Kay-Dee
Active member
So two things happened recently: 1) I acquired a Shot Scope (thanks BuckNasty!) 2) I finished reading Mark Broadie's book "Every Shot Counts" (guy who developed the strokes gained metric). I decided prior to my first round with Shot Scope tags on all my clubs, that I would commit to implementing several of the concepts that Mark outlines in his book to see if it would affect my score. My average score is usually anywhere from 82 - 87....with 84 being the most common score posted. The three things I committed to do the entire round, based on Mark's book:
1) Swing hard with my driver on every tee shot and try and get the ball as close to the green as possible.
2) Figure out club selection for each fairway shot based on how far I think I hit that club.....THEN TAKE AN EXTRA CLUB.
3) Aim for a spot 18" beyond the hole and try to putt my ball past the hole to that spot (and not in the hole).
So here is a quick synopsis of what club I would normally hit based on yardage from the pin vs what my actual distance was for the round:
So the way to read this chart is...in a regular round, if I am 175 yards away, I would hit my 6i because I would/can adjust my swing to hit it anywhere from 170- 180 yards. But for this round, I forced myself to take one more club and hit the 5i...even though that is my 180-190 club. But when swinging easier with a 5 iron from the shorter distance, my actual average for that round was 177 yards. By doing this, I felt like every swing, regardless of the iron, was a chip shot. And I literally would imagine I was just trying to chip the ball onto the green.....even if I was 200+ yards away. This forced me to take a smaller, smoother, more lazy swing with less herky/jerky movements.
So how did I do?
Score: 79
Putts: 31 (7 one-putts, 9 two-putts, 2 three-putts)
Fairways hit: 10/14 (71%)
Greens hit: 8/18 (44%)
Shot dispersion was decent. The four drives that didn't hit the fairway were only a few yards left or right. Of my approach shots longer than 50 yards, 3 were short right 4 were pin high left, 6 were long left. Short game shots from 50 yards or less: 1/3 were 10ft to less from hole, 1/3 were 30 ft or less and the other 1/3 were 50 ft or more.
As you can see, despite losing significant distance at every iron club, I lowered my score by 5 shots in one round.
I think this strategy is something I will be adopting permanently. What’s your strategy?
1) Swing hard with my driver on every tee shot and try and get the ball as close to the green as possible.
2) Figure out club selection for each fairway shot based on how far I think I hit that club.....THEN TAKE AN EXTRA CLUB.
3) Aim for a spot 18" beyond the hole and try to putt my ball past the hole to that spot (and not in the hole).
So here is a quick synopsis of what club I would normally hit based on yardage from the pin vs what my actual distance was for the round:
Club | I would hit this club if I am X yards away.... | Actually hit it....(average) |
D | 260 | 267 |
3W | 230 | 238 |
3H | 215 | 243 (outlier) |
4H | 205 | 191 |
5i | 190 | 177 |
6i | 180 | Did not hit during round |
7i | 170 | 154 |
8i | 160 | 132 |
9i | 150 | 135 |
PW | 130 | 117 |
GW | 120 | 80 |
SW | 110 | 85 |
LW | 100 | 55 |
So the way to read this chart is...in a regular round, if I am 175 yards away, I would hit my 6i because I would/can adjust my swing to hit it anywhere from 170- 180 yards. But for this round, I forced myself to take one more club and hit the 5i...even though that is my 180-190 club. But when swinging easier with a 5 iron from the shorter distance, my actual average for that round was 177 yards. By doing this, I felt like every swing, regardless of the iron, was a chip shot. And I literally would imagine I was just trying to chip the ball onto the green.....even if I was 200+ yards away. This forced me to take a smaller, smoother, more lazy swing with less herky/jerky movements.
So how did I do?
Score: 79
Putts: 31 (7 one-putts, 9 two-putts, 2 three-putts)
Fairways hit: 10/14 (71%)
Greens hit: 8/18 (44%)
Shot dispersion was decent. The four drives that didn't hit the fairway were only a few yards left or right. Of my approach shots longer than 50 yards, 3 were short right 4 were pin high left, 6 were long left. Short game shots from 50 yards or less: 1/3 were 10ft to less from hole, 1/3 were 30 ft or less and the other 1/3 were 50 ft or more.
As you can see, despite losing significant distance at every iron club, I lowered my score by 5 shots in one round.
I think this strategy is something I will be adopting permanently. What’s your strategy?
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