Course Strategy

Playoff Strategy

Make smart decisions when it counts most.

Why it matters

A playoff hole is one shot where everything you have practised either shows up or does not. The mistake people make is treating it as special and therefore playing it differently — reaching for a bigger shot than they own, on the one hole where a mistake cannot be absorbed.

How to do it

Play to your strengths. If your reliable shot is a hyzer with a midrange, throw that, even if a driver would be closer when it works.
Give yourself a putt. The goal is a look at the basket, not a hole-in-one.
Use exactly the routine you have used all day. Changing it under pressure is changing the one thing that was working.
Pick the shot you have actually thrown in practice, not the one you have imagined.
Accept that your opponent might simply play it better. You control your shot and nothing else.

Common mistakes

Reaching for a bigger shot because the moment is bigger.The hole has not changed. Throw what you throw, which is the shot that got you to the playoff.

Speeding up because of nerves.Deliberately slow the routine down. Nerves compress everything and the first casualty is tempo.

Playing to what you think your opponent will do.Play your own best percentage shot. Reacting to somebody else puts you on a shot you did not choose.

Key points

Play to your strengths under pressure.
Trust the shot you have practiced.
Give yourself a putt, not a hero throw.

The drill

Drill · One shot, cold — 10 single shots with a full routine and 5 minutes between each. Throw one shot, walk away, wait five minutes, throw another. Ten of them. This is far harder than throwing ten in a row and it is exactly what a playoff asks — one cold shot with a full routine and no rhythm to lean on.

Watch: Decision Making Disc Golf Tips From the Pros — Eric Oakley