Stop Aiming at the Flag!!! #DeadCenter

[inthehole]

Yep, saved me 2 strokes yesterday ... protected pin behind big bunker.       If I went at it would have been in bunker.   I went for fat part of green - just barely cleared bunker & made nice par putt.   I think it has its place - for tough sunday pins, most definitely will be aiming center green.

[Duff McGee]

Thanks you guys. You helped me shoot the best round of my life at a pretty difficult course today. I can't tell you how many times I was about to take my shot and then I stopped and realized that I was aiming at the flag. I can think of 2 times today where aiming at the middle saved me. One was a pull. The other was a push. I just smiled after I saw them landing on the green bc I knew I would have been chipping if I had done my usual thing.

[mvmac]

I just smiled after I saw them landing on the green bc I knew I would have been chipping if I had done my usual thing.

Yep, give yourself the best chance to hit the green.

[boogielicious]

A great example of this happened to me yesterday on a par 5 18th at my league course. The flag was far left on a lower tier. I was 110 out from the flag, but 105 to the center. I chose to hit a 3/4 PW (100 yards) and aimed at the center of the fairly large green. My shot zone includes slight pull draws, so I accounted for that.

My shot did draw a bit and rolled left and down the ridge toward the flag. I had an 8 footer for birdie. So using my shot zone and aiming at the spot that would give me the best chance at a GIR, gave me a great result.

[dchoye]

I been noticing that with my irons and woods , when I draw I tend to just aim to the center of the green.

However with a high fade I tend to get a bit disoriented and need the flagstick as a cue to aim for , usually I try to match the apex of the ball flight with the top of the pin.

[mdlee3]

This is a great topic and something I've been doing for about 3 years now. When I first started doing it, I was a really bad chipper and I'd say a below average putter. So I'd usually still end up with a short bogey putt instead of a short par putt, but a bogey is better than what I'd usually end up with if I went for the pin, missed, and had to chip back onto the green. This approach has also allowed me to improve my putting immensely. Since I knew I'd be taking longer putts, then I needed to be able to putt well enough to at least have a makeable 2nd putt.

[mvmac]

[Buckeyebowman]

I can't tell you how much I agree with this sentiment! And not just for approach shots, but for shorter pitches and chips as well. I can't tell you the number of times I've been in a scramble or 2 man match play when my partner(s) tried to get too cute with a short sided pitch out of heavy rough, over a yawning bunker and wound up dumping it in the bunker, leaving it in the rough, or skulling it over the green into worse trouble.

I'm generally not one to open my mouth and give advice on a golf course unless asked, but I began to realize that team competitions are a bit different. That's when I started to tell my partners to just get us on the green somewhere so that we can putt. Sometimes it's good to listen to your own advice!

[iacas]

Misperceptions abound.

[Jeremie Boop]

3 minutes ago, iacas said:

Misperceptions abound.

That reminded me of a comment I heard during yesterday's round on the webcast. I think it was Rory from 80 yards hit it like 8 feet left and they were talking about how bad that was... It's like they don't even bother looking at or knowing the actual stats.

[iacas]

8 minutes ago, Jeremie Boop said:

That reminded me of a comment I heard during yesterday's round on the webcast. I think it was Rory from 80 yards hit it like 8 feet left and they were talking about how bad that was... It's like they don't even bother looking at or knowing the actual stats.

And that perception bleeds into golfers who then beat themselves up for hitting their 110-yard shot to 16'.

[David in FL]

Bump.

For some reason I started thinking about this thread today.  I consider it to be one of the better threads of all time, so I wanted to bump it to the top for the benefit of those who may not have seen it before...

...or those that could use a gentle reminder.  

[CarlSpackler]

Why? The usually doesn't be go anywhere near where I aim.  

[Shindig]

This is going to save me strokes this upcoming tournament.  My club championship starts on Friday.  On the fifth hole, already one of the hardest (especially for my flight), the Saturday pin position every year is [redacted].  Left side of the green, nearly atop a ridge, and certainly such that if you go for it and miss left, you're down a hill -- if you find your ball.  They've since added a bunker for part of that side, but (shocking) I don't think it has helped double-digit handicappers all that much!

A few years ago, when I first saw this thread, I remember consciously thinking of it from the fairway.  I aimed for the right third of the green, figuring a miss right was an easy chip across the green and otherwise I'd be putting.  I didn't hit my shot perfectly but was putting for birdie.  I think I even pulled it a bit, which would have been terrible if I had aimed at the flag.  I don't remember what I made (it wasn't a birdie), but I did remember checking when scores were posted that I beat the field average on that hole.  On one hand, there were a good number of players with higher handicaps than I had in my flight, but the average on that hole that day was something like 6.1 (it's a nominal par-4, but our flight generally the stroke average is around 5).  

It's really tough to aim away from the flag when you've got a PW in your hands, it really is.  But a number of things came together around the time I started implementing this and my handicap went from high teens to low teens -- and I think #DeadCenter is part of it.  Coupled with evolvr, I'm more likely to hit the green and less likely on non-GIRs to be in deep trouble.  

When I won my club's match play a few years ago, I think I hit one bunker the entire tournament.  L.A. City municipal course bunkers are no picnic, even compared to normal course bunkers.  

[p1n9183]

Not only aiming at the middle of the green it´s better, sometimes aiming a bit further away from the flag make you avoid shortsiding yourself more often giving you more chance of making up/down

[iacas]

[JonMA1]

It's nice to hear LSW and some of the work put into it recognized on the Golf Channel. I thought they did a nice job with the graphics by shifting the center of the shot zone up towards the middle. That should to grab some attention.

As much as I dislike the host, what he said about "checking the ego" was pretty good. 

[Shindig]

Glad to hear the LSW shoutout in the video.  

I had a moment like this in my last round, round 3 of my club championship.  As I type this, I realize I don't really know where the good near-GIRs on every hole on my course is (I will think about it tonight or tomorrow).  In that round, though, forward pin on the par-5 fourth, right over a bunker.  Pin sheet says pin is cut 9 yards from the front, I'm a perfect UI from it, so I hit the UI.  Into the front bunker that guards half the front of the green.  

In part because the front of the green wasn't where the bunker ends, it was closer to me and to the left of the bunker.  In fact, it was only a pace or two onto the green if measured straight line from where I was to the pin.  If I had aimed left, I'd have been on the green... and if I hadn't hit it well, I'd have been on grass to chip.  Blasted out, two putts later... anyway, I missed a higher placing by five strokes anyway, but this is something I'll keep in the memory bank for a while, even though it's just a "I forgot what I should have known" instead of a new lesson.

I think at the Newport Cup one year, Erik or Mike said something like when the pin is forward, and if you're using it for distance to hit (not necessarily a target, just for distance), add some yards to it because you'd rather be on the green than not.  I think a similar rule if it's at the back.  If I had done that, maybe one stroke better that round.  Knowledge for the future!