Easy aiming tool on long shots

[p1n9183]

When you have to face a tee shot or and approach to the green with water or OB on one side it´s important to know how much yards away from it you have to aim. 
You have to know initially your lateral dispersion, let´s say it´s 60 yards (30 yards left/rigth) with your driver at 200 yards. In a hole with water left you have to aim 30 yards to the rigth of it to take the water out of play. But... how much it´s 30 yards ?? maybe you can guess it but different holes layout can affect your perseption and make you aim closer to the water or away of it of that ideal 30 yards. 

An easy way i found to do that exactly it´s to mesure it with an extended arm counting fingers away of the water. Let´s explaining a little. 
At my home course on the first hole i have water rigth and OB left, i extended my both arms in front of me and aligned my 10 fingers up. Palms to the target, fingers aiming up. Aligned my hand that the left pinky was besides the OB. The rigth pinkie was exactly besides the water. So i have 10 exactly fingers between OB and water, go to the 270 tee shot legnth on the fairway and mesure with a range finder the distance between ob and water. 100 yards exactly. So 100 yards with 10 fingers, each finger it´s 10 yards at 270 yards. 
I hit my driver 270 yards, my currently dispersion it´s 40 yards left/rigth, in that hole i need to aim 40 yards away from the hole so i just extend on arm and pull up 4 fingers and place the rigth one besides the water and look what is on the left side of them, there´s where i have to aim, exactly 40 yards away from water.

Now i know my dispersion with the fingers... mine it´s 4, and i know i have to aim 4 fingers away from OB or water.

What if i have a 130 yard shot to a green with water right ?? Same thing applys, 4 fingers at 130 yards form me it´s almost 20 yards, so i have to aim 4 finger away from water. 
Im doing this for a half and a year now and it work´s beautifullly.

This even work on practice, when you are at the driving range you can messure the distance between targets and make them a real fairway to hit or a green.
For a fairway 30 yards it´s averange, for a 270 average driver for me it´s 3 fingers wide. I look in the practice area for 2 markers 3 fingers away from each other and i practice to hit that fairway. 
For a green, let say an 8 iron 150 yard shot, a 20 yard wide green it´s a bit smaller than 4 fingers. 

In these years I realiced that my dispersion with the driver it´s arround 4 fingers and with wedges comes down to 2,5 fingers each side.

 

[b101]

38 minutes ago, p1n9183 said:

When you have to face a tee shot or and approach to the green with water or OB on one side it´s important to know how much yards away from it you have to aim. 
You have to know initially your lateral dispersion, let´s say it´s 60 yards (30 yards left/rigth) with your driver at 200 yards. In a hole with water left you have to aim 30 yards to the rigth of it to take the water out of play. But... how much it´s 30 yards ?? maybe you can guess it but different holes layout can affect your perseption and make you aim closer to the water or away of it of that ideal 30 yards. 

An easy way i found to do that exactly it´s to mesure it with an extended arm counting fingers away of the water. Let´s explaining a little. 
At my home course on the first hole i have water rigth and OB left, i extended my both arms in front of me and aligned my 10 fingers up. Palms to the target, fingers aiming up. Aligned my hand that the left pinky was besides the OB. The rigth pinkie was exactly besides the water. So i have 10 exactly fingers between OB and water, go to the 270 tee shot legnth on the fairway and mesure with a range finder the distance between ob and water. 100 yards exactly. So 100 yards with 10 fingers, each finger it´s 10 yards at 270 yards. 
I hit my driver 270 yards, my currently dispersion it´s 40 yards left/rigth, in that hole i need to aim 40 yards away from the hole so i just extend on arm and pull up 4 fingers and place the rigth one besides the water and look what is on the left side of them, there´s where i have to aim, exactly 40 yards away from water.

Now i know my dispersion with the fingers... mine it´s 4, and i know i have to aim 4 fingers away from OB or water.

What if i have a 130 yard shot to a green with water right ?? Same thing applys, 4 fingers at 130 yards form me it´s almost 20 yards, so i have to aim 4 finger away from water. 
Im doing this for a half and a year now and it work´s beautifullly.

This even work on practice, when you are at the driving range you can messure the distance between targets and make them a real fairway to hit or a green.
For a fairway 30 yards it´s averange, for a 270 average driver for me it´s 3 fingers wide. I look in the practice area for 2 markers 3 fingers away from each other and i practice to hit that fairway. 
For a green, let say an 8 iron 150 yard shot, a 20 yard wide green it´s a bit smaller than 4 fingers. 

