What a great honor and privilege for everyone here at The Oconee Course at Reynolds Plantation to host the PGA Cup for some of the best Golf Professionals in the world. As a proud PGA member, it was quite a thrill to welcome my association and many of my colleagues to our course and help in putting together such a premier event.

As busy as this week was for me and the staff, I made an effort to go out and watch just a little bit of golf each day. It's rare to have the opportunity to watch such incredible golf at a world-class level and I knew that I could get some insight and tips just by observing how these players got around the course. And of course, I did.

In watching these players, both from the United States and from the Great Britain & Ireland team, one thing that stood out to me was their decision-making while playing. Obviously, they all have all kinds of talent to draw from, but I noticed that even their bad shots weren't that bad. Their ability to plan for their misses meant that they could avoid the big numbers on their scorecard. It seems that when the shots didn't go as planned, they were still in a position to save par.

So this week, I think the Lesson Learned is to refine your course management skills to account for your shots that don't go as planned. If the players at the PGA Cup didn't hit every shot perfectly, then it's safe to think that you never will. But that doesn't mean you can't still plan for really good scores.

Have you ever faced a tee shot where the fairway looked tiny because there was a large hill on one side and a water hazard on the other? Though your goal is to hit the fairway, the reality is that a shot onto that hill will probably feed down onto the short grass as well. In essence, the hill substantially increases the size of your target. But many players still think that they need to stripe a drive right down the middle and thus, bring the water back into play. Why not aim for the left side of the fairway, knowing that a shot that drifts a little left will still end up just fine.

In fact, many of these banks and slopes found on a golf course are not there by accident or to add aesthetics. They are in place by design to allow for misses in one direction or another. It's the smart players who see architectural elements as an aide to their game, not just an enhancement to the look of the course.

The next time you play golf, try to do more than just see a hole layout in front of you. Strategically look at the entire hole and see what parts of the hole can help you plan for your less than perfect shots. I hope all of your swings turn out like you hope. But for the ones that don't, I think you can still save the score you want if you approach the holes properly.

Mike Davenport is the PGA Head Professional of The Oconee Course at Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Ga. In addition to hosting the PGA Cup, The Oconee Course hosts several major tournaments, including the Collegiate Match Play Championship which will take place Oct.28-30, 2007.