Center of the green

Strategy
#1

I think this is a concept that is simple to explain and hard for most of us to actually do.

The flag is where the hole is! That’s where my ball is supposed to go.

This season, I’ve been working on better targeting and putting the ball on the green. Unfortunately, my main weakness is putting, so ending up on the greens nets me more putts… this was highlighted by a nine hole stretch where I hit 9/9 greens and shot 2 over. Ouch.

That doesn’t mean the strategy is bad, it just means I’m a bad putter.

To me, though, I target the safest part of the green with consideration of where the flag is and where the good miss is.

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This is the second hole at my club. 160 yards from the white tees, from the water to the green is about forty feet of elevation. The bunker leads to a blind shot. The green is probably forty yards wide by 15 yards deep. Ridge in the middle that slopes down on each side.

This is a fairly extreme example, but I only aim at the middle (and take more club) when the pin is on the right. That allows me to miss left or long and be fine, and minimizes far right and short misses.

If the pin is left, I aim for the middle of the left side. Left or short is short grass.

My goal is to take the bunker out of play and keep missed on the green or in the short grass. I’d rather be left of green on a left pin then on the green but right.

I’m curious about what distances people should get more aggressive on pins and other tactics.

I’m still figuring out the balance of aiming for center… and how to adjust the strategy to work best for me.

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#2

I think “center of the green” is more of a short hand for “safest part of the green taking in to account your usual shot dispersion making the highest likelihood of the next shot being a putt” (or at least that’s what I think it should be) =)
I think where you can be “aggressive” is when your shot described above and the pin happen to be in the same area. For the average amateur golfer though, being close enough for a great birdie chance is just as much luck, so probably not worth thinking about.
Mentioned in another thread, but IMO most golfers would also be better served by playing more towards the back of the green number than the center number, regardless of pin location. Data shows regular golfers miss short much more often than they miss long. I’m in this boat even as a fairly low handicap golfer and am working on it. My current process for full swing approaches (more than 100 yards) is to look at the back of the green number, find my “price is right” club (closest to that number but not over) and commit to hitting it.
If my data starts showing me consistently missing long, I’ll reevaluate, but that’ll definitely be a ways down the line.

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#3

@Craigers Interestingly enough everyone puts a lot of pressure on themselves to make birdie on a par three. However, statistically speaking, par three’s are the most difficult holes on the course. Even the best players in the world play par three’s over par. People argue that it’s the distance of the par three’s they play. However, that’s relative, they’re the nest golfers in the world. It has to do with the design of par three’s. They make them much more difficult and they beg you to make mistakes. Going for the center of the green on any par three should be every amateurs goal. There is no reason to pin seek, especially for a protected pin. Not to mention, most of the time you pin seek, you end up in trouble and short sided. I think your strategy is perfect and shouldn’t be changed or altered.

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#4

I really like this right here! I have been trying to play to the back of the green more often, but cant always fully commit to my club. Also, as I sit here and think back, I cant remember a recent round where I did go long. The few times I do go long its from a skulled shot anyway, not from having too much club.

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#5

Thanks! It’s definitely my mentality, but not always my strategy when I’m on the course…

The thing I’m most trying to internalize is birdies are luck, pars should come from strategy, bogies should be my worst outcome and doubles and above mean I’ve made a tactical mistake.

I think one of my problems with putting was focusing on making long putts and not two putting… my focus moving forward will be leaving tap in putts from outside 6-8 feet and taking any put made from outside that distance as a lucky break.

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#6

I’ll bring up Scott Fawcett and DECADE here, as he is the man when it comes to topics like this. The bottom line is that, from 160 yards, your shot dispersion is wider than the green. So the goal is to center your shot dispersion over the green, while allowing for some extreme examples - if that huge ridge in the middle means 5-8 yards left of the green is better than on the right side of the green, then adjust your aim left when the flag is left makes sense.

Hitting greens is where it is at though. It is really the only stat that correlates to score - literally. And I understand that hitting 9/9 GIR and going +2 isn’t what you are after, but hitting 6 GIR and going +5 is worse. GIR absolutely lowers your worst score. Sometimes I get out there and make a bunch of 6-8 footers to save par, and it feels like I’m playing well. But then some don’t go in and I’m on the bogey train. Other rounds, I hit 14 greens and have a bunch of 2-putt pars…it feels boring sometimes, but it adds up to better golf.

I also like the “look at the back edge number and hit a club that can’t go long”. We rarely hit a well struck shot that goes long.

Great thread.

