We have spent the last few days combing through some data that suggests that over 85% of missed approach shots are left short. This could be for a number of reasons including
Poor Contact
Not hitting it as far as we think we do
Playing to a front pin yardage rather than giving enough room for minor misses.
Fear of going too far
We hear a lot of talk on the forum about random balls flying too far, etc. Yet if our stats are accurate, those percentages are quite small. Looking at my own personal data, it appears as though when I miss the green, I only go long on approach shots 6% of the time.
Where do you think your own game falls in this spectrum of stats?
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When I miss my yardage, its always long. I would say that part of that is due to the fact that I always take more club than I might need and just swing easy but I honestly cant remember the last time that I came up short on an approach shot.
Sure I’m short sometimes with the ol’ chilli dip or skull job. I’m probably:
60% left
20% long
10% short
10% right
Yours is a is a good club selection- playing strategy, especially because it naturally breeds good effective swing tempo and rhythm, without you having to think about it.
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Remember that some inconsistent ball striking is due to knowing the ball must be struck solid to reach the target. Think about that for a minute. If one has in his head he must strike it solid or his ball will fall short, this can create anxiety and lead to poor swings.
In contrast, the player who knows he has plenty of club in his hand (and that the ball will reach the target even with a slight mishit) , is likely setting himself up to consistently make better swings.
It doesn’t always work, but in theory it makes sense for me.
What are your before and after results ? Are you hitting more greens now and, or, leaving yourself shorter putts ? Did your swing tempo-rhythm , ball striking improve once you started clubbing yourself to the back of the green ?
Unfortunately this revelation came to me late in my golfing career. At 73 my club distances are not near what they used to be. However the theory is sound for my game. My swing is the same, tempo is the same. Simply put, I usually end up hitting one more club than I think I need.
I almost always play center of green number and then try to work it towards the pin from there. I get the face closed down a touch too much and it goes long left or just left. My natural shape is a small fade, so when I go to turn the ball over it can get away from me sometimes. But not confident enough to take a shorter club and play for it shutting down every time.
The assumption of why a high capper misses short is so often "didn’t pull enough club". While I’ve argued against this opinion quite a bit over the years, I thought I’d give it a try for the entire 2020 season.
Pulling more club did not go well. Missing a greens doesn’t bother me, but missing by the distances I experienced last year does. There were other factors no doubt, but I’m not sold on the opinion that amateurs miss short because they don’t pull enough club.
Obviously, I can’t speak for anyone else out there. But I pull the club that will give me the best chance to hit my target based on "ok" contact. Not great contact, not the distance I get from off the tee, just ok contact from an average, less-than-perfect lie. I’m not going to pull a club based on the distance of my worst duff, nor am I going to pull a club based on ego. It’s all about getting the ball on or close to the green. If a long irons gives me the best chance to hit a green 120 yards away, that’s the club I’ll pull.
My reasons for missing short:
1. Poorer than usual contact. As a high capper, I don’t always make "ok" contact. Unless that mishit is a thinned 9i or wedge, it’s going to come up short.
2. Bad lies.
3. Because short is the preferred miss on 75% of the greens I play.
Agree. This is probably why I am short a lot.
I like this strategy.
Well for thegrint people, it hurts the GIRs obviously, as it should. For the punch out, if you’ve tracked your shot to ‘in the trees’, it’s up to you to decide if your target once you decide on your club is a ‘layup’ or the actual ‘green’, or a bunch of other options. It usually defaults to green. You’re not going to get a GIR on a punch out or layup, but anything targeted at the green shows up in your approach proximity charts as to how well you succeeded (green hit %, inside 15′, avg. proximity) and is broken down by club used and your lie at attempt (teebox, hazard, rough, fairway, light rough, etc). No issues.
It can screw with your individual club distances and stats if you punch with say a 7i from an odd yardage or position though. A 7i isn’t your 85 yard club, it’s just the one that would get under the branch and maybe to the green from there. So some people just don’t track punch/rescue on the actual gps data. Screws you on your next one though if you did make the green. Won’t log your putt automatically, you have to go in and set it up to track which is kind of annoying. Same if you ended up in a greenside bunker or something. You have to start tracking from there then and edit your position and it’s a big pain in the butt imo, but if you don’t it’ll throw off your sand stats. So for me, I’ve taken to selecting 1-iron on anything that’s a punch out or whatever that requires a club being used in some ridiculously non-standard way. Keeps all your shots being tracked, doesn’t throw off your individual distances and everything, but your shots are all in there and your score, gps locations, directional misses, gir, putting/greenside position, and all that is still accurate.
And 1-iron stats are basically just how well I did from fubar. I’m not sure if that would work well for someone who’s constantly in the ****, but it keeps those limited shots from screwing up the data for me.
Man, I didn’t realize how tired I am until I just tried to explain that. Hope it makes sense.
Yes, and a significant number of my missed GIRs come that way. If I have to take a drop (or punch out from trouble) from where my drive landed on a par 4 and I’m hitting 3 into the green, that’s already a missed GIR regardless of where that next shot lands. I just figure it’s still a short missed GIR because of a bad shot, just as it would be if I had hit my drive to within 20 yards of the green and then duffed a chip.
