I was playing a casual round today with NXTWrldChamp & we were discusssing club selection on a long par 4 - I was telling him my theory for club selection & he recommended I post it on the forum in hopes that it might be helpful for some of the players on here. This is not necessarily for a PGA Tour Player, or even a + hdcp (although I know a couple who do this), that being said, here's a club selection method that will hopefully help some of you!

I see a lot of amateurs struggling with hitting greens, and many times, it's not because of their mechanics, but because of their thought process in club selection. I hear this all the time "I'm between a 6-iron & a 7-iron, I'm going to take a little off the 6" - seriously? Does anyone really think the average player can take 4 yards off their 6 iron consistently? Probably not. What usually happens is they decelerate on the way down & mis-hit the shot, or shorten their backswing & end up pulling the shot and hitting it further than anticipated. What we need to do is find your "stock shot" and learn to play it!

What is a "stock shot?" It's the simple, balanced swing you make on the range when there's not water, bunkers, or other trouble in front of you - it's the swing you practice the most, and it's not a swing you're trying to hit 10 yards further. Once we learn the distance of our stock shot we can start playing it & hit a ton more greens!

Say you hit your 7-iron 145 yards and your 6-iron 155 yards - you have a gap of 10 yards (30 feet) - in a worse case scenario the flag would be 150 yards away - right in the "split." Instead of trying to hit the 7 harder, or take a few yards off the 6, figure which "stock" swing is better & hit that club - if you hit either perfectly the longest put you would have is 15 feet! Sometimes we'll get lucky & mis-hit and even get closer! The point is, the swing you practice is the most reliable, yet on the course most players are trying to hit shots that they rarely practice (when was the last time you spent 30 minutes working on taking 4 yards off that 6-iron?). Instead, take a full swing - pick the club that has the biggest margin of error - if there's trouble short, take the longer club, if the flag is back, take the shorter - but make your stock swing - you'll be more relaxed & confident, and more times than not, you'll hit it more solid!

There's a couple things you'll need to really play your stock shot:

First, you need to learn how far you really hit your irons (tour players know how far they fly every club - including the driver!!) - if you don't know, and you don't have access to a launch monitor/trackman/etc (if you have access to one, use it), find a place where you can hit at least 10 shots that can be measured. This can be a fairly level range, but I prefer using your own balls and doing it on the course if possible. You'll probably want to block off a fair amount of time if you want to figure your entire bag, but it can be done in smaller increments (do odd's - 5,7,9, irons one day & evens another). First, start by hitting 10 shots on a fairly level area - throw out the shortest & the longest shot (and any big mis-hits) and take the average of the rest - this is the distance you hit that club on average - if you have access to a rangefinder, you can place a shaft or reflective stick where you were hitting and shoot the yardage from the balls, or shoot a landmark where the balls are landing. If you don't have a rangefinder, you might have to walk off the distance to get an accurate number. You might be able to find a local professional who can be of assistance with this as well. Or grab a golfing buddy & take an afternoon & help each other find your true yardages - it will pay off in the long run!

Once you know your distances you'll know your "splits" - how many yards between clubs - it's not always 10 yards, nor is it always equal, so knowing this is crucial! Even if you had 12 yards between clubs, you're looking at a max of 18 feet in your worst case scenario! Players with slower clubhead speeds will have less gap between the clubs, so some of you might have 8 yards between clubs.

The point is, don't worry about taking 3 or 4 yards off a club or trying to hit a club a couple yards further - hit your stock shot & give yourself the best chance of hitting a solid shot onto the green. Your swing will be more relaxed and consistent because that's the swing you've spent the most time practicing!

Give it a try the next time your on the course - commit to hitting the stock shot on every hole - pick the club that has the closest split - swing full & balanced, like you're on the range. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I'm sure there'll be some questions about this (I was interrupted a couple times while I was writing this, so my apologies), but please let me know if you have questions or thoughts!

great advice in that post. I started doing this awhile ago once I was a weekend warrior only playing once a week. this strategy helps you hit more greens and more shots close and I would much rather pure one over the green than hit some half ass chunk block into a green.

swing your normal swing and let it ride, no half swing or 3/4 BS

Great advice.

Also when you sometimes have to take a little bit off a club (right between 2 hazards f.e.), i ll just grab it a little bit shorter and hit my full swing, instead of messing with the swing.

This is an interesting thread, and something I have recently struggled with.

Looking for some input. For the past 3 years, I would say 95 percent of my shots that I hit (except driver) are fades. I feel fine hitting a draw with my driver, but every other shot I hit is almost always a fade. My swing tends to be a bit steep and I guess I just naturally play with a slightly open face. It is good in the fact that I always know where it is going. I almost never miss a shot left, my miss is an over cook, hard fade (borderline slice when it's really bad). My coach says that this is fine, says that many players on tour only work the ball one way (Calcavechia plays a fade, Kenny Perry and Z. Johnson play hooks).

Basically, when the pin is in the middle, or right side of the green, I'm fine, but when the pin is on the left, I usually just fire at the pin, and have it cut to the fat side of the green. I've played tons of great rounds where I shot 4, or 5 under par, and hit 16-17 greens, but always had fairly long birdie putts whenever the pin is tucked left.

In the past month or so, I have been messing with my swing a bit, trying to work it both ways. This has led to inconsistancy, misses wayyy wider. Even now going back to my standard soft fade hasn't been as solid as it was a few months ago.

What are you're views on this? To be a complete player, do you need that go-to draw shot to be able to get at every flag, or is it ok to be happy with the middle of the green whenever the pin is tucked left?