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#7

One of my biggest struggles in golf (and life) is that good process doesn’t lead to immediate good results… There is a certain leap of faith in the process that over time it will pay off…

Aiming at the center of the green (or the best part of the green) is a struggle for most, I think… When you flush a shot perfectly, it goes to the center of the green! and now you have a longer putt than if you had mishit it slightly.

I think we are built to reward the “what if I hit it perfectly” part of our brain, more than planning on playing the averages. We are motivated by the quick successes, and sometimes it’s hard to see the overall success build up over average.

I struggle with this, especially when I’m hitting the ball well. You want to pick the small target and go for it… It’s not a REASONABLE thing, but it’s understandable…

Honesty, switching to a GPS watch has helped me in this a huge amount… I don’t get focused on the distance TO the pin, as I have front, middle and back clearly on my watch…

I used my original example of a place where it’s GOOD to think about where the pin is, and where you want your miss to be… most of the holes on my course aren’t like that… it’s an exception of “aim for the middle” isn’t always right, but it doesn’t necessarily break the rule, it just shows what the rule is trying to value.

I’m hoping I can get some rounds in this fall and really put the center of green into play. I’ve done way to much theorycrafting recently.

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#8

As I understand it, DECADE is derived from the Strokes Gained principles that Broadie outlined in his book. Another “system” based on SG is presented in the book Lowest Score Wins, but in a more graphical form. Either way, the statistics will tell us that putting is almost always better than chipping, so we want to be putting as often as possible.

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#9

DECADE is built on the notion that middle of the green is too conservative while every flag is too aggressive. Scott has a process for picking the optimal target in any situation. It’s really solid stuff. Not gonna give away much more than that because that wouldn’t be fair. If you keep all your own stats and know your shot patterns then you can create your own version with a little effort. DECADE has all the info from years of pga tour shot link data and a ton of college golf data too. Scott used that to build the system. Highly recommended.

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#10

You may be a bad putter or you may not be…
Hitting 9/9 greens is great 20 putts is not but none of that says you are a bad putter. If your first putt is from 40 feet and you 3 putt, it’s not the putter that is the problem. This is one of the problems with “center of green” If the green is 40 yards wide, pin on left and you hit right third of green, which may be only 5 yards from your target the upcoming putt is going to fall at a distance that 3 putts are common.

Basically until you have proper data it is hard to determine strategy or what facet of your game is not working.

#11

No, it was bad putting. I was under 10 feet at least 4 times… don’t think I was ever more than 30 feet.

#12

Ok well, go practice then! :grinning:

#13

Ha, I’m on it… have made some changes. Need to do some speed drills and work on two putting more

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#14

Had 188 into a par 5 today, slightly downhill to green, slightly downwind, slight downhill
Iie. Pin was in back left in a shallow finger of the green. I probably could have got a full 8 iron there, but I felt like I would have had to swing hard. Took an “armpit to armpit” 7 iron, aimed at the middle of the green (had to catch myself from aiming at pin). Hit it solid, great flight, pulled it, but because I had aimed at middle, I hit the green and had about 25 feet for eagle. Two putted for birdie. If I had aimed at pin I would have missed the green to the left and short sided myself and the birdie would have been much harder to snag. This forum is already saving me strokes!

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#15

The “ Aim for the Middle of the Green Always” strategy is too basic for a golfer who can break 90.
Often the middle of the green is Way too close to H2O, a deep bunker, a steep drop off or OB. Aiming for the middle of the “Safe Zone” is a better thought.

#16

Yeah, I’m thinking “know your outs” might be a better overall thought process…

I should map that out for myself… long is dead on most of the holes on my home course, and few have bunkers in front… a couple have brutal false fronts…

Hmm… seems like a good review for me to do before I start playing again.

#17

Good point. I suppose the best short hand phrase I can come up with is “Aim for the center of YOUR green” with your green taking into account the areas of risk and your shot dispersion. The key point being that the pin is not your target (it may just coincidentally be in your target zone).

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#18

Yeah, I started this topic because I tried and failed to apply center of the green as a strategy…focusing on managing my misses makes a ton more sense for me.

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#19

I tell you the best thing that worked for me was to play more at my local 9-hole course that has tiny greens. Even better, at least 2 or 3 misses on most greens will be absolutely dead… or wet. :slight_smile:
Lately, when I play in a competition at a proper course, my circle of expectation on my approach shots has become a lot smaller and I am missing it a lot less in the wrong place.
I think it can be a good idea to get creative in golf so our habits don’t get in the way of proper decision making.

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#20

I have claimed to my buddies no less than 20 times that I am convinced if there were no flags at all I would probably score better because I would naturally play more conservative. Do I have any data to back this up? Absolutely not, but its a fun way to try to picture a hole going into it.

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