Can the typical golfer hit the green from 150?

[CR McDivot]

Much less leave a reasonable birdie putt?

Not in my experience!

I'm a bogey golfer, pretty happy to score 15 to 18 over, drive 220 or so, but average over 80% fairways. I can on a good day stick the green from 180, or if really on a bit more. Of course, this is on a course where one can allow the ball to run up from the front.

I often, after a round or practice session, observe the 18th green from the clubhouse (with a brew or several ) as others approach the 400 yard par 4. The tee shot is downhill, the fairway quite fast, and the 150 yard marker is not out of range for most. Yet the typical second shot is 150 to 200 or so.

I am not surprised to see that those who have 170 or more cannot get a GIR, but am somewhat amazed that 90% to 95% of those from 130 to 165 miss the green by a good 30 yrds (over, under, left, or right).

To be fair, I have seen some FEW very fine approach shots that have a good look at birdie.

What is your experience?

[Aguirre]

I'm a bogey golfer, pretty happy to score 15 to 18 over, drive 220 or so, but average over 80% fairways.

What is your experience?

My experience is that the vast majority of golfers CAN hit a green from 150, but will miss it most of the time.  I hit it less than half the time from 150.

My experience also tells me that since you're a bogey golfer, I don't think you're keeping your fairway stats accurately.

EDIT--BTW, I would bet the average PGA Tour player only hits the green 65% of the time from 150.  Of course, they're usually playing much firmer greens with obviously higher pressure.

[CR McDivot]

My experience also tells me that since you're a bogey golfer, I don't think you're keeping your fairway stats accurately.

Bet me!

Drives are not long, but they are in the fairway!

[newtogolf]

It depends on the hole, is it well protected from bunkers or can you land the ball short and roll up?  Is it over water?   I can usually hit from 150 if I know that short isn't going to leave me in a bunker, water or thick rough.  If I have to carry it to the green then my odds drop pretty significantly.

[oregongolfguy]

I think that decent to good + golfers can, but will probably still miss more then half the time....I have improved enough with my iron play to get to a single digit cap....I will still miss the green from 150 more then half the time I think...But I'm not going to miss by much most of the time, and I probably will leave myself in a good spot to get up and down from...

[CR McDivot]

It depends on the hole, is it well protected from bunkers or can you land the ball short and roll up?  Is it over water?   I can usually hit from 150 if I know that short isn't going to leave me in a bunker, water or thick rough.  If I have to carry it to the green then my odds drop pretty significantly.

# 18 Riverdale Knolls.

No bunkers, water left and right but not really in play. Uphill to green, rough from 90 to 50 or so. Easy to land short and run up.

[Grndslmhttr3]

EDIT--BTW, I would bet the average PGA Tour player only hits the green 65% of the time from 150.  Of course, they're usually playing much firmer greens with obviously higher pressure.

Pretty good guess (it's a bit higher for 125-150, obviously)

http://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.328.html

[CR McDivot]

Image from previous thread...

The 150 marker is right of the big cottonwood in the fairway,

[Grndslmhttr3]

I hate fairways with trees.

[teamroper60]

Can the typical golfer hit the green from 150?   Absolutely!!    Do they do it regularly?   LSW says no and I am going to go with that.....

[Hammer 4]

Pretty good guess (it's a bit higher for 125-150, obviously)

http://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.328.html

And...you would have to take into consideration what their lie was. I'd bet from a flat fairway, and a decent lie, the % would go up a fair amount. Keep in mind those guys play some tough courses with sloped fairways and such. So, I think it depends on the fairway, and how the green is situated, and how big the green is. just my 3 cents.

[Zeph]

Well, yeah they can, but they don't most of the time. That's why the typical golfer is not shooting lower scores. I think Erik said GIR was the most important stat as far as scoring goes.

[Jdionne03]

Wouldn't distance play a pretty big factor in this? From 150 Im hitting either a PW or a 9 depending on which side of the marker Im on whereas my friend is hitting a 7. Im actually pretty good w/GIR for my handicap because I'm fairly long and I hit the ball pretty high. Just seems like bigger hitters are at an advantage here.

[vangator]

That's a pretty interesting stat. I think I'm over 50%, but I don't have a lot of 150 approaches. If I play the back tees, I probably would. I like keeping these kinds of stats, so I will start doing so. Now that I've switched to single length clubs, I'm very consistent with my irons. My work league only has a few single digit cappers. I don't believe most of the others could hit the green from 100 yards.

[Patch]

I don't know. If you take the percentages, then I think most golfers will miss most of their greens from 150+ . With the average score being so high, I would have to believe there are more greens missed than hit. Some of those misses will be in the form of the ball landing on the green, but bouncing/rolling off the green, which might require an extra chip/pitch shot.

It would also depend on the course being played. Some courses have smallish greens while others have box store parking lot size greens. I use to play a course, that has since  been closed down, where the greens were in the 40' X 40' +/- range. (1600+/- square feet)  From 150 yards, that is a small green/target to hit. Back when I was playing well, because I played that course so much, I could hit those greens from 150 more often than not. Of course,  when I played the  TPC course across town, the greens seemed like they were huge. (4-5K square feet.)

As a point of information, that same course, with the small greens, was a regular PGA tour stop a few decades ago. Those greens were basically the same size back then, as they are now. That brings up another topic. Did yesterday's great players play to smaller greens than today's great players?

[AmazingWhacker]

It's hard to say what "most" golfers or the "average" golfer does ...since we really are just extrapolating based on what we see on the course. From what I see, "most" golfers do not properly strike their irons so if they stick the green from *any* distance requiring a full swing it's pretty much luck. I think if we set up at a muni on a 100 yard par 3 we'd see a lot more people miss it than hit it. Probably 70% miss is my guess. My own percentage from 150 is not that good. I don't know it but I'd guess its a lot less than 50%. I typically shoot low 90s and miss most greens but not by much....usually.

[Ernest Jones]

PGA stats have the top ranked tour player hitting the green +/-82% of the time from 125-150y ands +/-72% of the time from 150-172y. That accuracy drops off considerably after the top ten or so in each category so I imagine an amateur is doing very well to hit them 50%.

[MS256]

Two 150 yard shots at our course.

The par 3 on the right is a small elevated green. It is a very rare thing when two people in a foursome hit that green even with pretty good players. I probably hit that green about 10% of the time.

That hole usually means trying to get up and down to save par and walking off happy and fortunate.

The par 4 on the left only leaves a 150 yard shot on a poor tee shot. Green is slightly larger and I would probably hit that green about 15% of the time from there.

Fortunately on the par 4 a decent tee shot leaves around 80 yards (shown) and I would be well over 50% from there. My best tee shots leave around 40 yards (shown) and I wouldn't miss very often from there.