Course strategy: Positional play on a dogleg

Sophie Walker is a professional golfer who plays on the Ladies European Tour.

We took the Shack on tour to Forest Pines to get some tips from Sophie. In this series of videos she discusses course strategy. Today she shows us what to do when you are faced with a difficult hole with a dogleg.

What we have here is a severe left to right dogleg par 4 and for me there’s a number of ways people would look at playing this hole.

However, I’d be looking at two ways which you should be aiming to play this hole.

First you can hit with less club and go straight down the dogleg. There’s tress at 230 and a bunker at 200. I’d play the percentages and aim just off the bunker. With a 3 wood the typical club golfer will do well to reach the trees at 230.

The other way would be to play more aggressively, take more club and fade it around the dogleg. If you normally hit a fade it’s not really a high risk shot.

But miss right and you’ll be in big trouble in those trees.

I think the best advice is play the shot you are comfortable.

A bit about myself…Sophie Walker

I turned professional in October 2006 and gained my Ladies European Tour card in the November. It was a very proud moment for me as before it was mostly about the team, now it was all about me. So here I am living out my dream of playing sport for a living.

Most people say they dreamt of playing golf from a young age. I just dreamt of being a professional athlete. Tour life has its ups and down but I can honestly say that the places I have been and the people I have met have been amazing. Every week we are at a different venue, but it’s the same people so we are like a circus/family.

I am now taking part in my 10th season on tour. I’m settled and happy with the way things are going – it’s up to me to let my golf do the talking and see how far I can go…