Pro Tip:Don’t aim at the pin

Let me take you back to one of the more interesting times in recent memory – Covid 2020. I don’t want to reminisce on the difficult times everyone went thru, rather what it did to everyone’s golf game. Due to the restrictions and the government requirements – the way that golf operated was definitely very different.

Some of the rules we had to implement were difficult, annoying and seemed odd. The changes we had to make to continue to operate were things like:

  • No shop service – only “drive thru” by the window for all service.
  • No one in the clubhouse
  • No more scorecards – miscore was introduced
  • 1 person every 2m squared
  • Only groups of 2 on the course
  • No bunker rakes

And my main point of focus of this tip – No flagsticks

We had to operate for a decent period of time with no flagsticks on the green. At first obviously it was frustrating for everyone as it was rather strange hitting the ball from along way out and not being able to see where the flagstick was. Golfs already impossible, then add in a target that you can’t see – how bad

are the scores going to be? What we found out was initially surprising, which then became no surprise whatsoever. Peoples scores were better, and handicaps were dropping.

Why? Well, the answer is pretty obvious. No flagsticks. Flagsticks are a distraction. They are helpful to have when putting, or chipping, or hitting a shot from close range. Beyond that, they are only a distraction.

Here’s some stats from a guy named Lou Stagner who collects data from amateurs and PGA TOUR pros around the world:

  • From 90metres and in, PGA tour players are more likely to hit it outside of 22 ft than inside 10ft.
  • Tiger Woods missed the green 20% of the time from 90-100 metres from the middle of the fairway.
  • Chances a 10 handicapper even hits the green from 117m par 3 – 52%.

Theres plenty of analytics that this guy has that prove that hitting the green is difficult in itself. Yet us amateurs are frustrated when we miss a green from 100 or don’t hit it to 6ft from that distance. We are cross if we miss the 14th green from the tee. Yet the stats show its incredibly difficult to even get a ball on the green for most of us from 100metres.

A big part of the issue is that we look at where the flagstick is and therefore think we should aim for it. It doesn’t matter how far out people are, we aim for the flagstick. I watch it happen every Saturday on 18.

Flags on the left side of the green, and people are regularly missing the green left. The reality is that we shouldn’t even be looking at where the flag is. Don’t even look at it. If your more than 30 metres away from the green the flagstick position is nearly irrelevant. Aim for the middle of the green. As harsh as it may sound, we just aren’t good enough to aim for them, including myself.

The sooner you can switch from aiming at the flag and just figuring out with your distance device how far it is to the smack bang middle of the green and just aiming for that, the lower your scores will go. (The proof of this is covid times). Remember that if you aim for the flag that’s tucked on the edge of a green and then miss it short side, you will have no shot and this is where the double, triple or worse come from.

Aim for the fattest biggest part of the green (the middle).

The key to lower scores isn’t more birdies or pars per round…its minimising your big numbers. Part of achieving this is smart play to middle of greens and avoiding short siding yourself because you got distracted by that flag. Middle of the green – no excuses!

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