The other thing I just saw the other day is people (myself very much included) generally need to stop aiming for flags and aiming for the center of the green instead. I think it was Bandon who did a small test and just removed the flags people scored better because all they could do was aim for the middle.
Anyway, here’s my real numbers from the past 10 round average.
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GameGolf uses what’s called "typical" distances instead of "average". They discard some of the shorter duffs and punches from the equation – as they should IMO. If we went purely with "average" distances, trouble shots such as a punch out from under the trees would bastardize our typical numbers on a full swing.
OTOH, I have to take into account that I use a lot of irons off the tee and that many of those tee boxes are elevated. As a result, my current "typical" distances are a bit skewed to the longer side. GameGolf tells me my typical 6i distance is 163. The reality is that I will almost certainly not hit 150 from the light rough into the wind to an uphill green using that club.
My point being numbers are great but we still have to use our brains.
Oh wait… I can’t possibly do that because I don’t know my real distances:facepalm:
The Green is with in 15ft of the hole.
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I also tend to want to get too cute when the pun is at the front of the green. I’d be better served going for the middle of the green most times as long as it doesn’t leave me totally out of position for the putt. I’m going to try to focus on the center of the green more this season.
Interesting stat, thanks.
1) Par 4… you hit your tee shot into the trees. Your 2nd shot is your approach, but it is now your recovery shot. Do they count your chip out back onto the fairway as an approach shot? That one is always going to be short…. by a lot. Your third shot is your real approach, but it’s not your regulation approach.
2) I’m short because I duffed the approach shot.
3) If I didn’t get my tee shot within striking distance of my longest hybrid for whatever reason, I’ll be short.
4) Misjudging the shot.
Most holes on my home course… you do not want to miss long…. ever. Hellish deep rough, OB, or bushes.
This seems to be a commonality among a lot of posts in this thread (missing long being a very bad thing), it sounds like it’s a fairly consistent factor in course design. You have to wonder how much that factors into the fact that so many miss short. Consciously or subconsciously, we know that long = dead, so how much does that affect the club we select and/or the shots we hit?
The second hole is a prime example. The fairway is flat to about 240 yds from the whites then drops about 40 feet in elevation to the green. There’s a big bunker on the right. I usually end up on the flat at around 150 – 155 out. I play an 8i from 155 and a 9i from 150. An 8i from 150 will land on the green but might not hold. You want to land it on the front left. The 9i might be short and could roll on. Behind that green is nothing but tall grass and beyond that pine straw and trees. I was playing with a guy who pulled his 7i from 155 and I told him "I know I’m not supposed to give advice, but you might want to club down here." He didn’t listen and ended up in the woods. I don’t keep a handicap so I didn’t care.
Yes, much of good golf is about awareness. A Tour pro uses a pre round practice session and the first couple of golf holes to learn what he has that day. For example is his body and golf swing feeling 100% or is it more like 75% ? Are his warm up shots and first few hole shots his usual trajectories , shot shapes, and club distances? The top player is aware of what’s happening and uses that awareness to work his way around the course, choosing clubs and lines of play accordingly.
This.
As an internet golfer, I confess that I once hit a 5 iron 175 yards; therefore, every time I face a shot of 175 yards, I will hit a 5 iron.
I feel like this is a key piece of the puzzle here.
If the fairway provides an entry to the green, then short is often the preferred miss or bailout, depending on pin position, of course.
Like you said, I can’t think of many holes on our local course where a long miss could yield a chip or putt from the fairway.
Overall, my miss is going to be short but it’s not so much because I don’t club correctly. It’s more because I make sure on a absolute perfect hit there’s no way I can fly the green.
Here in Charleston playing from behind the green is typically very very tough. Short of the green is usually your best miss because you can easily chip up and have a good look at the hole.
Middle of the green is often a good sense target. I expect that if players club themselves to the middle of the green they will rarely if ever leave their ball long of the green.
Or, as others have written to this thread, clubbing oneself so that a perfect strike carries to the back of the green is a good strategy.
Both of the above are essentially the same thing, that is average strike leaves the ball in the middle of the green or perfect strikes leaves the ball at the back of the green.
I think the reason so many in this thread (and on golf courses everywhere) consistently leave the ball short of the green is due to poor club selection. This is why Tour pros remark that "amateurs don’t take enough club for their shot at hand".
I mean I agree that that could be part of it, but in terms of me and many of my friends here, when we miss in short it’s not because we chose the wrong clubs. It’s because we know that’s where you’re supposed to miss it at and that’s what we play as the miss
You are absolutely correct to be aware of where a miss will leave the ball, and that is a major factor of good golf. A Tour pro does not hit a shot without first being aware of where he wants to leave the ball should he miss the shot.
But, it’s wrong thinking to be focused on avoiding a miss long. For example, if a player knows his pure strike 7-iron shot carries 150 yards there is no reason he should be concerned about missing long. For an approach that is 130 yards to the front edge of the green , 160 yards to the back edge, 145 to the middle hole location, the player can confidently select a 7-iron without any concern at all that he will leave the ball long of the green.