Hitting Greens

[chrisd]

I am off 12 and our greens are pretty small, so, two things I think come into play. Lots of work on the short game, therefore converting the chip and two putts to as many up and downs as possible, and to try and hit more greens I now take at least one more club and hit much easier knowing I have more than enough club in my hand.

If most misses end up right of the green then it could be a tweak of your alignment needed, even if you are aligned square to target a ball from 140 yards, usually going right, suggests that aligning slightly left will eradicate more misses

If you find the answer let me know as I don't hit any more GIR's than you in an average round!

 

[SimonC]

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!

Exactly, this is pretty much as I stated in my previous post. If you need to right commit along the thumb of your glove so it's a visual reminder to do so on every shot, my pro told me to do this until it was an automatic thought before pulling the trigger.

 

[Bratty]

Interesting that most here suggest that 35% is acceptable. I feel I miss far too many greens, but now, I'm a bit happier!

@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!

You watch any pro; scrambling is one of the best parts of their game. You want to AIM to scramble less, but you need to nail this bit of your game if you want to play to low single figures. It's the difference between par and bogey when you don't make a GIR.

It's what I'll be working on once I've got my new swing more embedded.

 

[ScienceBoy]

I think golfers should get themselves to a place where they should not worry about hitting or missing a green, they should be confident in getting up and down from within reasonable distance. This means they can CHOOSE to miss a green by laying up to avoid trouble, they can lay up to the safe distance and be confident in getting up and down.

I love to plot my way around a course and I rarely expect to hit a green until I get within 120 yards as that is my current cut off distance, outside that I am looking to get as close as possible without getting in any trouble.

This approach works for me and I am knocking it around in the mid 80s with plenty of room for improvement.

 

[jason6r]

So I went down to club this morning, despite the snow at home, desperately hoping that the course would be playable. Sadly it was not due to all the white stuff. I headed off to the practice ground instead and I saw there was a narrow strip of grass that had been protected from the snow by the trees marking the edge of the 18th fairway. Given my need to improve accuracy over 70-150 yards, I saw this as a perfect opportunity to practice as if I got it wrong, I'd be losing balls in the snow. It really made me focus on ensuring the correct set up, alignment, focus on a specific target, swing, release, being smooth etc. And out of maybe 50 balls, I reckon I got 43 in this narrow corridor.

I took on board a lot of comments made on this thread and I really concentrated on my shot, without getting to the point that I felt undue pressure to make it happen. The challenge is now to take this focus to the course as I've proved I can do it consistently, even off very heavy muddy/soft ground.

 

[jason6r]

This is the practice ground and the grass "corridor" of 10-15 feet to which I was referring:

 

[Region3]

Pretty much all been said already, but I'll add my opinion.

Unless your course is very tight, or your misses off the tee are very bad, there's no reason that you can't make GIR with a missed FIR. I can't remember the exact numbers, but my greens hit is definitely higher than fairways hit.

It sounds like you're putting (unnecessary) pressure on yourself to hit greens because of how easy you perceive it to be.
I don't think hitting a green from 140 is easy. What's easy is the chip when you miss the green by 10' and have plenty of green to work with.

If you hit 6 greens per round and hit the green with your chip when you miss the green, and 2 putt everything, that's 12 over.
A 0.2 cut off 13.
For every birdie you make that's another 0.2 cut, and for every time you get up and down is another 0.2 off.

Sounds simple!!?? :lol:

 

[MadAdey]

I think people try too hard at times and put repssure on themself to hit the greens which then makes them miss it. To be honest I do not get too wrapped up in pin positions and just work out what club will hit the centre of the green. How far away from the hole would you be at most parkland tracks if you did that? Certainly in 2 putt range. This way if you catch one a little bit heavy or catch one a bit too well then you should still be on the green. Ok if you are playing on big old links greens then that is a little bit different. But then I will look if the pin is on the back portion and hit one more club or one less if it is at the front, but my system still works. Just give it a go like this as it simplifies approach shots. I was getting too wrapped up with GPS distances at one point which made try and be too clever and get it dead on the pin, but since going back to my simplified approach I am no hitting more greens.

