Hitting more fairways

This is part one of three segments on my current focus to break 80. Our current three focus areas are:

1) Hit more fairways 2) Aim for the middle of the green 3) Go for the two putt

Why?

I am an amateur. Bluntly, this means I’m not great at golf. More softly, this means that minor changes impact my game much more than a more skilled player.

Tough slope on a hill just off the fairway? Probably going to be a shank. Covered lie in thick grass after a pulled driver? Probably going to chunk it out, 70 yards short of the green.

Minor inconveniences can have drastic impacts on my game, simply because I don’t have the time to practice all these wild scenarios.

A typical practice session at a range has gone like this: 60-100 golf balls are hit off a leveled turf mat simulating a crisp (not wet, not hard) fairway. One of the ranges near me has a grass portion to their range, but the last time I was able to hit off it was probably in 2014. I just don’t practice for those shots.

A practical example

When I look at my last round, the numbers are pretty revealing. I played 9 holes and there were two par 3s. That means I had 7 options to hit a fairway off the tee.

Notice a trend? With one exception (9), when I pulled out my driver it went left of the fairway. Every hole I played a wood (or hybrid) I ended up in the middle of the fairway. On 9 I actually bounced off a tree in the left rough and landed in the fairway.

I will say that not every driver that went left was bad. On 1 & 3 I was 280 yards from the tee and had a good lie.

This was actually a better round for me. While it was only 9 holes, I shot 46 which would have me on pace for a 92. Over 7 drivable holes I only pulled out driver four times.

Opportunity cost

The lost distance is significant for me (260+ with driver, 230+ with 3 wood) but the accuracy and confidence gains are also significant. Focusing on the green instead of recoveries is huge for me, especially with my ball striking being so poor. I need to give myself the best possible opportunity to reach a green in regulation, even if that means approaching from 20-30 yards further out.

Trading a 110 yard pitching wedge for a 135 yard 9 iron really doesn’t kill my game. I am extremely confident through my 8 iron, and fairly confident down to a 6. It isn’t until I hit my 5 iron that I start to get a little queasy.

On most holes I’m better off laying up in the fairway than going for the long bomb.

How?

We need to approach holes from the green to the tee box, instead of the tee box to the green.

Too often I get to a tee box, see it is a 360 yard par 4 and immediately settle on having a 100 yard approach with my gap wedge after hitting driver off the tee. There is no question or debate - I’m going to hit driver to take advantage of my length off the tee.

Instead, which clubs am I most confident with? Let’s figure out what my approach ought to be and then work back to determine what we can hit off the tee box. Maybe we can find two clubs I can hit, both with a high degree of confidence, and end up on the green in regulation.

My club confidence ranking probably looks something like this:

So let’s go back to the tee box; I have 360 yards to the pin from the tee. Which two clubs should I hit?

Well, if I really want to hit my 8 iron, then off the tee I need to hit:

360 - 150 = 210 yards
(total) - (8 iron) = (target length off tee)

Hitting an 8 iron in the green would require a 210 yard tee shot. Unfortunately that is outside my 5 hybrid, and well short of my 3 wood. If I hit my 5 hybrid short then I could end up with a 160 yard shot, which would be my 7 iron and that is less desirable than every other approach club I have. Better to hit longer off the tee.

Let’s see what we need for my next most preferred club, a 9 iron:

360 - 135 = 225 yards
(total) - (9 iron) = (target length off tee)

To hit a 9 iron into the green, I need to drive the ball at least 225 yards off the tee, which is perfect for a comfortable 3 wood! I won’t be concerned about distance with the 3 wood, and even if I go a hair long and end up 120 from the pin I know that my pitching wedge is a great club for me and should be able to knock it down.

If we compare the preferences of these two setups with what a driver would have looked like, we’ll see much more clearly why going driver off the tee isn’t always the best thing:

While the upside of the 5 hybrid/8 iron combo is real, the safest bet is to go 3 wood/9 iron. We’ll have a lot of confidence on both shots, and miss hit won’t cost us much at all. It’s also obvious now that going driver could make this hole difficult to approach, and that is assuming I can even get the ball in the fairway for a solid approach.

This won’t work on every hole, but for short to average par 4’s and 5’s there is a lot of reasons for me to hit a 3 wood or hybrid off the tee. It’s not about playing long, it’s about playing smart. These kinds of conservative decisions could quickly shed strokes off my round and get me under 90 fast.

Despite all this logic and data, I still have to hit the shot. From that round I referenced earlier, I decided to hit a 5 hybrid off a short par 4 (340). I hit a great shot, 210 yards, in the right-middle of the fairway, leaving myself a 130 yard 9 iron. It was the perfect drive for this hole leaving myself the perfect approach. I just needed a nice and easy 9 into the middle of the green to two-putt and walk away with a solid par.

I pushed the approach into a bunker and settled for a bogey.

At the end of the day we have to make the shots! We take all of this data, play out the scenarios, make decisions, but inevitably have to settle in behind the ball and swing. On that day I hit some great shots, and that just wasn’t one of them.

It’s time to consistently hit better shots.