Golf hole strategies

In golf in Nintendo Switch Sports, memorizing of shot strengths and paths are a major aspect of the game, especially as there are only 21 holes in the game. This page aims to provide tips for some of the holes.

The shot strengths presume 0mph wind unless otherwise specified.

Note that many holes (e.g. Hole 3) have multiple possible "Closest to Pin" starting points, making it difficult to list "Closest to Pin" strategies in detail.

## Resort

### Hole 1

A fairly simple straight path to the hole. Hit a driver 4.00 on stroke 1 to get within distance of the hole, then a 9-iron 2.9~3.25 to attempt for Eagle.

### Hole 2

This hole has a starting position that is usually not lined up with the hole, requiring position adjustment before stroke 1 even with no wind. A 5-iron 3.0 should be able to land on green.

### Hole 3

Hit a driver 4.0 straight ahead that won't land on the leftside beach. Stroke 2 is the difficult part here (unless stroke 1 had heavy ↑ wind): A right-twist driver 4.0 should nominally work to get within distance of the hole (3.5 would land in the bunker).

### Hole 4

A 5-iron 3.7 should be sufficient to land on green.

### Hole 5

Since hitting a driver 4.0 straight ahead would usually land in a bunker, this hole requires some planning.

Hitting a left-twist driver 4.0 to get past the trees on the left, would work best. It is also possible to do a driver 3.5 straight.

The hole is very long and usually takes 3 strokes to reach green on. The fairway trees on the northern island are not as big of a nuisance as they are on e.g. Hole 7.

### Hole 6

Stroke 1 should be a driver 3.7-4.0 as far to the left as feasible, because Stroke 2 is a nightmare to line up for.

Stroke 2 is downhill towards a downhill-sloping green, making both overshooting and undershooting extremely easy to do. If there are no trees in the way, you can attempt a driver 1.6-2.1, depending on how far to the left the ball went (If it's on the rough north of fairway, go for the weak end of that scale).

### Hole 7

Trees will stand in the way of the best paths at pretty much all times, with even the default tee position pointing straight towards a large tree. A 4.0 to the right of the centermost tree would be able to *very* narrowly clear multiple trees. If you manage to land so that the tree is to the left of the ball-to-hole path, a 7-iron 3.4 or a 5-iron 2.7 on stroke 2 should then reach green, but could also hit some tree leaves above (A 7-iron 3.0 or a 5-iron 2.5 would often undershoot).

If the tree stands to the right on stroke 2, the player can gamble on a spoon 2.5. But if there's leaves on the path to the hole, the player has no choice but to spend 3 strokes to reach green.

Attempting to reach the left mini-fairway on stroke 1, should only be tried if there's a fair bit of ↑ wind, otherwise it'll hit a tree and land OB.

### Hole 8

With water everywhere and a steep altitude descent, this is a make-or-break hole. A 5-iron 3.25~3.4 should normally land on green; a 3.0 would undershoot and fall into the water, while a 4.0 would often overshoot and also fall into the water.

### Hole 9

Tee off with a driver 4.0 slightly to the left, then attempt to land near the south shore of the lake with spoon 2.3. Should this work, follow up with a 7-iron 3.7 towards the hole.

The green is located on a slope, making putting difficult.

## Classic

### Hole 10

A fairly simple straight path to the hole. Hit a driver 4.00 on stroke 1 to get within distance of the hole, then a 9-iron 3.5~3.6 to attempt for Eagle.

If there's heavy ← wind, take great care to not land in the two bunkers on the fairway's left half.

### Hole 11

The sweetspot on the green between the bunker and the hole is pretty hard to land in, but a 7-iron 3.7~3.8 could do the trick.

### Hole 12

Taking the left path onto the plateau is very important to take to win an online match (but should be avoided if the wind is ↓ ≥10mph), and small margins can make or break a win or a big loss.

At 0mph, a driver 3.8~4.0 should normally be enough to reach and stay on the plateau patch. 3.5 would undershoot, while 4.0 can occasionally overshoot.

Once reaching the plateau, note the big altitude difference down to the hole on the next stroke, and the bunkers surrounding the green. A spoon 3.5~3.7 should hopefully clear the bunker without overshooting too much.

### Hole 13

This hole has a starting position that is usually not lined up with the hole, requiring position adjustment before stroke 1 even with no wind. A 7-iron 3.7~3.8 should usually land the ball on green.

### Hole 14

Start with a driver 3.8 straight ahead or very slightly right (a 4.0 would overshoot and land in rough). Then go for driver ~3.9 to land on green (and fly over the bunker) or to attempt for Albatross.

If the wind is ↑ ≥5mph, it is possible to attempt a shortcut by trying to hit the ball across the bay diagonally to varying extents, with a driver 4.0. If it reaches fairway on the other side, a 5-iron 3.5 would often be sufficient to reach green (A 5-iron 3.0 would usually land in a bunker).

### Hole 15

A driver 4.0 onto the left bank, followed by a 9-iron 3.5, should be sufficient to land on green.

If there's high ↑ wind, it may seem tempting to skip the left riverbank entirely and hit straight towards a patch of rough just south of the green, though this would be a bad idea, as even with 31mph it'd be a matter of millimeters to pull it off.

### Hole 16

Under normal circumstances, a driver 3.5 slightly to the left would be the best option. Hitting a 4.0 would usually result in a tree standing in the way on stroke 2.

However, if the wind is ↑ ≥20mph, brave players can attempt a major shortcut straight from tee towards the hole, which'd make an Eagle likely. The shortcut should never be attempted otherwise, as it'd then guarantee an OB.

### Hole 17

A driver 4.0 aimed at the topmost part of the hill, is the only feasible option here. Anything else would land in the water.

### Hole 18

There are 3 possible paths here.

1) Hit a driver 4.0 aimed as far northwest on the southeast island's fairway as possible. If it lands on fairway, then hit a driver 4.0 towards the green's island.

2) If the wind is ↑ ≥0mph, it is narrowly possible to reach the west island with a driver 4.0. This would sometimes enable the use of shorter-range clubs on stroke 2.

3) If the ↓ wind is heavy, this necessitates going to the southeast island, then to the northeast island, and then to the green's island on stroke 3.

## Special

### Hole 19

Multiple paths can be taken for stroke 1. The shortest path would be to hit driver 4.0 onto the north bank, just at the fairway edge roughly midway between west and east. Stroke 2 can then try to cut the fairway curve through some trees and land on green.

### Hole 21

A driver 4.0 should clear the long downwards slope. Note that if the wind is ↑ 5~10mph, the shot should be placed slightly rightwards to avoid a bunker.

The green is bowl-shaped and very steep, making both chip-ins and putting pretty difficult.