In each course story I give you my opinion on the difficulty of each hole, each ranked from toughest to easiest.  

The point in doing this is twofold:  First it’s a fun discussion starter and everyone will have a different opinion for sure!  Second, it helps me tactically focus.  When I’m trying to play smart (enter your own punchline here…..), I try to accept the fact that I’m going to get a bogey on the four toughest holes.  Those are the longest or have the most hazards, both of which can cause me to overswing or take unnecessary risks – and sometimes those errant shots result in a double bogey or even the dreaded snowman!  So instead, I try to just play for a bogey on those four toughest holes.  That frees my mind to focus on playing well on the five easiest.  And guess what?  Sometimes when I intentionally take a conservate approach to the toughest holes, I take an easier swing and the ball lands on the green – amazing!  Give it try sometimes and see if this approach helps you score better.  And develop your own toughest-to-easiest list for your favorite courses too!

All The Villages Executive courses have multiple tee boxes that allow golfers a varying degree of difficulty.  Tees are color-coded accordingly: Green = Shortest; Gold = Intermediate; Black = Longest/Most Challenging. 

Personally, I play from the Gold Tees most of the time and step back to the Black for an extra challenge once in a while.  Most often playing from the blacks means an extra club off the box, and sometimes a more difficult angle to the hole.  Many find that playing a round from the blacks helps you stretch out and focus on your swing cadence, because it’s not just hitting the ball harder when the target is farther, it’s using a lower lofted club and focusing on swinging smooth.  Then when you go back to the Gold tees, it feels easier! Give it a try! 

I once was paired up with three women on Sandhill.  Their husbands were playing in front of us.  They were playing a putting game that was interesting.  On each green the woman were tracking their putts, counting their two best total number of putts.  So if player 1 had 1 putt, player 2 had 2 putts and player 3 had 3 putts, their top two combined score was 3 (1+2=3 points). By throwing out the lowest total, they weren’t penalized by one player's poor results on each hole.  And if they landed the green in regulation, their first putt didn’t count in the total.  So it was possible for a player to have a score of zero if they one putted after landing the green in regulation.  They kept track over the nine holes and compared their total score to their husbands results.  The winning team got to pick where dinner was that evening.  A couple times during our round, one of the husbands would drive their cart back to see our how the ladies were doing.  They never divulged their score!  Great gamesmanship! It was a simple and fun way to keep score, wasn't all about the ability to hit far, and focused on the most basic element of golf - putting.  And I think the woman won, so they picked the dinner!