Short of the Green is Better?

[WUTiger]

From the eight courses I played in tournament-type rounds this season, most of the trouble was short of the green. I sense this is true for most mid-quality/mid-cost courses.

Holes usually have designs where you have a safe miss long left or long right. But, missing long without considering this can get you in trouble.

One needs to employ the LSW tool of decision mapping to plan out where the dangers are on different holes.

Edited November 26, 2017 by WUTiger

[uitar9]

As a plus 20 capper, I buy into the GIR+1 is OK camp.

That includes shooting to the most green I can see or laying up to the entrance of the green. All depending on how the green is protected.

I'm comfortable two putting, I just want to get on without a lot of shenanigans tee to green: STTG-that should be a high capper stat

 

[DaveP043]

Generally speaking, the way to hit the green most often is to have half of your misses go long, and half short.  Putting is better than chipping, so hitting the green a higher percentage of the time is a good thing.  Couple that with the most common location for "problem spots" like bunkers and hazards, in front of the green, it might be better to aim long more than short in most situations.  I play very few courses where the greens are so fast or the rough is so difficult that I can't hit the green with a chip or pitch from long.  Obviously, each situation should be evaluated individually, but I have no problems with being long much of the time.

As for WHY many players leave it short much of the time, I believe they make their decision based on their best shot distances, not their NORMAL shot distance.  Most of us mishit the ball more often than we hit it pure.  If a pure strike gets me to the middle of the green, my more typical slight mishit is likely to put me at the front edge or short.  I'd prefer that my NORMAL shot, even if its a slight mishit, ends up in the center.  A pure strike might get me to the back edge, a significant mishit might be at the front edge.  

 

[klineka]

23 hours ago, Piz said:

It is always better to be below the hole rather than above; whether that is long, short, left, or right.  A "good miss" is often more advantageous than finding the green.  There are a couple holes, on my rota, on which putting the ball out of bounds is a common occurrence and it is advisable to station a designated "goalie" on the low fringe.

If you are talking about this in relation to putting, that isnt true. LSW mentions a study that was done and the most important factor to getting in the hole in the least amount of shots across all handicap levels was proximity to the pin, regardless of whether the first putt is downhill, sidehill, or uphill.

[RussUK]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

Generally speaking, the way to hit the green most often is to have half of your misses go long, and half short.  Putting is better than chipping, so hitting the green a higher percentage of the time is a good thing.  Couple that with the most common location for "problem spots" like bunkers and hazards, in front of the green, it might be better to aim long more than short in most situations.  I play very few courses where the greens are so fast or the rough is so difficult that I can't hit the green with a chip or pitch from long.  Obviously, each situation should be evaluated individually, but I have no problems with being long much of the time.

As for WHY many players leave it short much of the time, I believe they make their decision based on their best shot distances, not their NORMAL shot distance.  Most of us mishit the ball more often than we hit it pure.  If a pure strike gets me to the middle of the green, my more typical slight mishit is likely to put me at the front edge or short.  I'd prefer that my NORMAL shot, even if its a slight mishit, ends up in the center.  A pure strike might get me to the back edge, a significant mishit might be at the front edge.  

 

Think this is spot on for a lot of golfers, especially those with higher HCP's. Many. mself included, are guilty of not taking enough club. Its often a case of haveing say 145 to the pin, sure at the range on a good day with a good strike thats a 8 iron. But on a course theres so much more to factor in, the wind the lie, is it wet or dry, uphill or downhill and even a players mental state at the time as nerves can play a part.

If i have a yardage where i think "thats 'X' club" i'll take one extra.

[Lihu]

10 minutes ago, RussUK said:

Think this is spot on for a lot of golfers, especially those with higher HCP's. Many. mself included, are guilty of not taking enough club. Its often a case of haveing say 145 to the pin, sure at the range on a good day with a good strike thats a 8 iron. But on a course theres so much more to factor in, the wind the lie, is it wet or dry, uphill or downhill and even a players mental state at the time as nerves can play a part.