In these years I realiced that my dispersion with the driver it´s arround 4 fingers and with wedges comes down to 2,5 fingers each side.

 

I can definitely see this working, but would you not simply play down the middle with a draw if there was water or OB right? Or aim at left edge of the fairway? As a 0 index player, I'd imagine that you'd have to hit a really bad shot to find the water right.

Also, if you haven't yet, I'd strongly suggest you get and read LSW. A lot of what you're writing about is covered in huge depth in there, and you'd love the Shot Zones section.

[klineka]

So basically Aimpoint for when youre not on the green?

If one finger represents 10 yards dispersion from 270yds away, if you are only 130 yards away that one finger is now much more than 10 yards, correct? So you would have to memorize the distance that one finger represents from each yardage you would be faced with (100 yds 1 finger = 5 yards, 110yds 1 finger = 6 yards, etc etc)? Seems like it would take a ton of trial and error.

I think there would be more value in someone learning how the ball position in relation to the tee box can play a huge factor in taking certain sides of the fairway out of play based on your shot type.

[TN94z]

53 minutes ago, klineka said:

So basically Aimpoint for when youre not on the green?

If one finger represents 10 yards dispersion from 270yds away, if you are only 130 yards away that one finger is now much more than 10 yards, correct? So you would have to memorize the distance that one finger represents from each yardage you would be faced with (100 yds 1 finger = 5 yards, 110yds 1 finger = 6 yards, etc etc)? Seems like it would take a ton of trial and error.

I think there would be more value in someone learning how the ball position in relation to the tee box can play a huge factor in taking certain sides of the fairway out of play based on your shot type.

This was my initial thought. Too many variables to learn for all of the different yardages. I also heavily agree with tee placement on the tee box for these situations. I have really started focusing on this lately.

[p1n9183]

1 hour ago, b101 said:

I can definitely see this working, but would you not simply play down the middle with a draw if there was water or OB right? Or aim at left edge of the fairway? As a 0 index player, I'd imagine that you'd have to hit a really bad shot to find the water right.

It doesn´t matter your ball fligth, you have to aim at some spot to end up the ball, then from simple dispersion you are going to hit rigth or left of it. I know 95% of my shots with driver will be inside 40 yards left or rigth to that spot. I have to aim 40 yards left of the water.
If the fairway it´s 30 yards wide i have to aim 10 yards left of it, yes aim to the rough if that don´t put me in bigger problems on the left ! If the fairway it´s 40 yards wide i´m ok with the left edge. 
 

1 hour ago, klineka said:

If one finger represents 10 yards dispersion from 270yds away, if you are only 130 yards away that one finger is now much more than 10 yards, correct? So you would have to memorize the distance that one finger represents from each yardage you would be faced with (100 yds 1 finger = 5 yards, 110yds 1 finger = 6 yards, etc etc)? Seems like it would take a ton of trial and error.

it doesn´t matter how many yards it represent ! that´s the beauty of it. You only have to use your fingers.
I know the dispersion of my woods it´s 4 fingers. And 3 for my irons. On the course on tee shots with woods i only have to aim 4 fingers away from water an OB, an on approach shots to the green with an iron 3 fingers away from a lateral hazard or OB close to the green.

Example with 5 iron (180 yards) and 9 iron (140 yards). My dispersion with both it´s 6 fingers ! 3 to the rigth and 3 to the left. In yards for the 5 iron 6 fingers it´s 40 yards, and 6 fingers for the 9 iron it´s 31 yards. 
I don´t have to remember the yards of each club, i only have to aim 3 finger away from water on my approach shot with each club. In this scenario on a 20 yards wide green, with the 5 irons i will have to aim to the left edge of the green and with the 9 irons to the left part of the green. But it doesn´t matter that to me, 3 finger left to the water and it´s done, i don´t need the yardages. 

43 minutes ago, TN94z said:

I also heavily agree with tee placement on the tee box for these situations. I have really started focusing on this lately.

This is important, makes your ball lunch in an angle less perpendicular to the hazard, but it´s way more important to aim properly according to your shot zone to avoid the hazard. 

1 hour ago, klineka said:

taking certain sides of the fairway out of play based on your shot type.

The only way to take one side out of play it´s to aim away from it so it doesn´t get into your shot cone. It doesn´t matter your shot shape. If you hit a fade you can miss left or rigth, and the same with a draw.
Just look at Dustin Johnson stats on PGA.com. He hits from the tee always with a fade, and everyone said he take left side of the course out of play, but in his stats his missed fairway equaly 50/50 left and rigth. Taking one side off the course out off play with a particular shot shape or tee position it´s a BIG lie.

