The cart path
Land on it and the ball runs a very long way. It is the one hazard that is sometimes worth aiming at on purpose.
The fastest natural surface on the course
Everything in the game has a rollout value, and the cart path's is roughly double the fairway's. A ball that catches the path keeps running long after one on grass has stopped. The surface is crowned, so a bouncing ball is funnelled back along the path rather than skipping off the side, which is why the good outcome happens more often than it should.
On a long hole that is real distance for free. Players who never think about the path give up twenty or thirty yards a round to players who do.
What it costs you
Playing off the path is not free. You lose a little distance on the next shot and the strike is noticeably less accurate than off fairway — worse than fairway, better than rough. So the path is a good place to end up and a mediocre place to play from, which is the trade you are making when you aim at it.
The path also runs where the trouble is, usually along the edge of the hole. Missing it means rough, and rough is the most expensive miss in the game for rollout.
How to play it
- On a long hole with the path running straight, aiming at it is a legitimate line, not a gimmick.
- Do not aim at it on a hole where the path curves away from the green. The rollout you gain goes in the wrong direction.
- Remember you have to play the next shot off tarmac. Factor the accuracy penalty in before you commit.
- The path beside a burn always crosses it on a deck — but the deck is narrow, and it is not a bailout.
Where you will meet it
Roughly half of all holes have a cart path, and every hole with a burn has one crossing it.