What to Learn from an On-course Lesson at Oak Marr Golf Course

Hole 1

Prepare to heed local rules. All golf courses have local rules. If nowhere else, they’re printed on score card. At Oak Marr, there are even more rules on the white sign between the club house and first teeing ground.

Study the score card. Notice there’s a map of the course and a place to keep score. Some courses like Oak Marr even have a picture of each hole atop the column for scoring each hole.

Note that the score card displays distances in yards from each of the teeing grounds to the center of each green. That’s good information that helps you decide which club to use. However, since the tees are moved around to avoid too many divots in one place, the actual distance from where you tee off to the center of the green varies. To get your exact distance, you’ll need to know from which spot the distance is measured. Some courses place to the side of the teeing ground a permanent colored marker that matches the color of the tee markers to indicate the measurement starting point. If you don’t see one, you’ll just have to ask the Starter (the official who coordinates tee off times.) The answer at Oak Marr is that the distance is measured from the front edge of the mat at the rear of the teeing ground. How do you know the hole is in the center of the green, though? At some courses, different colored flags indicate whether the flag is centered, closer, or farther. Other courses like Oak Marr use the little red flag you see below the big one. Its position on the stick indicates the flagstick’s relative position on the green.

You’ll also see numbers in the handicap row on the score card. That’s a rank order of the difficulty of the holes on the course. In a format called “Match Play,” if you’re handicap is five more than your opponent, for example, you would be entitled to an extra stroke on the five most difficult holes.

The score card also displays the number for par for each hole. At Oak Marr all holes are par three, meaning that the standard for an expert golfer would be to land the ball on the green from the teeing ground with one stroke, then hole the ball on the second putt.

Near the teeing ground of each hole, you’ll also see the sign with a picture of the course, the course number, and the handicap designation. At Oak Marr you can usually see everything without the picture, but at some courses the picture is the only way to know all that lies ahead.

Notice the black container sticking out of the ground on the right side of the teeing ground in the picture, above. Inside you’ll find a combination of grass seed and sand. If you make a divot, fill the hole with the mixture, using the scooper inside the container. Do that before you leave the teeing ground. Whenever you make a divot and there is no such container available, just pick up the turf, put it back in the hole, and step on it. That will always be the case after you leave the teeing ground.

The first thing you should do is to find the danger ahead. Look for hazards that you wish to avoid, then select a target well away from them. For example, from the first tee, you’ll notice that white stakes line the left rough. Those stakes indicate the “out of bounds” line. If your ball goes beyond the imaginary line that connects those stakes, you will receive a one stroke penalty and must replay the shot (after the other players hit theirs) from the same spot. However, you’ll see a wide area to the right, of the fairway, so you don’t need to aim very far left. Next you see the sand traps that guard the green. You don’t care where the flagstick is located, you’ll want to either aim mid-way between the traps or even hit a club you know won’t reach those bunkers. You also note that there are woods behind the first green, so you won’t want to use a club that goes to far, either.

Before you align to the ideal spot, note the direction of the wind, as indicated by the flag. If it’s blowing hard toward you, you will need a lower numbered club, and vice versa, if it’s blowing from behind. If it’s blowing to either side, you may have to aim a bit into the wind. Depending on how strong the side wind is, you might also choose a less lofted club.

Finally, if you can’t determine whether or not your ball went out of bounds or into the woods, you should hit your provisional ball after other players from your teeing ground have hit. Then just keep playing your provisional ball until you reach the spot where you can look for your ball; if you find it and can hit it, just pick up your provisional ball and continue play.

When you ball lands on the green, you will take your bag of clubs to an area in the rough that’s on the way from the hole to your next teeing ground. Then you will repair any mark your ball made when it landed on the green. Then you would mark the location of your ball with a coin or similar device and pick up the ball; clean it, if you like. If you are closest to the hole, you might ask the person farthest away if he or she would like you to tend the flagstick so the hole can be seen from there. If so, stand on the down hill side of the flag stick to avoid the ball hitting your foot. If a player’s ball putted from anywhere on the green, strikes anything other than the hole, a ball marker, or some natural thing like a leaf, a worm, or goose poop, the player will be assessed a two stroke penalty. However, you also don’t want to cast a shadow over the line of the putt. If you’re not sure which side to stand, either ask whoever hits next or just pick a side; if the player prefers that you be on the other side, he or she will ask you to move. Pull the flagstick a couple of inches out of the bottom of the hole to be sure it doesn’t get stuck when you need to remove it. Hold the flag stick at arms length, and be prepared to pull it out of the way if the ball nears it. If it’s windy hold the flag against the stick to minimize distraction. As you walk on the green, be careful not to step on the imaginary line between any player’s ball and the hole.

