Subtle Changes For Golf Approach Shots (Video) - by Pete Styles
Subtle Changes For Golf Approach Shots (Video) - by Pete Styles

So, if we now picture ourselves in a position where we're playing the golf ball onto a green, we need to assess again what are we going to look at and how is that going to affect our course management decisions. The first thing I don’t think people take enough care of is actually the quality and type of the lie. They obviously look down and find the golf ball, they probably work out whether they're on the fairway, whether they're in the semi or in the real rough, but they don’t necessarily take real account of what's exactly the sort of micro lie, what's the ball sitting on, what's the ball sitting like. Particularly taking care to note what's in front of the golf ball on this side as in what will the club, maybe, encounter on the way into the ball. But also how's the ball going to exit the lie on this side. So, we can't necessarily get in there and poke things around and prop things with the golf club in case the ball moves away improve or change the lie but we can have a really good close inspection with our eye. So, let's get in there and have a really good look around at the type of lie the ball is sitting on and not just presume, well, it's in the rough so I know how it's going to be sitting because in the rough you get good and bad lies.

The next thing you can consider when you're playing in a pro-shot on to a green is exactly where we want the ball to finish on that green and it isn't just a case of aiming at the flag or aiming at the middle. When you look at a green sometimes you might see its overall size, its depth, the slope, the angle but you might not necessarily take on both the subtleties of the slopes and the breaks within the green surface. There might tears or what we sometimes called McKenzie's like a famous -- the famous greens or [indiscernible] [0:1:43] where you have the big tears and the big slopes in the green. Clearly we want to try beyond the correct level to the flag. There is no point in hitting the ball relatively close to the flag and then find there's a 10 foot swale in the middle of it. So, use your eyes to really analyze and assess the slopes and the gradients within that green and try and play the ball exactly at the right distance to get it up on to the correct level with the green. Then as we set up to the golf ball, we approach it. We've judged that correct distance. We've judged exactly where we want to be with on that green surface. We can then line ourselves up one last little look at target back down and then go ahead and commit to hitting that shot. And I think that's the key thing is really make sure you commit to striking down at the back of the golf ball and you're not too keen and eager to look up and see where you've hit it. The last thing to consider is once that ball has left the club face and is landed on the green, I want you to keep watching it. I want you to keep watching it all the way through the air as it lands and as it rolls out because there's lots of other information that your eyes can feedback to you. Maybe you hit the ball up, it went above the trees and it blew sideways and you hadn't registered the wind. But, okay, now you can register that wind for later on in the round, you can know the wind is making a big difference. You might land the ball on the middle of the green. It takes two bounces and jumps off the back of the green. Okay, you can't help the back shot but on the next hole because you've seen how that ball reacted, you can learn from that. So, all the time your eyes are feeding back this information all the time, you can then use later on in your golfing round or golfing career or life. But actually as you hit this ball you have to be looking at the right things, no point hitting it throwing the club in the back and walking off. You're not learning anything. So, all the time watching for the right information and feeding that back into your brain and using that to improve your course management decisions by making sure you're looking at the right things. 2016-04-22

So, if we now picture ourselves in a position where we're playing the golf ball onto a green, we need to assess again what are we going to look at and how is that going to affect our course management decisions. The first thing I don’t think people take enough care of is actually the quality and type of the lie. They obviously look down and find the golf ball, they probably work out whether they're on the fairway, whether they're in the semi or in the real rough, but they don’t necessarily take real account of what's exactly the sort of micro lie, what's the ball sitting on, what's the ball sitting like. Particularly taking care to note what's in front of the golf ball on this side as in what will the club, maybe, encounter on the way into the ball. But also how's the ball going to exit the lie on this side. So, we can't necessarily get in there and poke things around and prop things with the golf club in case the ball moves away improve or change the lie but we can have a really good close inspection with our eye. So, let's get in there and have a really good look around at the type of lie the ball is sitting on and not just presume, well, it's in the rough so I know how it's going to be sitting because in the rough you get good and bad lies.

The next thing you can consider when you're playing in a pro-shot on to a green is exactly where we want the ball to finish on that green and it isn't just a case of aiming at the flag or aiming at the middle. When you look at a green sometimes you might see its overall size, its depth, the slope, the angle but you might not necessarily take on both the subtleties of the slopes and the breaks within the green surface. There might tears or what we sometimes called McKenzie's like a famous — the famous greens or [indiscernible] [0:1:43] where you have the big tears and the big slopes in the green. Clearly we want to try beyond the correct level to the flag. There is no point in hitting the ball relatively close to the flag and then find there's a 10 foot swale in the middle of it. So, use your eyes to really analyze and assess the slopes and the gradients within that green and try and play the ball exactly at the right distance to get it up on to the correct level with the green. Then as we set up to the golf ball, we approach it. We've judged that correct distance. We've judged exactly where we want to be with on that green surface. We can then line ourselves up one last little look at target back down and then go ahead and commit to hitting that shot. And I think that's the key thing is really make sure you commit to striking down at the back of the golf ball and you're not too keen and eager to look up and see where you've hit it. The last thing to consider is once that ball has left the club face and is landed on the green, I want you to keep watching it. I want you to keep watching it all the way through the air as it lands and as it rolls out because there's lots of other information that your eyes can feedback to you. Maybe you hit the ball up, it went above the trees and it blew sideways and you hadn't registered the wind. But, okay, now you can register that wind for later on in the round, you can know the wind is making a big difference. You might land the ball on the middle of the green. It takes two bounces and jumps off the back of the green. Okay, you can't help the back shot but on the next hole because you've seen how that ball reacted, you can learn from that. So, all the time your eyes are feeding back this information all the time, you can then use later on in your golfing round or golfing career or life. But actually as you hit this ball you have to be looking at the right things, no point hitting it throwing the club in the back and walking off. You're not learning anything. So, all the time watching for the right information and feeding that back into your brain and using that to improve your course management decisions by making sure you're looking at the right things.