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How much is bogey avoidance an active part of your game and course mgmt?

My game isn't good enough for bogey management. I can get short Par 3s but on some hole doubles are just fine!
Some holes I'll intentionally bogey because I don't have the distance to reach the green in regulation.
There is a nasty sloped green which I may not expect a downhill two putt, as that may blow up the hole.
More like I'm just trying to avoid trouble and keep the ball on the short grass.
Pitching the ball back onto the fairway gives me a chance make a good approach shot.

But, most of the time I'm just looking at where I want the ball to go versus what the likely miss will be to optimize success.
 
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With my game it's more about double bogey avoidance. I'm not trying to avoid bogeys yet and may honestly never get there.
 
A bogey is never my plan when I start a hole. General philosophy, the best defense is a good offense and playing to not lose is a great way to get beat. If I make conservative choices to NOT bogey a hole, I probably won't. I would double bogey it.
 
I know bogeys are going to happen. I try like hell to avoid doubles or worse.
 
I like your forum name...

I don't try to manage bogies but I do play high percentage shots. So, if I'm in trouble I'll play a recovery shot as opposed to the hero shot that could result in a big number.,.
 
Unless I'm working on a specific shot (like last week I had two downhill lies behind greens with the green running away from me, so the first time I tried to open my lob wedge up and slide the club under it and let it hit the fringe and the second time I hit a chip with a gap wedge), I'll generally also play the high percentage shot. I was in the trees a lot last week, but had some gaps to punch out and down the fairway. That generally works better for me than trying to go over the top or tryiing to curve it around. Hitting a high percentage pitch to the center of the green also works.

I played Pinehurst No. 2 a couple of years ago and just had a terrible driving day. With the turtleback greens, I often opted to layup and then pitch up to the center of the green. I wound up scoring better than our playing partners who were in the fairway most often. Worst I made all day was bogey.
 
Avoid.......That is my goal. I enjoy when it is better, but I can live with Bogey golf.
 
I look at it differently.

When I’m on the tee I’m first assessing the potential score for this hole with my skillset. Sometimes that is a birdie. Sometimes the best reasonable expectation is a par.

I want to give myself the best chance at achieving that score without a ton of downside. For example, if it is a par 3 with the pin in front and water to the front of the green. I might purposely aim long. A 15 to 30 foot putt for birdie and a high probability of par or birdie is better than flirting with the water putting a big number in play.

Same situation, except no water or hazards in front of the green and I am pinhunting!

Then after that each shot I reassess, going through the same process from where my ball is now located.
 
Bogey avoidance? Not at all. Bogies are going to happen.

What is in my course management plan is an attempt to eliminate doubles and triples. If I'm in a bad spot, I'm going to chip out to a good spot and attempt to preserve bogey rather than trying an incredibly difficult shot to try to avoid bogey.
 
I don't like to think of it that way. Golf is a game of risk assessment and management. I am not a scratch golfer...there are going to be some bogeys even with good playing and no blow up holes. The issue is about picking and choosing when to go for it and when to lay off with less risk. That is how to avoid mistakes that cause double bogeys or worse.

I treat every single shot as an important shot...it becomes more of a question of whether I am reaching for the green with my second shot or laying up. going for the middle of the green or aiming for the pin at a difficult spot on the green, etc.. You always have to know your limitations and stats and know when it makes sense to go for it and/or when it makes more sense to take a more conservative approach which may or may not very well end up with a bogey and be fine with getting that bogey too.

Thinking in terms of "bogey avoidance" I feel would cause one to always think they have to go for par, and that is simply not good course management, especially for anything over single digit index, but I think even single digit needs to follow the same process on a shot by shot basis, risk assessment an even they will have some perfectly acceptable bogies in there, part of why they are single digit is because they aren't taking stupid chances and then blowin up into doubles and triples anywhere on the course. They make pars where they can, a few birdies here and there and then perfectly acceptable bogies where it makes sense.
 
It’s definitely a part of my game, especially on par fives when I’ve hit a poor tee shot. I very rarely attempt the hero shot. I also know that I’m better with my proximity from 80 to 120 yards then I am from 35 yards to 70 yards.. if I can’t get 35 yards or closer on a short par 4 tee shot or after my second shot on a par five I will lay up ideally to full LW, which is 88 yards.
 
It's more of a case of 'double bogey or worse avoidance' for me, but that definitely factors into my course management. How aggressive or conservative I'm going to be depends on what I'm facing with the current shot I'm dealing with.
 
At my level I usually play for bogey and try to avoid double. If I'm targeting par as a criteria for success, that requires stringing together back to back quality shots which doesn't seem to happen often enough. Mostly I try to not string together poor shots and blow up the hole.
 
gonyr said:
At my level I usually play for bogey and try to avoid double. If I'm targeting par as a criteria for success, that requires stringing together back to back quality shots which doesn't seem to happen often enough. Mostly I try to not string together poor shots and blow up the hole.
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One of the best sayings I've heard about that came from Matt (Golf Sidekick on YouTube) - "Don't follow a bad shot with a stupid shot".
 
Never comes to mind at all. I'm trying to make birdies on every hole...which leads to me shooting 94
 
BigMac said:
One of the best sayings I've heard about that came from Matt (Golf Sidekick on YouTube) - "Don't follow a bad shot with a stupid shot".
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Matty Boom Boom.....like a baus!

For me, I'm playing for bogey if I hit a wayward tee shot or I miss the GIR. Doubles are bad, but bogeys are perfectly fine for me as a 10 handicap
 
I try to minimize bogeys but focus more on eliminating the doubles or worse. One area I work on a lot is improving my up and down percentage from chipping and short pitching situations. That's where I can make the most progress in minimizing bogeys.
 
Big number avoidance is the key to getting better and dropping strokes. It could be bogey avoidance or could be double or worse avoidance depending on your skill level.
 
When I was playing at a higher level my mindset was to play for pars and to avoid doubles.

Now I am more in a space of trying to keep the ball in front of me and have fun.
 
For most mid/high handicap recreational golfers, lowering your score is a LOT more about reducing the number of doubles (or worse) than it is about making more birdies.
 
Par5n2 said:
How much do you actively manage it?
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The most common way I try to keep par in play is by looking at where to miss if I fail to achieve GIR. So when hitting approaches with longer clubs I move the target far away from trouble.

The second way is by hitting chips and pitches hard enough to get to the hole. In my experience these are usually left short by me and most golfers. Obviously I want par putts to be as short as possible.
 
Sometimes I play for best shot of the round rather than for score.
In that case I'm going for every single birdie opportunity I get!

There are times that scoring low just isn't a reasonable goal for the day.
But I can still have fun and practice my shot making!
I may practice on most of the holes and pick a few holes for birdie attempts.
Properly done, I can pick a pace of play that meshes with the golfers around me.
I don't want to rush those in front of me or hold up the guys behind me.
 
Too many bogies can hurt my score, but I am not against them if I hit a poor drive or miss a green in a tough spot. It is avoiding the doubles that is my main goal. A double usually means I hit a poor shot and a poor chip/putt on the same hole.
 
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