Hole 2

Where’s the danger? Not visible, but the picture on the sign and the one on the score card reveal a lake on the left, beyond the bunker. Surely you notice the sand on the left, but if you're standing on the tee, you can also see the red stakes in the ground on the left. Red stakes mean that the area beyond the imaginary line that connects the stakes is categorized as a “lateral hazard.” If your ball goes beyond it, and you can find your ball and can hit it, the scoring rules still prevent you from touching any natural object or the surface with your hands or your club, except in swinging to hit the ball. If your ball does go into the hazard and you cannot find it or cannot hit it well enough, you can hit again from the same spot, or you can go to the other side of the hazard (not practical at this hole), or you can drop a ball within two club lengths from the spot where the ball crossed into the hazard, no closer to the hole.

Do you notice how the fairway and the putting surface slope right to left toward the lake? That’s another reason to aim right of the target, for if you aim right at the flag stick, the ball will roll left before it gets there. Oh, but there’s a sand trap to the right, as well; however, it’s beyond the green, so just be sure to select a club you know can’t reach it.

Hole 3

Not visible in the picture, but theres a ball washer and a drinking water container behind the teeing ground. Fairfax County Park Authority employees fill these drinking water containers from a separate plumbing system that is locked up for your protection when not in use.

This hole is rated the most difficult on the course ("Handicap 1," as indicated on the score card). No wonder, look at the size of the lake and how far it is from the teeing ground to the green. Clearly, you’ll need to hit a club you know will fly beyond the lake. You might want to choose the next lower numbered club than you would if there were no lake. Then, if you don’t hit the center of the club face on the ball, it still might fly across. Note the sand trap in front of the green; it is deep! Avoid it, if you can. Fortunately, there’s also a lot of green left of them, so who cares where the flagstick is? Aim for the left side of the green, and consider laying up short of the sand in a place where you won’t have to hit over the bunker on the next shot.

What to do if your ball goes into the lake? Theoretically, you could hit out of it, if the ball were to lie in extremely shallow water, but that’s not likely. So, if you drown your ball, from where do you hit your next shot? At Oak Marr and a very few other courses, there is a “drop zone” beyond the lake you could use. However, you do have the usual other choices. As always, you could hit your next shot from the same place from which you hit into the lake. As it happens, all the water hazards at Oak Marr are declared to be lateral hazards, so you also have the same choices as you would if the area were marked by red stakes like the wooded area at the previous hole.

However, if the lake were not a lateral hazard, you wouldn’t necessarily be allowed to drop a ball within two club lengths of where it went into the hazard. Instead, you would imagine a line from the hole through the spot where the ball went into the hazard, then drop a ball anywhere along the line behind that spot. Some people aim too far left to try to avoid the danger of the lake on the right, thereby hitting the ball into the woods on the left. If you’re sure your ball will be lost or unplayable, you’d take your one stroke penalty and hit your next shot from the same place after other players have hit. If you’re not sure whether you’d find it or be able to play it, you’d hit your provisional ball. If you find your ball in the woods, and you can hit it, you would do so. If you find it, but can’t hit it, but could hit it from within two yards away, not closer to the hole; then you would take a one stroke penalty and drop it there for your next shot. Clear? Well, it's a game with complicated scoring rules!

Notice that one part of this green actually slopes away from the water. That’s very unusual. Be careful where you aim your putt. Normally you would aim at a target on the side of the hole that is away from the lake on the the assumption that the ball would roll toward the lake; that would be a mistake on this and one other hole on the course.

Hole 4

This is the longest hole at Oak Marr. Again, there’s plenty of room to aim right to avoid the woods that are close to the fairway on the left. Of course, the nearest sand trap is also on the right, and it’s a monster! Your most conservative strategy would be to aim midway between the sand traps and lay up short of the green. Notice how this green slopes toward the water. That’s true of most greens. Usually you can aim away from water, and that would be uphill of the hole.

Hole 5

Things you notice right away: The fairway is narrow, and since long clubs, especially woods, are not known for their accuracy, you may want to choose an iron. Even Tiger Woods leaves his woods in the bag, when the fairway is narrow. Not visible in this photo, but there is a huge sand bunker beyond the green. If you had to hit a ball out of there, it would probably roll down hill and off the green? Be sure you use a club that can’t reach the bunker. Also, since woods tend to make a ball roll more, you probably want to choose an iron to keep the ball from rolling into the bunker. Bet you didn’t notice the little lines near the green on the picture on the score card and sign near the teeing ground. They alert you that the green is elevated. You probably don’t want to land a ball in the rough on the side of the hill in front of the green. Safest strategy from the tee: hit an iron that will land in the fairway in front of the hill; then pitch the ball high onto the elevated green. Such high shots reduce roll, so they would likely prevent the ball from rolling beyond the green into the sand trap beyond.

