Hitting Greens

[jason6r]

Does anyone here really struggle disproportionately with this part of their game?

I am finding that my GIR % is pretty woeful (around 35% average) despite being long off the tee and hitting the fairway 60% of the time. I've tried taking a club more and not trying to flush it but always end up not committing to the shot enough and end up missing the green anyway (often to the right). When I do commit I'm more often than not through the green and having to rely on a distinctly average short game to scramble a par or more likely make bogey.

I think it must be psychological as like everyone, my shots on the practice ground are great. I'm going to try practising at a smaller target than the average green on my course to see if that helps but wondered if any of you had encountered (and solved) this particular part of the game? I have the time to dedicate to serious practice hours but I sort of feel it's more a mental thing than anything else and I'm trying to figure out the most efficient and effective way to improve this part of my game.

 

[Crow]

35% off 13 handicap is very good.

You'd expect it to be lower than your fairway %, fairways are much wider and there's usually no short or long as there is with a green

 

[scratch]

As a 13/14 handicapper, how many GIR do you realistically expect to hit? Assuming you 2 putt every green then 35% is pretty good for your handicap.

 

[ventura]

Worth reading some Bob Rotella short games books if you think it's physcological?

 

[louise_a]

I guess the OP is looking to increase his GIR to be able to meet his handicap target for 2013 of cat 1.

 

[duncan mackie]

as others have suggested, this is probably the most flawed 'metric' in amateur golf.

you simply can't ignore the nature of the course, including the size of the greens and whether they are saucers or overturned saucers!

as to where to apply the effort, make an honest assesment of why you missed the green each time, rather than by how much, how far etc. I play with a lot of people who can land a ball, on a windless day and a flat course, bang in the middle of the green most of the time - but when it comes to the reality of the game they aren't on many.....???

this isn't an inability to translate range technique to the course (which is definitely a huge issue for many, nor is it a problem with making a good swing/contact; it does however represent a compete failure to relate the conditions through the air and after landing on the day (the same people will frequently be long on downhill putts and short uphill!)

so, have a more realistic expectation, review accurately why you aren't hitting more (on the assumption you are making a good swing) and take it from there.

 

[jason6r]

I suppose what I'm getting at is that whilst I don't expect the GIR % to be right up there with fairways hit, if I'm on the fairway and within 140 yards of the green after a drive, then I do expect to hit the green more often than not. And I'm currently missing a lot of the time. I know that if I miss the fairway then I will struggle to make GIR but I seem to make a better job of hitting a par 5 in 2 using a 3 iron for my 2nd shot than I do when I have say an 9 iron in my hand for my 2nd shot into a par 4. I also struggle with hitting the greens on a par 3 off the tee, which costs me shots every round.

It doesn't seem to make any sense to me, hence my question. Perhaps it's because there's no expectation of success with the long 3 iron but an easy 9 iron should be hitting the green most of the time and therefore I put the pressure on myself? I don't feel uptight but that's the only explanation I can think of.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Interesting post. My GIR is probably not far off your total but my FIR is around 50% so a lot of time I'm not able to hit the green so that may be the main cause. I would need to check back on SS2 and see what my GIR percentage was after finding the fairway. That would be a telling number. Unfortunately my SS2 data is on a slowly dying Dell tower and I'm starting afresh on a new version loaded on my laptop and building the numbers from 1st January 2013 onwards.

 

[jason6r]

Duncan - my course has pretty generous greens if I'm honest so it's not a case of having to hit upturned saucers. I think your point about reviewing honestly why I miss so regularly is very valid and right now, I'd say it's almost a case of because I've always struggled in this area, I have no expectations of success. I thought that this may help as I don't feel under any pressure but maybe I'm just reinforcing a negative thought and thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy: you always miss, look you missed, told you you'd miss, you always miss etc?

@ventura - good point, I've got a few of them on the bookshelf having read them a year or so ago. Might be worth a re-read.

 

[duncan mackie]

Duncan - my course has pretty generous greens if I'm honest so it's not a case of having to hit upturned saucers. I think your point about reviewing honestly why I miss so regularly is very valid and right now, I'd say it's almost a case of because I've always struggled in this area, I have no expectations of success. I thought that this may help as I don't feel under any pressure but maybe I'm just reinforcing a negative thought and thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy: you always miss, look you missed, told you you'd miss, you always miss etc?

@ventura - good point, I've got a few of them on the bookshelf having read them a year or so ago. Might be worth a re-read.

snap judgements in this area are always dangerous, but in the abscence of standing watching you..... it sounds like a negative loop; you don't think you will hit the green from 150 so you:-
1. try a steer the club
2. follow the flight of the shot to better understand why you are missing

both of the above are excellent reasons why you aon't perform as you should!

extreme, but you can only loose balls.........

next time you are in this area, play the shot but make an absoute committment not to see the shot in the air, in the same vein as the famous 'I never see my putts fall in the hole, I only know whether I made the putt from the crowds reaction..." tip about seeing the putter hit the ball, not the ball hit the hole.

presume it's on the green, or close - hit it, put the club away, then look at the green etc should help focus on the swing, release, contact rather than what's going to happen as a result.

maybe

let us know!

what's it going to cost?

 

[Nashy]

You need to try and few different things and think what your strengths are.

I can only give advice on how I look at my shots into the green:
1. How far to the pin.
2. Where's the pin located.
3. Where's the most danger in relation to the pin.
4. If I miss where do I want to miss.

