Stop Aiming at the Flag!!! #DeadCenter

[saevel25]

To all you "Center of the Green Always" unless you have a tour card; math strategy wonks. Does your distance decides every thing consider....

Does the Center of the green bring your ball a lot closer to a pond, OB, dense tree line or foot high rough?

And even if your ball ends up exactly in the center, will you have a super slick double breaking downhill putt with a six foot break.

Distance is a depth miss not a horizontal miss, doesn't matter with aim.

Not really, because the green is bounded from all things you have considered, so in fact the center of the green is mostly always the furthest point away from trouble from the left or right. If have water left, and high rough right, were do you want the ball to land that is furthest from both things, the center.

The dreaded super slick double breaking down hill putt, is very rare, so not much of a concern. If a green is that crazy, most putts would be tough. Also, you are still more likely to end up with bogey from chipping around a green, than three putting from a putt like that. Odds are still in favor of going for the center of the green.

[kaplack]

"Facts" I just got from Saevel despite playing golf for a couple decades.

"so in fact the center of the green is mostly always the furthest point away from trouble from the left or right."

Thanks I just never noticed that almost every green has trouble on both sides and the same kind of hazard too!

"If have water left, and high rough right, were do you want the ball to land that is furthest from both things, the center. "

Another "Fact" silly me always thought it was better to land in high rough than water!

"The dreaded super slick double breaking down hill putt, is very rare, so not much of a concern."

Another "Fact" from Saevel thanks!

[kaplack]

"Even with a super hard putt you're kidding yourself if you think you can't beat your up and down percentage with your avoiding more than 2 putts percentage."

My point is not that  I can't beat my up and down % from off the green but rather that anyone is kidding themselves if you think that because they aim at the center of the green your ball will actually end up there.

[MikeRanaldo]

i didn't really read many of the responses, but i don't think aiming at the flag is a good idea. what if the flag is tucked behind a bunker and it's only 5 paces from the left edge, and left of the green is water and you have right to left wind blowing? even if you hit it dead straight it's probably either going to be short in the sand, or in the water. for beginners, i'd say just aim for the center of the green, and for more advanced players, you all know what to do

[jamo]

To all you "Center of the Green Always" unless you have a tour card; math strategy wonks. Does your distance decides every thing consider.... Does the Center of the green bring your ball a lot closer to a pond, OB, dense tree line or foot high rough? And even if your ball ends up exactly in the center, will you have a super slick double breaking downhill putt with a six foot break.

Read the thread title. It's not "Center of the Green Always," it's "Stop Aiming at the Flag."

[saevel25]

@kaplack , I am glad to see your splendid use of sarcasm, it just makes us want to take you seriously.

[Ernest Jones]

Read the thread title. It's not "Center of the Green Always," it's "Stop Aiming at the Flag."

QFT.

It seems every other clown who takes issue with this thread hasn't taken the time to grok the thread.

Stop aiming for the flag, as in: start making the smart play . In some case, possibly the majority, center of the green is the smart play but not always. Hell, sometimes aiming for the flag IS the smart play. The point of the thread is to not make aiming for the flag your default strategy. Make the smart play.

[kaplack]

Read my post I never suggested you should aim at the flag, sometimes you should.

I can tell you the best play is usually neither the flag or the center of the green; excluding short approaches.

Unlike some of you formula following "Center of the green" drones I do not have a one or two paragraph formula I follow.

But I do have a story from a young Tiger Woods about the first time he played with Nick Price; who was the best player in the world at the time.

Tiger said during the round he shot about every flag and Nick shot at about 4-5 flags.

Tiger learned something during that round and changed, most of you formula followers never will.

[LuciusWooding]

Read my post I never suggested you should aim at the flag, sometimes you should.

I can tell you the best play is usually neither the flag or the center of the green; excluding short approaches.

Unlike some of you formula following "Center of the green" drones I do not have a one or two paragraph formula I follow.

But I do have a story from a young Tiger Woods about the first time he played with Nick Price; who was the best player in the world at the time.

Tiger said during the round he shot about every flag and Nick shot at about 4-5 flags.

Tiger learned something during that round and changed, most of you formula followers never will.

