Monterey Bay Golf Academy

Distance. Distance off the tee. Distance with your five iron. Distance with your pitching wedge! Golfers fasination with distance has been plaguing scorecards and wasting practice sessions for far too long. I fully understand that length is important and a big part of the game and without it we’re basically still in the parking lot. However, The DISTANCE we should enamor ourselves with is 100 yards and in. By the way, this is coming from a guy who is not long by any means. I am a club pro who averages 240 off the tee and carries a 7 wood! So I do not feel hypercritical pointing out more important areas to place our attention rather than with the driver, metal woods and long irons.
Let’s dissect an average golfer’s (22 handicap) round and identify how many times we are using the “distance” clubs (driver, fairway metal, hybrids and long irons) and how many times we are using the “scoring” clubs (short irons, wedges, and putter). I want to examine this in order to identify which clubs and shots we should be working on. Let’s use highway 68’s Laguna Seca as our venue. The par 71 (par 72 for the red tee markers) Laguna Seca has nine par 4’s, five par 3’s and four par 5’s totaling 5,683 from the white tee’s and 6,007 yards from the blue tee markers. Not too long of a course on paper, but a true test of accuracy, short game skills and course management.
Lets say our average golfer uses his or her driver on all the par 4’s and 5’s. That gives the golfers 13 opportunities to hit the long ball off the tee. Then, let’s say after the tee shot they are going to hit a distance club for their second shot. So another 13 times? Let’s be fair and take those 26 swings and round them up to 30 and then add another 5 for potential par 3’s, flubbed shots and those extra long par 5’s. And no, the driver you punched out from under the trees does not count, that’s more of a “recovery” shot. So if par is 71 and the average golfer is a 22 handicap (scoring 93) those 35 shots with the distance clubs only encompasses 38 % of their scorecard. The other 62 % is spent from mid to short iron distance and in. This is the distance we should inquire about in lessons and spend the majority of our practice time working on.
Since we now understand we are only going to use our driver on about 13 of the holes and our 8 iron through putter on EVERY hole, let’s get serious on what and how we should practice. First off, if I catch you warming up your practice session or round with the big stick… your busted! Your practice sessions should begin with some chipping or pitching and remain about 70% short game and 30 % long. I would recommend chipping with a 9 iron around the apron of the green to get a sensation of impact and distance control. Chip about 10 balls to one cup then work your way around the green a few times. Switch to a pitching, gap or sand wedge and move away from the green segueing into medium pitch shots. Again, pitch about 10 balls rotating in between a few of the cups varying your distance, depending on club selection and distance away. We want to rehearse the shots you see on the golf course, so if your struggling with the bump and run or the high pitch to a tight pin on the course, simulate these situation on the practice field.
Now that your warmed up, lets head over and make some full swings with our short irons to a target 75 - 100 yards away. Here, we are simulating your “make or break” shot of the hole, or your 3rd shot into a par 4. This is the shot you need to own! From this distance we want to find any part of the green, giving ourselves a chance at a one putt par and no worse than a two putt bogey. This takes double bogey out of play. I see a lot of my students come up short on this shot. This usually stems from not taking enough club. Listen, it’s okay if you need to hit an 8 iron or more here. Nothing amuses me more than a high handicapper trying to hit their wedge this far. Take the ego out of it by hitting the lower lofted short iron, making your putt and move on to the next tee box. While practicing this shot on the range, see how many out of 5 balls you can get on the green. Repeat this, varying your club selection until your find the right combination and the confidence to bring it to the course.
Lets get to the club you hit the shortest distance, but is the most important in your bag, your putter. Besides your golf ball, this is the one piece of equipment you use on every hole and unfortunately gets the least amount of practice. I am not too concerned with one putting, but am an advocate of the two putt. As I eluded to earlier, if you hit the green with your third shot on a par four and two putt, you walk out of there with a bogey. Not a bad score for hitting it in the trees off the tee and having to punch out for your second. The drill that builds confidence for me is to putt 3 balls from just outside of your average distance away from the cup. Next, go to your longest missed putt, gather the other two balls and putt all three from there. This is a fantastic way to simulate two putting. I like to play 9 holes in this fashion. After this I want you to practice 3 footers. To sharpen your skills on the short putt, play 3 balls from about 3 feet on all sides of the cup. You must make three 3 foot putts in a row before you can move on to the next direction. This “round the world” drill is challenging and brings much needed confidence for those on course knee knockers.
We have now exercised the most important distance’s and club selections in golf. I realize it is fun and important to hit the ball far and I am not saying to just forget about your distance clubs. Your metal woods, hybrids and long irons do need attention, just a smaller amount than the clubs you utilize often. Try to work out the distance clubs towards the end of your practive session after your brain and muscles have had a chance to warm up. And remember: book end your practice and warm up sessions with short game.