Tips For Tackling Blind Golf Shots (Video) - by Pete Styles
Tips For Tackling Blind Golf Shots (Video) - by Pete Styles

One of the most difficult golf shots that you might face out in the golf course is the blind shots. Nothing wrong with what’s going on here, but just a blind result, you can’t see where the ultimate target for the shot is. You can’t see the flag and you can’t see the fairway. Maybe it’s going up and over a hill or up and over the trees or even just the sand dune or a big bunker bank in the way, you can’t see where you need to be hitting the ball.

Then, the biggest thing you have to be able to do here is to just trust the information that you’ve taken on hand. Maybe you can’t visualize the information, you can’t see where you’ve got to go. But hopefully, you’ve got the yardage for your shot and hopefully you’ve got the direction for your shot. Now, if it’s a golf course you’ve never played before and you’ve got a blind shot, that can be a little bit more tricky, because you’ve just got to trust what’s over there. You can’t see on the far bank of the bunker. You can’t see over the top of trees, you’ve just got to trust the right line.

So, pick the right yardage and therefore pick the right club. Then look at where your target line is and hopefully there would be a mark, a post, or an area where you can aim towards. And visualizing you ahead, that’s going to be the target. That’s going to be where I’m hitting. Then, setup the ball, visualizing the shot as you make a couple of practice swings. The crucial part here is don’t try and sneak a peek up too early to see whether you hit it because you know you can’t see the green anyway. There are no reasons in trying to look up to see over the top of the trees earlier and then top the ball straight into the ground. Once you’ve decided on your club, your yardage and you are trusting your alignment, go ahead and make a good consistent solid swing.

Now, if you’ve got this, either that the ball is going uphill and therefore you can’t see over the top to the hill, you might also have to allow for the extra distance that the increase in the height is going to course. As a general rule for every yard that you climb, you loose a yard of distance. So, if it’s a ten-yard rise, you’re going to be ten-yard shorter when the ball comes down because the ball is falling at roughly 45 degrees and it just hits the top of the green sooner than it would do normally. So, for every ten yards that you increase in height, just take one extra club, say 30 feet in height is one club more in your assessments. Likewise I guess conversely for downhill, you would do the opposite thing, not for the blind shots, but if your dropping in height, same principle.

If you’ve got a blind shot up and over a hill, correct club selection, correct distance assessment, correct alignment, and then trust. Stay down on the ball. Make a good contact. Don’t get caught looking up too early and hopefully that will help you to hit good quality shots even when you can’t see where you’re aiming.

 2012-06-01

One of the most difficult golf shots that you might face out in the golf course is the blind shots. Nothing wrong with what’s going on here, but just a blind result, you can’t see where the ultimate target for the shot is. You can’t see the flag and you can’t see the fairway. Maybe it’s going up and over a hill or up and over the trees or even just the sand dune or a big bunker bank in the way, you can’t see where you need to be hitting the ball.

Then, the biggest thing you have to be able to do here is to just trust the information that you’ve taken on hand. Maybe you can’t visualize the information, you can’t see where you’ve got to go. But hopefully, you’ve got the yardage for your shot and hopefully you’ve got the direction for your shot. Now, if it’s a golf course you’ve never played before and you’ve got a blind shot, that can be a little bit more tricky, because you’ve just got to trust what’s over there. You can’t see on the far bank of the bunker. You can’t see over the top of trees, you’ve just got to trust the right line.

So, pick the right yardage and therefore pick the right club. Then look at where your target line is and hopefully there would be a mark, a post, or an area where you can aim towards. And visualizing you ahead, that’s going to be the target. That’s going to be where I’m hitting. Then, setup the ball, visualizing the shot as you make a couple of practice swings. The crucial part here is don’t try and sneak a peek up too early to see whether you hit it because you know you can’t see the green anyway. There are no reasons in trying to look up to see over the top of the trees earlier and then top the ball straight into the ground. Once you’ve decided on your club, your yardage and you are trusting your alignment, go ahead and make a good consistent solid swing.

Now, if you’ve got this, either that the ball is going uphill and therefore you can’t see over the top to the hill, you might also have to allow for the extra distance that the increase in the height is going to course. As a general rule for every yard that you climb, you loose a yard of distance. So, if it’s a ten-yard rise, you’re going to be ten-yard shorter when the ball comes down because the ball is falling at roughly 45 degrees and it just hits the top of the green sooner than it would do normally. So, for every ten yards that you increase in height, just take one extra club, say 30 feet in height is one club more in your assessments. Likewise I guess conversely for downhill, you would do the opposite thing, not for the blind shots, but if your dropping in height, same principle.

If you’ve got a blind shot up and over a hill, correct club selection, correct distance assessment, correct alignment, and then trust. Stay down on the ball. Make a good contact. Don’t get caught looking up too early and hopefully that will help you to hit good quality shots even when you can’t see where you’re aiming.