[b101]

57 minutes ago, p1n9183 said:

It doesn´t matter your ball fligth, you have to aim at some spot to end up the ball, then from simple dispersion you are going to hit rigth or left of it. I know 95% of my shots with driver will be inside 40 yards left or rigth to that spot. I have to aim 40 yards left of the water.
If the fairway it´s 30 yards wide i have to aim 10 yards left of it, yes aim to the rough if that don´t put me in bigger problems on the left ! If the fairway it´s 40 yards wide i´m ok with the left edge. 

The only way to take one side out of play it´s to aim away from it so it doesn´t get into your shot cone. It doesn´t matter your shot shape. If you hit a fade you can miss left or rigth, and the same with a draw.
Just look at Dustin Johnson stats on PGA.com. He hits from the tee always with a fade, and everyone said he take left side of the course out of play, but in his stats his missed fairway equaly 50/50 left and rigth. Taking one side off the course out off play with a particular shot shape or tee position it´s a BIG lie.

But this is nonsense... If you have a miss both left and right, then you bring trouble into play on both sides of every single fairway. Pretty much every PGA tour player, even Bubba, has a stock shot shape that they stick to for 95% of all their shots for that very reason. They can plan away from trouble. 

And the DJ stat means nothing - if he misses right because there's a fairway bunker on the left that he's playing away from, that's fine and the same if the reverse is true. The fact that he plays a fade means that his shape is predictable and he knows that, bar a really bad shot, it's going nowhere left of where he aims. In your case, it's hitting for the middle and hoping, which is far less predictable and will therefore yield worse scores over the course of X number of holes, rounds etc.

[p1n9183]

9 minutes ago, b101 said:

But this is nonsense... If you have a miss both left and right, then you bring trouble into play on both sides of every single fairway. Pretty much every PGA tour player, even Bubba, has a stock shot shape that they stick to for 95% of all their shots for that very reason. They can plan away from trouble.

You are saying that if there is water on the right a pro who hit a draw could aim 2 yards away of the water because he never will miss rigth ? 

One thing is where the ball starts and another it´s the final target. Every pro will set their target away from water despite their ball shape. 

We all miss rigth and left of our final target, even pro. We take one side of the trouble out of play by aiming away from it, not with shot shape.

34 minutes ago, b101 said:

And the DJ stat means nothing - if he misses right because there's a fairway bunker on the left that he's playing away from, that's fine and the same if the reverse is true. The fact that he plays a fade means that his shape is predictable and he knows that, bar a really bad shot, it's going nowhere left of where he aims.

yes it has! he misses rigth and left equaly despite que always plays a fade. And DJ aim his target at the center of the fairway, the ball starts on the left side of the farway and finish in the middle of it. He could block it to the left and overcook it to the rigth, he does that 50/50. If trouble is left he will put hit target on the rigth side and on the left side if trouble is on the rigth. 

39 minutes ago, b101 said:

In your case, it's hitting for the middle and hoping, which is far less predictable and will therefore yield worse scores over the course of X number of holes, rounds etc.

I play a draw, never hit it straigth but i aim at the center of the fairway, the ball start on the rigth side and come back to the middle but i can miss left and right. the only way i can avoid trouble it´s to aim my target away from it, not shot shape. 

[b101]

Just now, p1n9183 said:

You are saying that if there is water on the right a pro who hit a draw could aim 2 yards away of the water because he never will miss rigth ? 

One thing is where the ball starts and another it´s the final target. Every pro will set their target away from water despite their ball shape. 

We all miss rigth and left of our final target, even pro. We take one side of the trouble out of play by aiming away from it, not with shot shape.

yes it has! he misses rigth and left equaly despite que always plays a fade. And DJ aim his target at the center of the fairway, the ball starts on the left side of the farway and finish in the middle of it. He could block it to the left and overcook it to the rigth, he does that 50/50. If trouble is left he will put hit target on the rigth side and on the left side if trouble is on the rigth. 

I play a draw, never hit it straigth but i aim at the center of the fairway, the ball start on the rigth side and come back to the middle but i can miss left and right. the only way i can avoid trouble it´s to aim my target away from it, not shot shape. 

I think I've misunderstood you based on your original post - thought you were saying you missed both left and right and didn't play draw or fade. Completely agree on all points bar the point about DJ missing both left and right purely due to a bad shot - he's likely aiming at either right side or left side rather than the centre to avoid bunkers or give the best line in, making that the best side to miss on. Aside from that, everything makes sense.