Laying back on short Par 4's

[rhodes81]

At my home course the opening hole is 330 yards and the easiest on the course. Here lately though, I cannot par this hole. I always jump on the tee box with my driver and usually wind up in the fairway about 30 to 50 yards out. There are bunkers to the left and right but they rarely come into play and there is no trouble in front. The green is slightly elevated but nothing special. I keep chunking these little shots! I am going to try hitting three wood or three iron off the tee and laying back to a fuller swing. I love my wedges right now from 80 to 120, so I am going to see if I can change my luck by relying on them.
Has anyone else tried this on their short par 4's and did it help?

[TaylorMadeTaylor]

Yes, that is a good idea. Play to your strengths. If you feel most comfortable from 80-120, hit whatever club off the tee that will get you to that range.

[wrx_junki]

You can stripe one down the fairway 280-300 but struggle with a 30-50 yard pitch shot? Don't bother laying up to avoid the 30-50 yard pitch shots and start practicing those pitch shots. If the fairways are dry and you happen to chunk it, I would imagine it rolls to somewhere greenside and you can't manage to get up and down? Sorry but it's really befuddling how you keep a 3.6 without being able to hit a pitch shot crisp.

[sean_miller]

At my home course the opening hole is 330 yards and the easiest on the course. Here lately though, I cannot par this hole. I always jump on the tee box with my driver and usually wind up in the fairway about 30 to 50 yards out. There are bunkers to the left and right but they rarely come into play and there is no trouble in front. The green is slightly elevated but nothing special. I keep chunking these little shots! I am going to try hitting three wood or three iron off the tee and laying back to a fuller swing. I love my wedges right now from 80 to 120, so I am going to see if I can change my luck by relying on them.

Do it! I regularly play a course with a very slightly downhill 330 yard opening hole. Since I started playing it 3-iron/sand wedge I stopped making bogey on it every single time.

[Chicago Lefty]

You can stripe one down the fairway 280-300 but struggle with a 30-50 yard pitch shot? Don't bother laying up to avoid the 30-50 yard pitch shots and start practicing those pitch shots. If the fairways are dry and you happen to chunk it, I would imagine it rolls to somewhere greenside and you can't manage to get up and down? Sorry but it's really befuddling how you keep a 3.6 without being able to hit a pitch shot crisp.

A 50 yard shot is a more difficult shot for me to get close than a full SW. I would play the iron/wedge unless you have a shot at driving the green.

That said, at my home course I tend to pull driver on the driveable par 4 as well...my ego gets the better of me. I routinely make pars and birdies if I take iron and bogies if I hit driver.

[Harmonious]

The object in golf is to shoot the lowest score. If you are currently having trouble with 30-50 yards pitches, work on that at the range until you get better, or get your confidence in the shot. Until then, hit to your favorite yardage, whether 80, 100 or 120 yards out. You don't get brownie points for hitting it closer to the green, only for getting it in the hole in the fewest strokes.

[rhodes81]

I can't regularly hit my drives 280-290 down the middle, nor do I claim to. But on this hole it happens regularly thanks to it being downhill with a large dropoff at 230 yards. If the ball makes it that far it rolls on down because of the firm conditions. I can hit pretty crisp pitch shots most every where else and that's why I need a change of strategy on this hole as its gotten mental. I am lying about my handicap though, the last revision has me at 3.8, so you busted me there. Sorry about that.

I farm and haven't gotten to play much because of harvest season but I hope to work on my short game as it is really hurting my scores here lately. Thanks for the advice.

[WUTiger]

This brings back the words of the head pro where I used to caddie: "If you're not a pro, stay out of the 40- to 80-yard zone."

[Leftygolfer]

Play to your strengths. For me the little wedges is what I'm good at. I'd also look at a wedge with more loft. I find it to be much easier to dial in my 64 and hit low spinning shots from 50-60 yards than any other wedge i've owned.

[TourSpoon]

It is the same thing with par 5s for me...I like to be in the 80-100 yard range or in the just off-20 yard range. If you can't get it that close then this hole should be like the unreachable par five in which you aim for that distance that really makes it an "easy par 3". For me that means close to a full swing with a wedge.

[The Recreational Golfer]

This brings back the words of the head pro where I used to caddie: "If you're not a pro, stay out of the 40- to 80-yard zone."

??? These shots really aren't that hard to hit. If you play to avoid one situation, you start avoiding other situations and pretty soon you're playing defensive golf the entire round. If there's a hole in your game, patch it up!

