Course Strategy

Playing Unfamiliar Courses

Score well somewhere you have never played.

Why it matters

Playing somewhere new is where good players lose strokes to bad information rather than to bad throws. Everything on an unknown hole is uncertain — the length, the trouble, where a miss finishes — and the right response to uncertainty is conservatism and a few minutes of looking.

How to do it

Read the map or the sign on every hole before you tee, and walk up the fairway when the hole is blind.
Find the OB and the trouble first. Knowing where you cannot be matters more than knowing where the basket is.
Identify the safe miss on each hole and aim so that a miss goes there.
Favour control discs. On an unknown hole the predictable shot is worth far more than the long one.
Accept pars. A first round somewhere new is reconnaissance; the score comes the second time.

Common mistakes

Teeing off on a blind hole without looking.Walk up. Two minutes of looking is cheaper than the stroke you are about to guess away.

Throwing your longest disc because the hole looks open from the pad.Open from the tee tells you nothing about the last hundred feet. Control disc until you have seen the hole.

Expecting to score your usual number.Play it as information gathering. The familiar-course score comes from knowing the course, which you do not yet.

Key points

Walk or map the hole before throwing.
Find the OB and the safe miss.
Favor control discs until you know the layout.

The drill

Drill · Walk the blind ones — 1 new course, walking every blind hole before throwing. Play a course you do not know and walk up every hole where you cannot see the landing zone. Note how many times what you found differed from what you would have assumed. That count is the argument for doing it every time, and it is usually higher than people expect.

Watch: How to Play New Courses Blind and Score Well | Beginner Disc Golf Tips — Robbie C Discgolf