I aim for the fat of the green most of the time unless I have a perfect yardage for a club and pin suits my eye. I want to leave myself the most green to work with, so if I miss it gives me the best chance of getting up and down.

The best thing you can do is practice your chipping and putting, as this will make the biggest difference. If you can get the ball within 12ft from you chip when you miss a green you give yourself a chance at par.

 

[jason6r]

snap judgements in this area are always dangerous, but in the abscence of standing watching you..... it sounds like a negative loop; you don't think you will hit the green from 150 so you:-
1. try a steer the club
2. follow the flight of the shot to better understand why you are missing

both of the above are excellent reasons why you aon't perform as you should!

extreme, but you can only loose balls.........

next time you are in this area, play the shot but make an absoute committment not to see the shot in the air, in the same vein as the famous 'I never see my putts fall in the hole, I only know whether I made the putt from the crowds reaction..." tip about seeing the putter hit the ball, not the ball hit the hole.

presume it's on the green, or close - hit it, put the club away, then look at the green etc should help focus on the swing, release, contact rather than what's going to happen as a result.

maybe

let us know!

what's it going to cost?

Well I'm meant to be playing in a roll-up comp tomorrow morning, weather permitting - informal, no big deal but a comp nonetheless - so it could be a good opportunity to give this approach a go. Focus on the process not the result I guess, and trust myself to put a good swing on it. I have plenty of spare balls in any event!

 

[Imurg]

You're hitting 6 greens a round - the best on Tour hit about 14

They're more than twice as good as you or I - much more.

For my handicap I should be targeting about 8 or 9.........

You're doing OK!

 

[Lydo]

I would've thought 35% GIR was pretty good for a 13 handicap. What % do you want to be hitting?

 

[El Bandito]

I think that you may have answered your own question in the original post. "Distinctly average short game"
Could it be that you are putting pressure on your short irons thinking 'must hit green or will bogey hole'? I suspect if you felt more confident that you could up and down more often than not from around the green, then your irons will suddenly need no help at all.

That said, you've a lower handicap than me, and hit a pretty good amount of greens already!

 

[SimonC]

GIR is usually my strong point I'm usually in the 60% range, putting isn't my strongest point though. I average about 31-32 putts per round, the greens I play on don't help as quite a lot of them have severe slopes that if you get on the wrong some of the flag its easily 3 putt terrority. Also I tend to have a couple of silly double bogeys from nowhere hence why I'm not off a lower handicap than I currently am.

Maybe you need to learn how far you hit each club when you commit to the shot and take this to the course. Don't worry about not hitting the green just have commit as your main swing thought and you probably will end up hitting the green. I know most of my bad shots come from being tentative. Which is something I've worked hard on addressing.

 

[jason6r]

It's not the quantative aspect that concerns me so much ie the 35% per se, it's more the fact that I don't convert the relatively easy chances that I find myself with after my tee shot. I would accept the 35% if I had shots of say 200 yards to the green but when I have a 9 iron in my hand and pretty generous greens to aim for (I don't aim for the pin rather just for the green at this stage), I would expect to hit more than 1 in 3. Also, on par 5's my 3rd shot is often just a little chip onto the green which inflates the GIR stats - I need to check but I'd reckon that on par 3s and 4s, I'm more like 20-25%.

If I have aspirations of getting my handicap down to single figures - and I have the whole year free to focus fully on golf so no excuse - i need to make life a lot easier for myself after my 2nd shot. As the forum members here generally have interesting and insightful views, I wanted to check in to see how others have faced a similar problem.

@nashy - my chipping and pitching needs work and your comments are spot on in this respect I understand the need to scramble better, I guess I also want to scramble less!

@imurg - thanks, I feel as if I'm on the right track and I'm not beating myself up about 35%. I just feel as if I'm constantly leaving shots on the course from relatively simple positions and need to stop doing this if I'm to progress as I want to this year.

In terms of a target, I'd like to get to c.40% GIR by the end of June (1 extra green hit per round) - that's the (previously) private target I set myself at the start of 2013 and then take it from there.

 

[Oddsocks]

I think that you may have answered your own question in the original post. "Distinctly average short game"
Could it be that you are putting pressure on your short irons thinking 'must hit green or will bogey hole'? I suspect if you felt more confident that you could up and down more often than not from around the green, then your irons will suddenly need no help at all.

That said, you've a lower handicap than me, and hit a pretty good amount of greens already!

This, I can't chip, so must hit the greens

Someone suggested backward thinking of holes a few month's back,

So what if I can't chip, my putting is good
So what if I miss the green, my chipping is good

Take the negatives out of play,

 

[duncan mackie]

This, I can't chip, so must hit the greens

Someone suggested backward thinking of holes a few month's back,

So what if I can't chip, my putting is good
So what if I miss the green, my chipping is good

Take the negatives out of play,

best way to improve driving is to be confident that you can sink 6ft putts!

in this particular case I think the reference to confidence over getting down from 'wherever' around the green will make it easier to put your better swing on approach shots.

it's such a fine line between not caring about the result of a shot, and not being adversly pressured over the outcome of a shot - but it's between these two that most of us perform best.

 

[jason6r]

Trusting myself to commit fully is definitely what I need to do to take any indecision out of the equation. I do this off the tee and with the long irons when I think about it, so it's probably why I get better results with these longer clubs.

I also agree that I probably focus on the negative consequences of missing the green rather than the positives if/when I do. Need to get a better mindset obviously...but easier said than done!