The Shot In
Many golfers are fooled when judging distances because of the
size of the greens they play at different courses in the area. If
you usually play a course with large greens, small greens will look
further away than they really are. If you play at a course with
small greens, your shots may come up short because the larger
greens with which you’re unaccustomed will appear closer.
The Shot In
Many golfers are fooled when judging distances because of the size of the greens they play at different courses in the area. If you usually play a course with large greens, small greens will look further away than they really are. If you play at a course with small greens, your shots may come up short because the larger greens with which you’re unaccustomed will appear closer.
How do you know if the green is large or small? Well, large greens usually have colored flags indicating a front, middle or back pin location. Small greens, on the other hand, usually have the same color flags on every stick, regardless of pin placement. At Eagle Ridge, we provide a daily pin placement on each cart.
Small greens present a challenge in that the shot has to come down from a good height and will have little room to roll. The problem for most golfers is getting enough height with a long iron. With courses with large greens, club selection presents a problem. I have played at courses where the greens from front to back could be as much as a three club difference. On these types of courses, the best advice I can give you is take more club than you think, and if you “miss hit” it, you should be closer.
Arnold Palmer said, ” In a tournament, if I was not sure what club to hit into a green, I always took a club that would hit the back of the green into the crowd, and somehow my ball always came out of that crowd and ended up in the middle of the green.” It pays to be popular. So, on courses with large greens take more club and play for the back, even if there isn’t a crowd.
Congratulations to Jim McCarley who answered “1927” as the first year the Ryder Cup was played. He wins a 45-minute videotaped lesson. To be fair to readers of The Pinnacle South Valley on Fridays, my column is on the newspaper’s web site on Thursday morning. The address is below.
If you have any golf related questions, from rules to club fitting e-mail me at
sk*****@ea**********.com
, or if you would like to read some of my past tips, you can do so at www.pinnaclenews.com. And don’t forget, if you’re not having fun call your local PGA or LPGA instructor. We will help, that’s what we love to do.