[Fourputt]

At my home course the opening hole is 330 yards and the easiest on the course. Here lately though, I cannot par this hole. I always jump on the tee box with my driver and usually wind up in the fairway about 30 to 50 yards out. There are bunkers to the left and right but they rarely come into play and there is no trouble in front. The green is slightly elevated but nothing special. I keep chunking these little shots! I am going to try hitting three wood or three iron off the tee and laying back to a fuller swing. I love my wedges right now from 80 to 120, so I am going to see if I can change my luck by relying on them.

Front 9 on my home course I use driver on 3 holes max. Sometimes only on 3 holes, but only one of them is nearly as short as the hole you describe. The shortest hole on the course is 340 from the middle tees, and it is a mandatory layup to no more than about 230 yards because of a pond in front of the green. The shortest of the remaining holes is #10 at 355 and there I do use a driver. But on the front there are holes of 406, 530, and 360 where I always hit either a 3W or hybrid off the tee because for me, being in play is more important on those holes than being long.

I've never been the guy who locks into my driver for every tee shot. I try to treat each tee shot as I do any other shot, and that includes selectiing the appropriate club. That club isn't always the driver. On a separate note: bad as my driver was Saturday, I may even leave it out of the bag for a couple of rounds to punish it.

??? These shots really aren't that hard to hit. If you play to avoid one situation, you start avoiding other situations and pretty soon you're playing defensive golf the entire round. If there's a hole in your game, patch it up!

That doesn't necessarily follow. Course management isn't defensive golf, it's smart golf. If you love your SW at 80 yards, why on earth would you hit the ball to 40 yards where you have to play a feel shot? That's just bad advice. Even the pros try to avoid those situations most of the time.

[Chicago Lefty]

??? These shots really aren't that hard to hit. If you play to avoid one situation, you start avoiding other situations and pretty soon you're playing defensive golf the entire round. If there's a hole in your game, patch it up!

So you feel that you routinely hit 40-80 yard shots within 10 feet of the pin? It's not hard to get the 40-80 yard shot on the green, but to get them within scoring range I think it's easier with a full swing.

[TourSpoon]

??? These shots really aren't that hard to hit. If you play to avoid one situation, you start avoiding other situations and pretty soon you're playing defensive golf the entire round. If there's a hole in your game, patch it up!

I see it being aggressive...that is getting yourself into a position to hit an aggressive wedge shot right at the hole. My ability to park the ball close to the hole from 80 yards is just so much easier with the L wedge than it is from 45. Like Fourputt mentioned, 45 is more of a feel shot whereas 80 is an easy full swing.

[Stretch]

It's the opposite for me. I'd much rather pitch from 30 - 40 yards than take a full swing from 80 - 100.

[SouthernILGolfer]

Id rather get the ball as close to the green as I possibly can. A mishit on a 40-50 yard pitch shot might still hit the green, on a 100 yard shot I might miss the green by 10 yards on a mishit. Same goes for par 5's. Unless theres water or im in the trees off the tee, ill at least hit driver-3 hybrid as I can still get decent distance out of the rough and hit it as far as I can. I think the closer you are, the easier the shot. I'm much better on "feel" pitch shots than I am on full iron shots as at my handicap I tend to end up hitting a lot of "feel" pitch shots as I dont hit that many greens because I mishit a lot of full iron shots. Doesnt necessarily mean I end up hitting those shots close to the pin but at least can usually get them on the green. If I can make that shot, then a single digit handicapper should be able to do it better than me. But to each his own I guess, whatever you feel the most comfortable doing, go for it.

[mdl]

This brings back the words of the head pro where I used to caddie: "If you're not a pro, stay out of the 40- to 80-yard zone."

Interesting. My 54˚ CG15 goes maybe 105 on a full swing, but I'd MUCH rather have a 70-80 yard shot with that club than a 105 yard shot. I'd even take a 40-50 yard shot over a full swing, though I'm better at the 70-80 yarder. I'm no pro and yeah sometimes I miss the distance a little, but I'm much more accurate on that 2/3-3/4 shot than on the full swing.

Re: OP, Harmonious is right on. Is it surprising that as a 3.8 you chunk little half wedges a lot recently? Yes. But if that's a shot that's gotten in your head, then I say it's an obvious move to hit 3i/SW for now on that hole and go hit a ton of balls at the range at 40-60 yard targets. I don't do this myself to target a next shot distance cause I'm generally better the shorter the shot. I'd make this kind of play to deal with problems with my long clubs. If I'm struggling with driver recently, I'll go 2h on any par 4 where my 2h off the tee distance will let me get a shot at the green with 6i or less.

[stealthduffer]

From a mechanics standpoint I'd guess that you are decelarating with your wedge trying to "feel" it onto the green. A shot where you can take a full swing is always a good bet - one less thing in your head during the swing. That said, I'd work on these type of shots since you will find yourself in that position at times. And it sucks to miss a green from 40-50 yards.