Off the tee and on the second on par 5s, plan your shot so you can follow up with a favorite club from a comfortable distance.
If you’re going to score well, it’s not enough to simply hit the ball as far as you can. “As far as you can” often results in awkward yardage, forcing you to take a shot into the green with a club you’d rather not hit. Instead, think about your ideal shot into the green, and play a club that will get you to that yardage.
I’m in love with my 7-Wood (don’t tell Mrs. Golfblogger), so on long par 4s, I go with a club off the tee that will get me to the 7-wood range. On a par 5, I’ll play my second shot so that I get to the 100 to 120 yard range—distances I’m more comfortable with than inside 100.
Planning for these shots requires that you think backward on every hole. Start with the shot you want to take into the green, and then plan your tee shot to get you there.
This tip is an excerpt from The Five Inch Course: Thinking Your Way To Better Golf
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Using a laser rangefinder to accurately check distances (I also checked the laser finder with a surveyor’s wheel); I put together a graph chart that lists all of my clubs by name and loft. At a glance, I know the accurate distance for Full, Half, and Quarter swing for every club in my bag.
While initially time consuming, it takes all of the guess work out of the distance game and is like carrying 40 clubs instead of just 14. The confidence this has brought me has made the game much more fun, not to mention lowered scores overnight. Brand doesn’t matter as each club will still provide a consistent distance for every given player. You can do as I did and measure each club’s average for each swing or get fairly accurate numbers by only measuring your full swing for each, then multiply by .75 for your quarter swing (knee high arms with cocked wrist) and .50 for your half swing (waste high arms with cocked wrist), assuming your swing speed is the same for each. This gives you at least 3 ways to every distance.
Out of curiosity, I’ve measured three different brand wedges (and other clubs) of the same loft and bounce and gotten 3 different numbers. This is most likely due to flex as each club was the same length and loft (which is measurable). Flex however does not seem to have a standard. One company’s stiff may be more or less stiff than others etc. Still, each club maintained a repeatable individual distance, so it’s simply a matter of knowing what distances you achieve with what you have.
I highly recommend this method. By looking at your individual chart, it makes it obvious where your gaps are and allows you make an educated guess as to which club and loft will fill those gaps. By the way, since I’ve started this, I now have ditched a couple of my longer clubs to maintain the 14 club limit and now carry 5 wedges. The idea of guessing at yardages with just a pitching and sand wedge from a standard set seems silly. It is so nice to be able to make a normal full swing and see the ball drop just 25 yards away onto the green without stress or effort. After only playing regularly three seasons now, it really makes me look like I know what I’m doing. Too fun.
(I initially used GPS for measurements…I don’t recommend it. Go laser and leave nothing to chance by initially checking your laser with a wheel, or measuring tape. )
Thanks, Bill White
Thanks for the tips, Bill. I did a post about recording your distances here:
https://www.golfblogger.com/index.php/golf/comments/mental_mondays_know_your_distances/