving you the easiest shot possible? An example is a front pin on a green severely sloped back to front: a shot to the middle of the green leaves a slippery next with three putt written all over it. What typically would be a green light has turned into a red light in this case.