Welcome to the Course Caddy, a look at each and every hole in Golden Tee 2014. Over the next few months, we will spend each day looking at a different design, starting with Hole 1 on the first course and ending with the final hole on the final design.
We want—no, NEED—your help in this process!
How do you play a particular design? Share your thoughts on strategy and YouTube uploads in the comment section. Your feedback is integral in the complete understanding of the design.
All holes will then be available for reference on the Course Caddy page—a bookmark must for the entire encyclopedia! Enjoy.
Highland Links Hole No. 13
Don’t even look at the first fairway. You want no part of that. Sure, it looks like a nice lovely red (well, green) carpet sprawled out to land on, but we have bigger plans in store. The second green carpet—the one in the distance—that’s where we’re headed.
The first par-5 on the back nine is without catastrophic danger. There’s water on the right, but you’d have to hit the trackball with blindfold on to find it. (Note: Don’t do that.)
What you should do, however, is make the most of the Golden Tees you hopefully have purchased. More specifically, you should be placing a high tee, grabbing your driver and doing your absolute best to hit it onto the second fairway.
This is how you’ll reach this green in two. If you’ve been waiting for a moment to unleash the fury on the trackball, you’ve found your destination with this drive. Obviously you’ll have to avoid the sand at all costs—and hopefully stay out of the rough—but you should be able to do so without much issue on most setups.
There will be the select occasion where a strong wind in your face or bad tee box makes this difficult, but you should still go for it. The risk in missing is minimal, and the reward can be great.
From the fairway, you’ll have options with your second shot into the green. Depending on where the pin is located, your strategy will be decided for you.
If the pin is located in the back of the green, approaching this hole with no spin at all should be an option.
Then again, you can also tackle pins in the middle—or even back—part of the green using Bite and allowing your ball to release some.
Whatever you do, don’t end up in the rough. We’ve talked at length about how challenging simple chips can be out of the short stuff, and there’s no need to make things more difficult than they have to be.
You have a lot of green to work with and a ton of different shots to get your ball close. You can be aggressive with the right setups, but don’t lose track of the No. 1 goal: to head to Hole No. 14 with an eagle.
How do you play it?