Dude, I don't follow. What does Tiger have to do with anything anyone has said in this entire thread? Not that you'd know since you've obviously read absolutely none of it, including the posts directed at answering you.

[kaplack]

Dude, I don't follow. What does Tiger have to do with anything anyone has said in this entire thread? Not that you'd know since you've obviously read absolutely none of it, including the posts directed at answering you.

Dude, thank you for illustrating just the kind of mind set that does not change or learn.

And thanks for being so perceptive to know I have not been following this thread, even though you freely admit you have not been following it.

Not that i really care to follow all of a 16 page thread, because one I do other  stuff in my life  and following this thread is not my job.

[jclark]

Dude, thank you for illustrating just the kind of mind set that does not change or learn. And thanks for being so perceptive to know I have not been following this thread, even though you freely admit you have not been following it. Not that i really care to follow all of a 16 page thread, because one I do other  stuff in my life  and following this thread is not my job.

How can you be critical of an idea of you don't even know the whole story? If you read the thread I think you would understand a little better. Don't be THAT GUY who jumps in on a conversation half way thru it.

[jamo]

And thanks for being so perceptive to know I have not been following this thread, even though you freely admit you have not been following it. Not that i really care to follow all of a 16 page thread, because one I do other  stuff in my life  and following this thread is not my job.

All you had to do was read the thread title.

[kaplack]

How can I be critical?

Simple it is called an "Opinion" based on extensive knowledge and experience.

Let me give an example that may well confuse you.

I have never wanted to be a  Priest, I have also never read the whole Bible.

Following your line of thinking I should of put off deciding not to being a Priest, until I read the whole Bible or attended Seminary school.

[LuciusWooding]

I've read every post in this thread since it started, yours just makes no sense because you were talking about Tiger Woods for some reason. Most people get the advice as intended, but probably a dozen or so people tried to argue about it. It's not really worth arguing over because almost all of those people were basically saying the same thing as the OP. Following this thread wasn't my job either but the advice is very helpful when understood.

It's worth pointing out that, for those who disagree, that the OP has a lot of credibility and also hard evidence to back the main idea. So it's really not an opinion, it's fact.

You're the only one responsible for your posts. If you don't want to seem ignorant then don't be so quick to disagree before knowing one side of the issue.

[cipher]

How can I be critical?

Simple it is called an "Opinion" based on extensive knowledge and experience.

Let me give an example that may well confuse you.

I have never wanted to be a  Priest, I have also never read the whole Bible.

Following your line of thinking I should of put off deciding not to being a Priest, until I read the whole Bible or attended Seminary school.

This is a terrible example for what you are trying to say. I am not a priest nor have I wanted to be one, yet for the sake of understanding it I have read the whole book. Just the same, if you want to understand this thread you could at least read the main post before trying to say it is something it is not.  If you want to have your opinion about how you should attack greens fine, but don't confuse your opinion with an uneducated understanding of what this thread is about if you won't read it.

[kaplack]

Your ignorance of why I mentioned Tiger Woods, (which was a very simple point) coupled with your inability to separate fact from opinion.

Is nothing worth boasting about.

The "hard evidence" you mentioned is worthless without the experience and knowledge needed to process it.

[iacas]

Your ignorance of why I mentioned Tiger Woods, (which was a very simple point) coupled with your inability to separate fact from opinion. Is nothing worth boasting about. The "hard evidence" you mentioned is worthless without the experience and knowledge needed to process it.

You get that the OP could beat you on a bad day, and on a good day had full Web.com Tour status, right? You can disagree. That's fine. But stop being a jerk in the process.

[tristanhilton85]

Your ignorance of why I mentioned Tiger Woods, (which was a very simple point) coupled with your inability to separate fact from opinion.

Is nothing worth boasting about.

The "hard evidence" you mentioned is worthless without the experience and knowledge needed to process it.

I'm assuming that you were responding to @cipher 's post... if that's the case, would you please mind using the quote feature in the future. It'll make things clearer for others reading this thread.

Now, back to topic... The whole premise of the OP is that hitting greens and putting from any distance will lead to lower scores compared to missing greens and having to make up and down. Aiming at the center of the green generally allows for a higher margin of error meaning you'll still get your GIR even if you are a bit off with your shot. Flag hunting tends to leave worse misses.