 

[G1BB0]

thats partly why I flogged my gps Adey, ooh 148, the flags front left let me see, ok gps says 143 thats an easy 7 iron... end up short of green whereas a full 7 iron to 150 would have had me bang on.

Now I use old fashioned yardage markers and pace it out, as they are to the middle thats the distance I use for club selection. I hit 5 gir on Sat and made 5 pars... nuff said (we wont mention the rest of it).

 

[MadAdey]

thats partly why I flogged my gps Adey, ooh 148, the flags front left let me see, ok gps says 143 thats an easy 7 iron... end up short of green whereas a full 7 iron to 150 would have had me bang on. Now I use old fashioned yardage markers and pace it out, as they are to the middle thats the distance I use for club selection. I hit 5 gir on Sat and made 5 pars... nuff said (we wont mention the rest of it).

I think it is a great way to work out your approach shots, even more so for higher handicappers. I had a good game today, hitting 11/18 GIR using this system.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Interesting that most here suggest that 35% is acceptable. I feel I miss far too many greens, but now, I'm a bit happier!

You watch any pro; scrambling is one of the best parts of their game. You want to AIM to scramble less, but you need to nail this bit of your game if you want to play to low single figures. It's the difference between par and bogey when you don't make a GIR.

It's what I'll be working on once I've got my new swing more embedded.

For me GIR is a false stat. More important to me is % green hit with approach shots, it could be the 3rd, 4th or 5th shot it doesn't matter. If I hit 20% GIR that doesn't sound so good, but if I have 4 other approach shots and hit 3, my iron play isn't looking too bad.

Whatever it is, I don't hit nearly enough.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

thats partly why I flogged my gps Adey, ooh 148, the flags front left let me see, ok gps says 143 thats an easy 7 iron... end up short of green whereas a full 7 iron to 150 would have had me bang on.

Now I use old fashioned yardage markers and pace it out, as they are to the middle thats the distance I use for club selection. I hit 5 gir on Sat and made 5 pars... nuff said (we wont mention the rest of it).

Doesn't GPS give you distance to the middle of the green?

 

[MadAdey]

Doesn't GPS give you distance to the middle of the green?

I think GIBBO was getting a bit like me and trying to get too close to pins using exact yardages, which at times can put you in trouble and I would class myself as pretty good with my irons. So if I do not have my GPS on I do not know these things so just go for centre and hit more greens doing it, giving me more birdie chances and easy pars.

 

[G1BB0]

yeah mine you could move the flag on it so I was trying to be to precise. Quick pace out, select club and hit it. Once I am more consistant and a better ball striker (if ever) then I will worry about the smaller margins

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I think GIBBO was getting a bit like me and trying to get too close to pins using exact yardages, which at times can put you in trouble and I would class myself as pretty good with my irons. So if I do not have my GPS on I do not know these things so just go for centre and hit more greens doing it, giving me more birdie chances and easy pars.

Gotcha, makes sense

 

[jason6r]

What's easy is the chip when you miss the green by 10' and have plenty of green to work with.

If you hit 6 greens per round and hit the green with your chip when you miss the green, and 2 putt everything, that's 12 over.
A 0.2 cut off 13.
For every birdie you make that's another 0.2 cut, and for every time you get up and down is another 0.2 off.

Sounds simple!!?? :lol:

When you break it down like that, you can certainly see the merits of sticking to a general strategy on the course to achieve a specific goal. I think I need to improve my concentration and focus on my approach shots (without racking up the pressure); and borrowing a tip from bligslice's "felt slightly intimidated" thread of yesterday - take a club that will get me to the back of the green but not through it and swing normally (any slightly sub-perfect contact should therefore see a straight shot on the green); practice the chipping and short pitches to improve my scrambling.

Plenty to do, but I've plenty of free time so will see what progress can be made. Cheers everyone, some great insight and advice here as ever!