3 Tips to Tackling a Tricky Dogleg

Dogleg holes are a big part of what makes golf so much fun. If every hole was perfectly straight from tee to green, the game would be awfully boring.

Of course, not only do dogleg holes make the game more interesting, but they also make it more difficult. If you are going to successfully handle these holes without suffering any damage to your scorecard, you’ll need a good game plan to take you from tee to green.

The Challenge

Golf is a game all about angles. If you are in the right position to give yourself a good angle to the target, you’ll always have a better chance to hit a good shot than when you are out of position.

On a straight hole, getting in position is fairly easy – just hit the fairway and chances are you’ll have a pretty good look at the target. On a dogleg hole, however, things get a little tricky.

If you are on the wrong side of the dogleg, you might wind up without much of a look at the green. Or, if you do have a look at the green, you may have left yourself with a rather long approach.

Tip #1 – Plan from the Green Back to the Tee

This is always how you should plan your golf holes, but it is particularly important when playing a dogleg par four or par five.

First, figure out where you want your ball to be on the green in order to have a good look at the hole with your first putt. Hopefully, you will be able to see where the pin is located while you are standing on the tee, either by seeing up to the green or using a pin sheet.

Once you know where you want to place your approach shot, take a step back and decide what position in the fairway would make it easiest to hit that spot. There are plenty of factors that you’ll want to consider here, including distance, slope of the ground, course conditions, wind, and more.

Finally, when you have decided where in the fairway you want the ball to wind up, you can decide what kind of tee shot will get you there.

Which club are you going to hit off the tee? Which way are you going to curve the ball, and where are you going to aim to allow the ball to finish in the right spot?

Take a moment to put together your tee shot plan and then let it fly.

Tip #2 – Curve the Ball into the Dogleg

If you have the ability to curve the ball both ways off the tee, consider using a ball flight that goes opposite of the dogleg when possible. For instance, if you are a right-handed golfer facing a tee shot where the fairway turns from left to right, consider hitting a draw that turns into the dogleg as it flies.

This is a great option as it can give you a little bit of forgiveness that might not be there if you try to match the shape of your shot to the hole. If you try to hit a cut on the hole in our example, you’ll need to get it just right to find the fairway. A shot that fades a bit too much will probably miss right – or you may hit the ball straight and miss the curve entirely. No tee shot is without risk, but you may find over time that curving the ball back into the dogleg gives you confidence and makes it easier to find the short grass.

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There are a couple of limitations to this strategy that we do need to point out. First, if the fairways are particularly firm, the ball may run out too much after it lands, rendering this method less effective. Under those kinds of conditions, you may be better off trying to match your shot shape to the curve of the hole. Also, on a hole where there are large trees on the inside of the dogleg, you probably won’t have room to work the ball opposite of the dogleg without hitting the trees.

Tip #3 – Trade Distance for Position

Accepting a longer approach shot in exchange for better position in the fairway is hard for many amateur golfers to swallow. But here’s the thing – some holes are just designed in a way that makes them easier to play from farther back. Let’s walk through an example to highlight how this works.

You are standing on the tee of a 400-yard par four. The fairway runs mostly straight off the tee for the first 240-yards before turning hard to the left. Your average tee shot with a driver will travel a total of 260-yards, meaning you’ll have to negotiate that corner if you go with the driver. Going up into the dogleg is going to make your effective target much smaller, but you’ll have a shorter approach if you pull it off.

What should you do? Most of the time, the best call is to play it safe and go down a club to try and find the fairway safely. Reach for your three wood and make a good swing to play to the straight part of the fairway. Sure, this plan is going to leave you with an approach shot in the 160 – 170-yard range, but that’s okay. As long as you are playing from the fairway, and as long as you have a clean look at the green, you should take that as opposed to being out of position and scrambling to get out with a par.

Have dogleg holes been giving you trouble lately? While they will always present an interesting challenge, you can thrive on these types of holes with a good game plan and plenty of confidence.

Keep the tips we have provided in mind during your next round and do your best to set up some birdie putts. Have fun out there!