Hole 6

As usual, the danger is on the left--normal design to benefit the majority of golfers, i.e. right-handers. Even if the bunker were not there, a ball landing in that spot would roll away toward the next teeing ground. There’s plenty room on the right, as long as you select a club that won’t reach the bunker beyond the green. Never mind where the flag is; safest bet is to aim at the lower right side of the green. The green is much lower than the teeing ground. That means the ball will go farther in the air and roll more when it lands, so select a higher numbered club than you otherwise would, unless the wind is blowing toward you.

Hole 7

As usual, there is plenty of room on the right. If your ball lands in the mulch around the trees, do you have to hit it out? As I write this, I’m not sure. Is mulch considered a part of the course or “ground under repair"? "Ground under repair" is usually marked with a white line around it. If that were the case, you would pick the ball up and drop it within one club length of the nearest place you could hit it, without penalty. That’s also what you would do if the ball were unplayable because it landed in an area that’s not a natural feature of the course, such as a cart path or flower bed. If you are not sure whether the area in which your ball came to rest considered to be a part of nature or not, or in any case in which you are not sure of the rule, you should play the shot both ways, using two balls, put down two scores for the hole, if necessary, and sort it out with a rules official at the course before you leave. What if your ball rolls back into the area when you drop it? Drop it, again, without penalty. If it rolls back in a third time, place it at the spot where it hit the ground before it rolled. By the way, do you know the proper procedure for dropping a ball? Face the hole, and hold the ball at arms length to your side, parallel to the ground, then drop.

How do you hit a ball under an obstacle like low hanging tree branches? Stand with the ball back in your stance, choose a low-lofted club, and do the bump-and-run shot, or at least be sure to keep the club head low at the finish. If you need to hit over an obstacle, do all this in the opposite manner. In other words, stand with the ball forward in your stance, select a highly lofted club, and finish with your club face high.

Notice that most of this green slopes away from the lake toward the sand trap!

Hole 8

There’s that lake, again. However, you don’t have to fly your ball over the lake; there’s plenty of room on the left to go around it. However, in all cases, when you aim away from danger, aim way away. See how that ground slopes to the water? If you hit it there, the ball will roll into the lake! If you try to fly the ball over the lake and it goes too far, you’ll have a wicked down hill shot back to the green, and it will be hard to stop the ball from rolling into the lake, anyway. However, at least that’s doable. If your ball doesn’t get across the lake, you’re guaranteed a penalty stroke, so use the club you’re sure will cross the lake easily. Many golfers use the next longer club, so that if they don't hit the center of the club face on the ball, the extra leverage provided by the longer club might suffice to propel the ball across the water.

Hole 9

Look at all that sand on the right; looks like the beach! Clearly, you’ll want to avoid it. Laying up short of the sand is not an option because the bunker is so close to the teeing ground, so you’ll have to aim well left. If you’re right handed, be careful not to “open” your stance, though. If you don’t stand parallel to your target line, you will likely send the club head across the ball, as you swing along your foot line, creating a “slice,” that curves the ball in the air toward the sand traps. I suggest you move as far right as possible between the markers and aim toward the left corner of the green, regardless of where the flag stick is, then be sure to swing in that direction. Should your ball land in the bunker a long way from the green, you might want to hit the ball out at the nearest point, then hit toward the green from the grass on your next shot, rather than trying to fly it there from the sand.

Depending on where the hole is located on this green, you could be facing a steep putt. Usually, you don’t want to putt a ball short of the hole because you want to give it a chance to go in. But if you miss from below the hole, you will face a difficult down hill, breaking putt. Then if the ball doesn’t fall in the hole on the way down, it might roll a very long way away. Therefore, it might be wise to make your first putt stop the ball short of the hole intentionally, so you can have an easier, short, up hill putt as your next one.

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EPILOGUE

Obviously, there’s more to the sport than ball striking. I hope your on-course lesson helps you understand better the strategy, rules, etiquette, trouble shots, etc., involved in the game. Now, get your skills up to speed, so you can hit those targets and make those shot adjustments you need. Finally, when you play, don’t forget that golf is just a game; enjoy the companionship and scenery, too!