Bingo! This is a great way of putting it. For me, though, it’s coming to realize that the right club is the one that centers my distribution pattern over my target, rather than the one in which the furthest 25% of my shots reach the target and everything else comes up short.
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Echoing what others said but I prefer to know my true typical yardage and then play to the middle of the green. I used to chronically miss short until I figured out what my actual typical yardage is. IMO you feel much more in control playing the proper club than always playing the extra club.
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One more thought here that occurred to me last night: this is another example of the challenges of coaching very good players vs. very ordinary players.
Arccos’s data not only tell you the “typical” distance for each of your clubs, but also the “Smart Range” for each club. My data here is ugly. For wedges, the Smart Range is around 10 yards for each club. As I move up my bag, that range expands to 15-20 yards.
That’s a huge range.
Someone in the low single digits would have a much narrower range than I do. Telling that guy, then, to center his dispersion circle over his target makes a lot of sense. For him, the difference between “I didn’t quite catch that one” and “I really hit that well” isn’t enormous; if he hits a good one, he’s not going to be 10 yards over his target.
But for ordinary hackers, because our dispersion circles (here, emphasizing long/short dispersion) are much bigger, the “risk” of taking too much club is bigger as well.
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Thank you so much for typing out your reasoning and explaining why it’s difficult psychologically to club up on most holes. I have an identical issue!
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This is fair. There are a lot of people who just aren’t comfortable with anything other than a stock swing. Gearing down and gearing up are skills learned through time and practice and are definitely useful in many situations. I guess I should say when I mentioned earlier about clubbing up, I wasn’t saying I do it on every approach shot. Primarily only when I’m in between yardages or there elements to take into account. Those “I CAN hit 8 iron that far, but I don’t need to” shots.
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I’m one who really tries to minimize gearing up or down. I have a better chance of hitting a solid acceptable shot with my stock swing than I do with a “non-standard” swing.If I have 145 yards, and my 8-iron goes 150, I’ll happily hit a normal full 8. If that means I hit my stock shot the stock distance, and I’m 15 feet past the hole, I’m cool with that. I’m more likely have wider dispersion, both in length and in direction, with a non-standard swing.
This might seem to contradict the “get it closer” philosophy, won’t I have a wider dispersion with the shorter “non-standard” swing? Percentage-wise, probably. Say my dispersion is 10% from 100 yards (making up these numbers), that gives me 10 yards, 30 feet. Say my dispersion is 15% from 50 yards, that’s 7.5 yards. So worse dispersion on a percentage basis, but closer in actual distance.
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Great quote, love that one, and was gonna reply with it myself.
MPR - I’ll also add (and I’m not being critical, just observing…) that if I was your caddy for a day, and it’s was my first time carrying for you … and before the round you’d handed me a copy of that club / distance chart … and we were standing over that 150 yd shot you described at top … I would have - in good conscience and being diligent - handed you the 7 (unless, for example, the shot was uphill or downhill, into or withs strong wind, etc.).
Another saying I like to remind myself of when out on the course - ‘use the right tool for the job at hand’
This is a hard one for me. This being the first year that i am actually playing more, i am still trying to get my distances down. I just purchased the prgr launch monitor so now i need to get to the range to start using it. But i do find myself coming up short to the greens. Sometimes it is because i dont take the club longer, or i do and dont hit it solid. But sometimes i find myself taking the longer club and find myself at the last minute thinking i am going to hit it over the green so i let up a little on it. And yep, short again. But i just found a par 3 course not far from me, so beginning this weekend i will still be playing with my regular group on sunday at the course but for now on saturdays, i am going to head over and play 36 on the par 3. Begin to work on my short game more. Either way, i love the game and i know i will get better as i play more.
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The key is always trusting the shot, regardless of the club in your hand, and accepting the result. Uncommitted swings are pretty much always going to have a worse result that committed ones, even if you didn’t choose the right club. I know that’s easy to say and hard to do, but you’ll get there!
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I “know” that but the more I play, the more I’m learning to internalize that important bit of golfing knowledge!
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right club is the one that centers my distribution pattern over my target
^ is the key
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Is there any study that looks at ~18 handicap golfers and whether clubbing up helps them create better contact? Premise would be: More relaxed swing because “I have plenty of club.”
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I don’t know any, but I am relatively new to the game still. I think it would be an interesting study and I think your point would probably be validated. It seems to make perfect sense.
So i went to that par 3 course this past weekend. I know there are executive courses where you might have holes around 140 or 150 or so. But this was strictly a small par 3 course to work on the wedges. I think the longest hole might have been 75 yards. Only used my 60 degree and my A wedge. It felt really good working on these two clubs. I will definitely be going again. The best shot i had of the day was from 72 yards and it came about 3 inches from the cup. And it really gave me more confidence to use the clubs the next day at my regular sunday match with our groups. As a matter of fact, for the first time, i took 3 greenies on sunday. Just curious if anyone else uses par 3 courses like this.
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I’d love to have a course like this near me - excellent practice!
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Use to have one right by my house. Even had lights for night golf. But it closed down last year 
Yea this place is great. They have the par 3, they have lights, they have a huge driving range and for the kids they have the miniature golf. So it is definitely a place i am going to get more familiar with. Play 2 rounds and then go hit a large bucket at the range, all for under 27 bucks.
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Yes! There are two good Par 3s not too far from me that are in between executive and pitch & putt styles … great for wedge and short iron practice!
Then there’s another 18 hole Par 3 a little further drive that’s just wedges - 60 to 100 yards - with a good variety of holes / shots. Love that place early in the season for wedge tune-up / target practice … plus to compare with how I’ve done there previously.
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I always take the yardage to the back edge regardless of the pin position and try and hit that. I rarely do, but my miss is closer. And if I do happen to flush one, well, its on the back edge.
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that’s why I love that strategy for most golfers!