Web.com Pinnacle Bank Championship 2017 Practice Rounds

Monday Qualifier for Web.com Pinnacle Bank Championship 2017

Bent Tree Golf Club, Council Bluffs, Iowa

Practice Rounds: July 13 – 16, 2017

More about the tournament.

My plan for the summer is to give myself as many opportunities as possible. So, I’ve taken a week off from the Dakotas Tour and headed down to Iowa to try my hand at the Web.com.

This is my first Monday Qualifier for the Web.com. I wanted to give myself plenty of time to practice the course and really hone in on golf strategy. I’ve been at the course four days in row – three full practice rounds and one day of exercises on the putting green and range. Based on my practice rounds, here’s what I’m thinking…

Bent Tree Golf Club – Course Conditions & How to Tackle

Greens: Superintendent said he is going to roll and cut them on Monday morning. Will likely be around a 10.5. During the practice round, they were rolling about a 9 to 9.5.

Fairways: Very soft first few days. They are in great shape and starting to firm up.

Wind: Has been hot and humid. Not too much wind. Wind was blowing around 10-12 mph the last few days out of the south. Wind is good for my game out of the south.

Strategy Snapshot Going Into the Web.com Monday Qualifier

Here’s a snapshot of some of my strategy.

Hole #15 – Par 5 – 542 Yards

Club Selection off tee: Driver. – 4 iron

2nd shot: 4 iron, actual yardage was 205 yards, +15 yards for uphill. Total adjusted yardage, 220.

This is one of my favorite holes. It sets up well for me. As you can see from the photo below, there’s a giant tree on the right-hand side near the green. The best angle to reach this green in two is to stay left center of the fairway. The second shot is an uphill that plays another 15 yards extra (slope on the rangefinder will help) or having a yardage book that shows that already.

Hole #16 – Par 4 – 340 Yards

Club Selection: Driver.

During my practice round, I tried three different shots with different clubs. This hole sets up differently due to the wind. My 3-wood was not enough. This will be my 7th hole because I start off the back, so it kind of depends on how I am feeling at this point. May not need to hit driver if I am already 4 under at this point. 4 under par through 5 holes you better believe I am hitting a 4 iron, which I can still birdie from 100 yards out.

Here’s Hole #16 during one of my practice rounds. Hit driver off tee onto the green. A 345-yard drive!

Hole #17 – Par 4 – 380 Yards

Club Selection: 3 Wood

A lot of players may say driver for this hole. But 3 Wood is the right club for me – even though I almost drove the green on the par 4. Reason? The fairway runs out at about 340 yards and leaves you with a difficult pitch shot. It’s not playing safe, but playing smart and strategic.

Here’s hole #17 during one of my practice rounds. I hit my 3-wood off tee into fairway. A 290-yard drive!

Hole #18 – Par 3 – 185 Yards

Club Selection: 8 Iron

Wind: Helping off the right.

From the back tee, this hole plays 10 yards downhill. So it was playing 185 actual yardage, -10 yards adjusted to hole is 175. Then, take into account a helping wind, playing close to 170 yards. 8 iron is perfect. If it is against at all, it would be a 7. Even a cross wind will be an 8 iron.

You can see my notes below. I like to add what club I hit each day and usually mark the wind down unless it totally shifted in another direction.

Overall Golf Strategy for the Web.com Pinnacle Bank Championship 2017

In all, my tempo feels good. I’m a pretty fast player, but I think I could even be a bit faster. Commit to a shot. Boom. Go. Not speeding up a lot, but just enough to prevent any second-guessing creeping in.

Two other things I’m honing into going into the Monday Qualifier for the Web.com Pinnacle Bank Championship 2017:

Identifying Scoring Holes: The holes that should be birdies or eagles.
Forecasting Final Score: Based on this, I have a number in mind as a final score. As it’s one-day opportunity against some of the toughest competition in the world… I have to play aggressive. Play smart. Leave nothing on the table.