A big reason why you score what you score is not due to the fact that you do not make enough birdies, in fact it is quite the opposite, you score what you score because you make too many double bogies and others (an ‘other’ is when you score more than a double bogey on a hole) so your first objective is, to coin a phrase from my good friend Jon Sherman https://practical-golf.com/ double bogey avoidance!

One of the reasons you score more than a bogey on a hole is that you aim for the flag rather than aiming for the middle of the green with your approach shot. Over the years Tiger Woods has admitted that aiming away from flags and instead aiming for the middle of the green has led to many of his 82 PGA Tour victories.

For me personally as a golf coach I have been telling my students to aim for the middle of the green for years, but recently I managed to get hold of a copy of a report done by Golf Tec https://www.golftec.com/ whereby they plotted the success rate of approach shots hit in thousands of rounds by thousands of golfers, some better players than you sand some not. The result is shown in the chart below, which outlines your best possibility of hitting the green depending on distance to the pin and more importantly the exact yardage when you really should be ignoring the flag and aiming for the middle of the green depending on your handicap.

So as you can see, if you cannot break 100, you should ALWAYS be aiming for the middle of the green, the only time you do not is when you are within 25 yards of the flag. If you typically shoot 90, then you should be aiming for the middle of the green until you are within 100 yards of the green, a word of warning here though, even at 100 yards I would if I were your caddy for the day still be telling you to aim for the middle of the green. If you score in the 80’s, then you can consider aiming for the flag from 135 yards and closer, however do so with caution.

So take a look at the chart and use it for when you are next playing, and lets see if we cant keep those double bogies off your card

 

Ian Clark, Director of Instruction

ian@ianclarkgolf.co.uk
0208 949 9200