News From The Pro

A long hole with a blind tee shot. A tough combination. A golf hole like this is when you trust course knowledge.

Playing 470 yards from the black tees, the key to hitting a good tee shot is committing to a target. For me, that would be the left side of the white house on the corner of the dogleg. With wind off the left side this is a very comfortable tee shot for me to let one go.

Wow, where has the time gone! An amazing first season for me at Prairie Links. I would like to thank everyone for their support. My Weekly blog is something that I enjoy doing. It allows me to communicate with you and get feedback as well.

Now that we have reached the off-season this is a great time to think about course management as we review our 2022 season. Finding ways to improve starts with how we think on the golf course. Having a plan of attack before we step onto the 1st tee. I will pick up where left off with hole 5. A par 5 that players feel like they can birdie with a well placed drive.

I hope all of you have had a great golf season. It’s been a very busy month. Awesome events and from the sounds of it lots of good golf!

First, I would like to thank everyone for playing in the 2022 Member-Guest Tournament. Your support for this club means a lot to the entire staff. Thank you to all the guests that made the trip to Prairie Links Golf Course. We look forward to seeing you again soon!

With this week being PGA Championship Week I thought this would be a good time to say thank you to some of my PGA Pro’s and share a few lessons that I learned along the way.

I’m back this week to focus on how best to golf hole #2 at Prairie Links. It’s a par 5, playing from 511 yards from the back tee box, to as short as 397 yards. It is the most scoreable hole of the difficult four-hole start. From the black tee markers 236 to the left-hand bunker and 266 yards to carry the left bunker.

Playing better golf starts with a plan. As part of my weekly discussion, I thought this would be a terrific opportunity to discuss course management with you. Each week I will go over a golf hole at Prairie Links: how I see the hole and what I believe is a great strategy to play it. For most golfers we go immediately to the drive when really the best way to play the hole is to think about what shot gives me the best chance to hit the green. For myself, having a comfortable full shot into the green is the best way to go. I will start with the 1st hole and work my way to the 18th hole over the next couple of months.

If I haven’t met you already my name is John Thompson. I was recently hired as your new Head Golf Professional. I’m 32 years old and have been playing since I was 10 years old. Over the years I learned a lot about how to get my game ready for this season. With the weather that we experience in Iowa, it’s sometimes difficult to keep our games as sharp as we would like. Today, I will share with you some of the things that I do to better prepare myself.