[metrocartockasur]

The past few months, I have been working on keeping myself in the fairway and out of trouble in effort to better my course management, whether that means going with a fairway wood or hybrid off the tee, a long iron, or even a mid iron just to set up my second shot. I started thinking about this at the Outing in Orlando a month ago, and trying to decide what factors must come in to play for me to decide which club to hit.

Lately it seems that any Par 4 under 400 yards, I have been going with my 3W or 5W depending on what distance I want my second shot to be from. During a round with the Florida THPers, a few of us were discussing course management and what makes us make certain decision. One hole in particular this came up on, and I had just hit 5W dead down the center of the fairway, leaving me a comfortable 9iron in to the pin. There was water all down the right side and I didnt want to risk flirting with my power fade and getting wet. The other two ripped driver down the fairway, well past my tee shot and made me instantly rethink my shot, even though I was in at a yardage that I knew that would work well for me. I played my next shot great, and ended up with a par. The two I was playing with ended up with a par and a bogey. The results of the hole reassured me of my decision, but still had me thinking about what leads me to make a decision on the tee.

So, I am curious to how you decide? Is it based purely off distance? Based of a hazard or water that needs to be laid up to or carried over? Or is it depending on how you are hitting driver that day?