Instruction

Why you’ll likely make a bogey (or worse) 25 percent of the time from 150 yards

Published

8 years ago

Apr 14, 2016

Tracking golf stats in the technology age has become easier than ever. All you have to do is download an app, enter a few details from your round and you can have access to almost any stats you want from tee-to-green. If used correctly, this wealth of information can be very helpful when figuring out what part of your game needs improvement, so make sure to use it to your advantage.

Here’s how that relates to this story. At the Golf Magazine Top-100 Summit in November, I saw a slide by one of our presenters on the average distance from the hole from 150 yards, which a distance nearly all golfers feel comfortable with their chances on hitting the green, based on their handicap level. They’re listed in the graphic below.

One of the best golf books I have ever read is Every Shot Counts by Mark Broadie (if you have not read it, you are missing the boat!). Mark analyzes the game in many different ways, but one of the most important, in my opinion, are his numbers on three-putting. As we all know, eliminating three-putting is a key for every golfer to lower their scores. But what Mark found is that it might be difficult when you hit the ball a certain distance from the hole.

PGA Tour players don’t worry about three putting until around 60 feet. So based on their average distance from 150 yards, they have to hit an awful shot (for them) to hit the ball outside that distance. Therefore, they don’t need to worry much about three-putting after hitting a shot from 150 yards, thus eliminating bogeys.

Let’s examine three-putting trends for 80, 90, and 100 shooters based on Broadie’s findings:

80 Shooters have about a 25 percent chance of three-putting when the ball is 43 feet from the hole.
90 Shooters have about a 25 percent chance of three-putting when the ball is 32 feet from the hole.
100 Shooters have about a 25 percent chance of three-putting when the ball is 26 feet from the hole.

What this means for most golfers is that unless they become better iron players from 150 yards, they will three-putt an average of 1 out of 4 times when they hit the green from that distance. So they’ll make bogey (or worse) at least 1 out of 4 times from 150 yards.

How can you fix this and start hitting the ball closer to the hole? Here are my 4 keys to hitting better iron shots from 150 yards.

1. Know the reality of how far you CARRY the ball

After playing with thousands of amateur players over the last 20 years, I’m confident that 99 percent of them do not know how far they carry the ball. In fact, they grossly over-estimate what club actually flies 150 yards for them. There is NO excuse for not knowing how far the ball carries any more, since every launch monitor on the market today will give you that number. Do yourself a favor and book some time on a launch monitor, and write down how far each of your clubs fly when you hit a solid shot. It WILL save you strokes.

2. Understand the Face-to-Path Relationship

In the past few years, we’ve learned that the ball starts mostly in the direction of the club face at impact and curves away from the path as it flies (assuming centered contact). And as you add loft, it’s generally harder to curve the ball. You can read more on the topic in the link below.

As such, you should make sure you are starting the ball in the correct direction, thus giving yourself the best chance to hit the green. There is nothing worse than swinging from the inside — as you are trying to do — but hitting the ball with a club face that’s pointed left of the target at impact, causing the ball to begin too far left. Remember the rules of how to influence your ball’s curvature and you will hit it closer to the flag.

3. Hit the Center of the Face

This one is obvious, but if you don’t hit the ball in the same location on the club face it won’t fly consistently. Make sure you work with your teaching professional in order to coordinate the pivot of the body with the arms, hands and club so you can find the center of the face. This is crucial to establishing distance control, and hitting the ball closer to the hole.

4. Understand your Conditions

Just because at sea level you carry “X” club 150 yards does not mean that you’ll always use that club from that distance. For instance, I carry my 9 iron 150 yards at about 1000 feet of altitude (where I have lived and played most of my golf for the last 10 years), but when I moved to Puerto Vallarta I had to drop down to my 8 iron because I’m at sea level. Secondly, when the wind blows, I might have to hit a 7 iron. And if I’m not hitting the ball solidly that day, I’ll need to adjust to that. Remember that sometimes you have to switch from your “normal” 150 club. Don’t be afraid to do so!

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Instruction

Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?

Published

4 days ago

Apr 24, 2024

Shawn Clement

Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic

Published

1 month ago

Mar 29, 2024

Terry Koehler

My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.

As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.

The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.

Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:

Mis-aligned hands

By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.

The position of the grip in the upper/left hand

I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.

To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.

Too much lower (right) hand on the club

It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.

Gripping too tightly

Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.

So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

Published

2 months ago

Mar 4, 2024

Shawn Clement

Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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