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Missing greens SHORT.... GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I miss a lot of greens short, but frequently that's intentional. If there's trouble in the back and a nice receptive apron in front, I'll pull a club that gets there with a perfect swing, but will come up short if mishit. Nothing wrong with trying to get up and down for par if you do it from a good spot.

With that said, I certainly agree with the others that most people overestimate the distance they hit their clubs, and when I can, I frequently take an extra club and swing easier. I think one reason for people coming up short even when they're sure they have the right club is simply tension. You know you have to put a good swing on it, so you tense up and don't get as free a release.
 
My aim when hitting into greens is simple, always aim for pin high. I couldn't care less if I miss a little right or left because my short game is good but it does my head in being short.
 
If you carry a GPS you have the yardage to front, center and back of the green. To hit to the center of the green or at the pin, you have to hit a perfect shot 100% of the time, which is impossible. The better thing to do is go for the back of the green distance given on the GPS. This gives you a better chance to hit the GIR with a less than perfect shot. I do this as a rule of thumb and adjust for downwind, trouble long etc.
 
I'm reading a lot of replies where people say they hit shots expecting to not make good contact etc, why? A lot of people over complicating approach shots too. Go to the range and work out your AVERAGE distance for each club and you'll know whether or not you have enough club to get to the green with your approach shot, it's not rocket science.
 
Timely thread. I always seem to have a number of shots that come up short when I'm going for the green, I know with me it's mental - with longer clubs, it's more length and general direction. When it's shorter irons/wedges, I want to be more precise and I tend to tense up. I'll have to remember this on my next round and give it a shot.
 
I am having some trouble with distance control too, but I would say that I am more often long than short, I need to learn a bit more about my gaps
 
Indeed, we all have to fight against this little voice in your head who says "yes you can" (and it's not Obama)...

I remember back in times when I used to be part of the golf team of my club, we had some specific workout sessions with penalties for those who stayed short of the pins. Our coach was saying than the vast majority of the hazards were located in front of the green.

Another tip is to divide the green in safe and never-go-there parts, no matters whether it's short or long of the pin. The idea is to find the best spot, and sometimes you'd rather have an easy uphill chip than a downhill putt.
 
MPlefty said:
I am having some trouble with distance control too, but I would say that I am more often long than short, I need to learn a bit more about my gaps
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Interesting problem to have and honestly now that I have gotten used to my irons I have some of these problems also. I have started to learn that If I hit the ball really well it will go this far. This takes time even more than one season IMO.

I sometimes plan to be short if the distance is 200 plus just not confident with my long irons and FW at this point.
 
Miss short you are usually in a fairway and it's an easy approach. Miss long and you are usually in the rough at best.

But for yardage the truth is we all vary. Espn did a thing years ago and we can vary 15 yards in how we hit based on warmup, general flexibility that day, etc. The human body is much more dynamic than static.

So you get your general gaps as a starting point--your baseline gaps in general. Then before every round hit your clubs with a non strained swing to specific targets and see if you're longer or shorter than your base. No random "clubbing up" you just know how you're hitting on that day and you play to it with no ego in it either way. I've found some days I'm long and some days I'm short and it can vary woods to irons to wedges and may not be the whole bag uniformly.

I record all of this in a moleskine that stays in my bag and is always at the range with me.

But I learned I play much better when I play the course, unstrained, how I actually hit on that day, not how I wish I hit or how I hit it last month.
 
SaffaClint said:
I'm reading a lot of replies where people say they hit shots expecting to not make good contact etc, why? A lot of people over complicating approach shots too. Go to the range and work out your AVERAGE distance for each club and you'll know whether or not you have enough club to get to the green with your approach shot, it's not rocket science.
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Your correct. Just hit the club that gets you there most often.
But one problems is that many people feel more pressure when it actually counts and that in itself can affect ones swing, physical tension, tempo, whatever. In order to compensate for that flaw caused by some mental pressure they have found that clubbing down and swinging easier than normal helps to cure it.

Even those who don't stretch their irons looking for the perfect shot and who do use the correct club for its average distance still (due to the real world pressure) can struggle with a good strike. So again, taking the extra club and throttling down helps ease the mental pressure and physical tension imo and that then can put some more confidence and relaxation in the swing resulting in a better shot. The only small issue with this is that you loose some height/decent angle with the next longer club. But a small price to pay for a better overall shot.

I sometimes use this medicine when I am in the midst of a blow-up where i'll struggle to play well and my better ball striking and tempo just cant be found. . I'll just swing very easy and loose yardage. And then when I feel comfy again and the ball striking and tempo finds its way back to normal I then can throttle it back up again and go back to my normal swing and yardages with a good tempo. It doesn't always work as some days I just cant find it but it has often helped me snap out of the blowup and get back to normal.
 
There are only 2 holes on my course where you're not punished for going even a little long, I match my (conservative) club selection to the front of the green.
Hit it well, I'm on the green, short and I've typically got a more straightforward shot than if I'd gone long, catch one and I'm still usually ok.
 
My home course is generally dead long, so I often err on the short side of things. Doesn't work out well often, as there are many elevated greens which slope back to front. I usually err on the side of an extra club, but my ball striking is inconsistent so its anyone's guess whether I'll be short, on the dance floor, or off the back into the abyss. I have gotten fairly reliable at pitching it high and attacking the flag from below the green, so that helps.
 
This was me most of yesterday. I was short on a lot of shots
 
I've thought about this dilemma a lot. I suffer from hitting too long and too short at times. I've improved on my side misses a lot, but for a long time I had issues pulling the ball. An attempt to compensate for a pull usually resulted in a fairly straight shot toward my compensated aiming point - right of the green. I don't think it's an issue of not grabbing enough club with me because I hit the two short par 3's were I was aiming this past Monday with the club I believe is normal for that distance.

However, I do think I grab the wrong club due to not having a better idea of average club gaps. I use estimates based on range signs that are probably off a few yards to start, then I guess a few yards and that can add up quick and be trouble. Not to mention, range balls are probably the worst to gauge distances with.

There is a 3 hole practice course at a course near me that includes a par 4, par 3, and par 5 that wraps around the driving range. I'm switching clubs in the next few weeks and plan to go out there with my neo-x watch and measure distances for all clubs with what ever ball I'm gaming.

There re is another place where you can rent time on trackman near me, but you hit out onto a range. So you can use range balls or pay extra to use beat up pro-v1's. But I'm not convinced that the beat up pro-v1's are any better that other abused range balls. And I'm not hitting my own gamers out onto a range to lose.
 
HoosierGolfer said:
If you carry a GPS you have the yardage to front, center and back of the green. To hit to the center of the green or at the pin, you have to hit a perfect shot 100% of the time, which is impossible. The better thing to do is go for the back of the green distance given on the GPS. This gives you a better chance to hit the GIR with a less than perfect shot. I do this as a rule of thumb and adjust for downwind, trouble long etc.
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Aha... here's another reply that makes sense and I never thought of because it's too easy a solution. Thanks Hoosier
 
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