If i have a yardage where i think "thats 'X' club" i'll take one extra.

Yes, and hit less of it too.

Also the reason most hazards are not in the back is to protect the hole. It’s like wearing a bulletproof vest with the heavy plate in the back.

[NJpatbee]

On most holes on my home course I play an "extra" club on approach shots expecting to make a decent shot but not my maximum distance - rarely am I long.  The few exceptions are the holes where being long more than a few feet means a penalty stroke or at best chopping out of brush.   

[Piz]

5 hours ago, klineka said:

If you are talking about this in relation to putting, that isnt true. LSW mentions a study that was done and the most important factor to getting in the hole in the least amount of shots across all handicap levels was proximity to the pin, regardless of whether the first putt is downhill, sidehill, or uphill.

I'd certainly agree with that.  I was referring to those putts that either drop or roll off the green.  In those instances; the second putt can be two or three times longer than the first.

[No Mulligans]

On 11/25/2017 at 9:25 PM, JonMA1 said:

There's another possibility. Maybe missing short has less to do with a misplaced ego and more to do with the fact that we don't always hit the ball cleanly.

My opinion is that we play the club that will most likely get us to the center of the green with the assumption we are going to hit a clean shot... which is much different than assuming we're going to hit our max distance.

Another way of looking at it is just because we duff a 7i and it goes 110 yards, doesn't mean that 7i should become the club we pull the next time we're 110 yards out. 

Exactly my thought.  It seems obvious, mishit shots are more often than not too short.  The study really says, players mishit shots sometimes and they tend to be short.  It has little to do with club selection

[GST1974]

As long as the ball is on short grass and not in the bunker or water, it's a good shot.  Nobody likes to chip from the rough or get out of a bunker, especially if its deeply sloped and the ball is buried.  Just go for the middle of the green if you don't feel confident on going for a flag position that is risky.  I personally feel confident with all my irons, but if I am playing from a bad lie on the fairway or from the rough I just try to avoid disasters.  If I go into the trees, I just chip it back out into the fairway rather than try to gain extra yardage through the branches and leaves, even if I have to go backwards towards the tee area.  A bogey on a par four is livable, an 8 or 9 messes up your whole round.

[p1n9183]

My rule is to always play 10 yards shorter of the back of the green on back flags, and 5 yards longer to the front of the green on short flags. Middle of the green for middle of the green flags. That way i never go over the green and can be 5 yards short of the green at most. It´s a lot easier in general to save par beeing short than long of the green.
Exceptions: A hazard on the front of the green will make me hit 10 yards further from it, or 15 yards if the green it´s deeph enough.
 

[Shindig]

23 hours ago, p1n9183 said:

My rule is to always play 10 yards shorter of the back of the green on back flags, and 5 yards longer to the front of the green on short flags.

I picked up this habit from... I think the post-mortem on one of the Newport Cups.  Erik or Mike was saying that even the good players were going for front / back pins based on distances and they should add / subtract some yardage (I think 5 yards was the suggestion?) because on the green is preferable to off.  I've been doing that ever since.

[rehmwa]

Short better?  I suspect that ANY gross generalization about where to miss is pointless.  Error to wherever the safe miss is better - whether long, short, left, or right.  (And then only ever miss closer to the flag..... haha)

Edited November 30, 2017 by rehmwa

[Zeph]

I agree with rehmwa, there are too many different holes and situations to generalize. Aim to hit it to the spot that you are most likely to get into the hole with the least amount of strokes. If you are a low handicapper, you go for the flag on shorter approaches than higher handicaps. A better player is usually better at judging where to hit it and where to avoid landing. For higher handicaps, hitting the green itself is a win, and lack of shot and distance control often makes it a toss up whether they go long or short at any given shot.

When I play well, I can go for flags on 130 meters and in, but more often than not I'm happy if I hit the green and stay there. GIR is king.

LSW has some good ideas on how to approach different shots.