P.S. - another thing I thought I would mention. The other big problem I have with this cut shot, is when I have a shot with the wind left to right, and the trouble on the right. I find my self having to aim so far to the left, that sometimes it's hard to commit and I make a weird/un-confident swing. Obviously being able to hit a nice draw to hold against the wind would be easier, but something I am not confident in right now.

I believe you do NOT have to work it both ways. I know a lot of tour players who work it one way, and never try to hit it the opposite way. Consistency is a great thing, and if you have it, you're one-up on most of the field. On the whole, I'm a pretty conservative player & teacher - I'd rather have a 20-30 putt than be short-sided. The first thing I usual discuss with a player (especially a better player) is to eliminate one side of the course. I want the ball moving one way & one way only. If you're looking at a fairway that's 30 yds wide, and you're trying to hit it straight, you only have 15 yds that you can fade it, and 15 yds of draw - that's not much. If you know that it is going to move left, you can aim down the right side of the fairway - a straight shot will end up in the right side of the fairway, a draw the center, and if you over-cook it, it will be on the left side of the fairway - you've effectively doubled the size of your landing area!

Out of the 18 holes you'll play, let's say 1/3 are on the left side - that's only 6 holes that you won't have the opportunity to fire at the flag. If 1/3 are on the right side, that's 6 holes where you'll have a potential "green light" to attack the flag. Then you'll have 6 that will be fairly close to middle that you can evaluate the risk/reward.

There are a lot of tour players who work the ball both ways, but I would say that there's probably an equal amount (maybe even greater amount) that hit it only one way, and accept the fact that there's going to be a some flags that they aren't going to be able to get really close. Remember the average distance from the flag on a G.I.R. on the PGA Tour is around 35 feet - the best being 30 feet, so although we see the close shots on tv, they aren't firing at many flags. My guess would be if a tour player fired at 3-4 flags in a round, they would consider that a pretty great number, and then it would probably only be with scoring clubs (7 iron or less). Certainly, if some of the guys who have played out there read these, I'd like them to jump in as well, and correct me if I'm wrong, but my guess would be wrong on the high-end - they may only get 1 or 2 shots at a flag in a round. I know with a lot of the college/mini-tour players I work with, learning that picking a target 15-20 feet from the flag with a wedge is one of the most difficult things for them to get their head around - but many times (especially on the PGA Tour) it's the correct play. They are used to firing at the flag, and on tour, that's usually not the best play - it's better to have a level, uphill putt instead of the risk of short-siding yourself.

A good friend (and occasional student) Nicholas Thompson - (who only plays a draw - tees up on the left side of every tee, hits it hard & never tries to hit it right), got his card right out of college, lost it, then played great on the Nationwide Tour the next year & got it back. I asked him what he learned - he said "4 yards." I asked him to elaborate, and he said "every flag on the PGA Tour is 4 yards from a potential double bogey - I was trying to hit it close, and if I missed on the wrong side (left/right/short/long), it was a crushing miss - so I learned that more times than not, I needed to aim at a spot away from the hole, and take my chances with a putter."

Honestly, it sounds like you might be getting a little "greedy" with the approach shots, trying to get too close on flags that aren't great for your ball flight. I'll share another story that might give you an idea of tour player thinking - a student of mine was a senior at UGA (he is a great player & #1 am in the country, at the time), & was playing w/Phil Mickelson the week before the Tour Championship - Phil had won 3 times that year (& won the TC that next week), but hadn't won the year before. He asked Phil, what did you change? Phil explained that he looked at his stats and in 1999 (the previous year), he was +39 on the par 3's - he told Bones (his caddy) to tell him on every par 3 to make par & go to the next hole - don't try to make birdie - just hit the green & give it a chance & make par at worst. In 2000 he was -2 in par 3's and won 4 times!

If you understand what makes the ball curve, you can probably tame your slice to control it into more of a fade, but I think if you can temper your expectations, and commit to working the ball one way, you'll be better off in the long run. It sounds like you're a very good player, so course management is a huge part of your scoring. Take advantage of the holes on the right, and take your pars on the holes with the flag on the left.

Keep me posted & let me know if that helps, and if you have any questions about my reply!

you give really awesome advice in a really easy to read/understand manner. appreciate it dagolfdoc

Yeah, that last post was really awesome and I'm sure I'll be thinking a lot like that from now on. Thank you DGD!

Great advice.

Since I can't stand in balance, I guess I have no stock shot

that is a really great post indeed. dgd has the highest quality:quantity ratio of any poster forum-wide imo.

Thanks alot for making this thread, awesome advice.

You throw in some great mental notes to think about...it is amazing how much differently you can score if you really play to your strengths, and eliminate the mistakes by playing away from trouble and taking your lumps.

The toughest part is applying this throughout an entire round...or even more so, each round for an entire season. I imagine this is why course management is such a vital part of being a single digit +.

Ive started incorporating a low punch 4 iron that will get me greenside right around 195-205, instead of trying to hit a perfect iron...since my short game is my absolute strength, I figured this will lead to a little increase in bogeys, but a huge decrease in anything more than bogey. Im hoping this can shave a stroke or so a round, as I am right around a 12 and can make birdies, but also have been making some big numbers lately due to lost balls.

My stock shot is a 50 yard shank sometimes, I wish I could incorporate it into my strategy

Aim left

Great Post! Thanks, sort of confirmed my decision, I just need more commitment with these swings, when into the wind, pin is tucked left, etc.

Amen to that! Hit that stock shot & watch the scores go down!

Thank you so much! I hope it's helping! I really appreciate the compliment!