Coming up short

Probably the major failing of the majority of amatuers is coming up short with their approach shots. So what's the best way to avoid this? The easy answer is learn your yardages with each club. But that's only the start of how best to get it on the green.

Scenario 1

You're are 140yds from the green, and you know you can knock in an 8 iron to 150yds, which will put it on the green. But how deep is the green? Is the danger at the front/left/right/back? The green is 25yds front to back with bunkers eating into front left and front right. A 7 iron will take the bunkers out of play, and still leave you 5yds to play with before the back of the green. And don't forget, you are unlikely to hit the 160yds with the 7 iron but will in all probability come up several yds short of that at about 156yds. Assuming the flag is, maybe, 5 yds on the green at 145yds you will at worst be 33ft away. But you won't be in the bunker. If there's no bunkers, fire in the 8 iron

Scenario 2

Same green but let's look at the width of the green. Its 15yds wide, narrowing at the front between the 2 bunkers. We've already decided what iron to hit for length but the flag is left half. Do you go for the flag or the centre of the green? If you hit to the centre of the green you'll be no more than 20ft away.  And if it fades a bit you'll be 30-ish ft wide but if you pull it you're short sided, and stuffed. Miss the green to the right and you've still got loads of green to play with.

Depending on your ability you can eat into those safety margins but if you always go for the centre of the green you'll never be much more than 25ft away, and in all probability closer.

Another thing that many players forget in all the data they've got to process is "what is my yardage today?" You know its 150 for the 8 iron, you learned that on the practice ground, but your swing on any given day, and air temp, will bugger about with your yardages. You have to monitor your yardages early in the round. You may be 4 or 5 yards longer or shorter on the day, and you've got to factor that in.

Unless you are good enough, accurate enough, to take on all flags you'll save more shots by knocking it into the centre. In all probability you won't hit centre and stand every chance of being closer. Choose the ones you really want to go for, and play the Hollywood shot if you want to - after all, it is about having fun as well as posting a good score.

All this yardage talk, completely confuses me. I don't have a stock shot, as, to me, every shot presents  a different scenario, according to the prevalent conditions.

No one plays more percentage golf than me, especially now I am unable to hit the ball very far.

I have a very good ability to look at where I wish to place the ball and then feeling that distance with whatever club I decide to take, not interested in knowing the yardage.

Being a links player Brian, I am quite sure that you do a lot of running the ball in and you do this by applying the necessary amount of weight to achieve the distance required.

By falling into the trap of playing the new mechanical way of the Pro's the amateur loses the art of shotmaking and the satisfaction that comes with it. We do, after all, play this game for enjoyment and not money.

In all honesty John, even as a links player, not knowing the yardages can mean the wrong club is chosen. If a player guesses its 155yds but in reality its 170yds, then in all probability they'll come up short. And you and I have been playing that long we've forgotten the days of 150 is an 8, 160 is a 7. And have long since played shots pretty much based on it feels like it needs to be feathered in low but with a touch of cut against the breeze, or it needs... last Saturday I hit an 8 iron into our first, and the week before it was a 6. Conditions were the same, and the shots were about 4 yds apart but it was about hitting a particular part of the green in a certain way.

But you make a very valid point about feeling the shot, and understanding what's needed for any given scenario, of which there are a multitude for any given distance/shape of green etc. Personally, I think that one of the major failings in golf, in recent years, is the 150yd markers. Golfers don't have to develop the level of judgement and feel that some of us had no choice but to learn - I'd love for all 150yd markers to be ripped out, and a ban on all measuring devices but time and tide... I know, I'm a Luddite. And then there's the argument about blades 'v' cavities. How can a player really work a ball with cavities? Because of perimeter weighting on cavities its difficult to shape a shot, and hitting different yardages with the same club is actually harder.

My original post was to help those golfers whose ability means, in reality, targeting a flag from 150 is almost beyond them. And they'd be better served by hitting the middle of the green. Once they've developed the ability to feel the shots and hit straight at flags without major worries about bunkers, and coming up short, then go for it.

I feel you are missing my point, Brian, I do not guess the yardage and then select the club. I look at the target and then assess what shot I feel is appropriate and then feel the weight for the distance required.

I have always worked on the principle that we have an inbuilt instinct, when throwing a ball as to how much weight is required to send it a certain distance. I just apply these principles to my golf.

You're right about the inbuilt instinct, and its something I've talked about with many golfers down the years. The analogy I use is tossing a scrunched up piece of paper into a bin the other side of the room. It goes like this; do you consciously hold the paper with your thumb pointing to the target and take a 3/4 swing... no you don't. You scrunch the paper, then without thinking you toss it in the bin. Now do it by scrunching it up a certain way, hold it a certain way and consciously take your arm back and throw. People hit more bins without thinking than they do with. The same applies for catching a ball. Do people consciously set their arm a particular way? No, they just catch it. Slip cordons in cricket are a prime example catching by instinct - there's no time to think.

There's a group of club pro's that did the rounds about 10 years ago talking to other pro's about intuitive golf as a method of teaching. Their basic aim was to give a club player too much club for a particular shot and ask them to hit the target. The resutls are quite startling. And when the player is told the distance its like a light bulb moment as the player realises their hidden potential.

The majority of my shots, especially the difficult ones, are done with feel and have very little to do with yardage. God knows how it works but I'm happy with the results.

So, you do think and play the same was as Me, Brian, I knew you did.

I tend not to take a great deal of notice on yardages, when I play I could hit anything from a wedge to an eight iron depending how I see the shot, I think most amateurs think they hit the ball further than they actually do, measuring their distances on their best strikes, which they probably only do fifty percent of the time if that, which means at least half of their approach shots will come up short,  forget the ego's take one more club and find the target more often.  

That thinking, Russell is why you play to the handicap you have achieved. Golf should be played with flair and imagination.

Thanks John I have actually just started working more on feel in my putting by not taking a practice putt just lining up and going with my first instinct, I found that when I used a practice putt  to get a feel for the putt without hitting the ball I stuggled to judge the pace and would second guess myself, when I then played the putt,  now I just go with my first instinct which is normally right,  it appears to be working much better, I think it is because my mind is clearer, not too many thoughts going through it making it easier to just stroke the ball and feel the distance.

Russell, unless the practice stroke is specific to the length of putt one is faced with, it really is a waste of time doing it.

One only gets one chance at every shot in golf so one has to trust ones swing.

Putting in itself is a personal thing and everyone has their own methods. I don't have a specific length takeaway for every distance of putt, I tend to swing the same distance back but apply more weight depending on the distance.

I amk not the best putter in the world but I very rarely three putt.

I love my putter, and rarely take more than 30 putts in a round - I think my stats give me a 29 putt average for the year. When I'm on the practice green before a comp I practice with one ball. My thought is I only have one ball out on the course, so only one on the practice green - it makes me concentrate more.

During a round, my practice swing is all about feeling my hands and arms relax, and feeling the weight of the putter. Its nothing like the pace reqd for the actual putt I'm facing, and if I hit it with the practice swing the ball would be off the green.

29 putts average is an incredible stat, even allowing for your low handicap skills, Brian.

My best at my club is 34 putts and every new golfshaker who has come to play at my club has lost the £1 bet I usually impose, seeing if they can get round in 36 putts or better. The best so far is 42 putts, yet my greens are of  a very high standard, but very large and very undulating. The wrong place on some greens cannot guarantee a 2 putt.