How Can You Cope With Hazards While Out On The Gold Course

Although no player wants their ball to end up in a hazard you have to agree that it is the presence of hazards on the golf course which makes the sport both stimulating and challenging. Who amongst us has not followed a golf tournament and delighted in the spectacle of watching a player negotiate his way out of an awkward situation?

That said, it is one thing to see other people attempting to hack their way out of thorn bushes but you do not want to have to experience it yourself. And So, just how can you at at the very least minimize this possibility?

The answer comes from and ability to read the course and plan ahead.

Before you play a hole you need to think very carefully about where the particular hazards for the hole are situated and evaluate how each might affect your game should you fall foul of it. Once you have done this you must then decide how you should play the hole so that you can minimize and damage if you are unlucky enough to end up in one of the hole's traps.

So, just what are the hazards you will find on virtually all golf courses? There are in essence six hazards which you are likely to come across:

1. The Rough. While it is challenging the rough is possibly the simplest of the problems that you will come across and it is not generally too difficult to get your ball out of the rough and back onto the fairway.

2. Hilly Terrain. Having your ball in the right position on the fairway so that you can take your approach shot to the green is always better than achieving distance and so, if you are facing a substantial uphill slope to the fairway, you may want to consider playing short of it instead of trying for distance and then watching your ball roll back down the course and away from your target. This is especially true if the incline falls away to one side of the fairway and your ball is likely to not just roll back down the fairway but to roll off into the rough or another type of hazard.

3. Bunkers. Bunkers are essentially a hazard for beginners rather than for anyone else and, with a little bit of practice, it is generally not too difficult to hit your ball out of the sand and in fact you can often make some excellent shots from the sand. This said, all bunkers are not the same and getting trapped under the lip of a deep and steeply sided bunker could present you with significant difficulty.

4. Bushes and Trees. Bushes and trees can be very nasty and even if you cannot play your ball and have to take a drop you may well find that the lie within the regulation two club lengths is not very much better than your original lie.

5. Water. Ending up in the water will generally require you to accept a penalty and reposition your next shot. That said, it it may be possible to play your ball from the water if you can get to it and it not lying too deep, but this does not happen too often.

6. Out of Bounds. Firing your ball into an 'out of bounds' area is possibly the worst of all the hazards because you will have to take the shot again and will also have to take a penalty stroke. This is certainly something that you want to avoid if you can because there is nothing worse than driving off into an out of bounds area and being forced to walk back to the tee again and start all over again with what in fact will be your third shot to the hole.