The next time you’re practicing at the range, go through your golf bag to figure out carry distances for every club in your bag.
Imagine yourself playing a shot from the tee to a well-protected fairway, or from the fairway into a green. Most golfers will get the approximate yardage from a sprinkler head or use a golf rangefinder to get the distance to the pin or fairway bunker. Then they use this knowledge to select a golf club they believe will get them on the green or fairway.
There are many times where using this concept may work. However, it’s very important to also account for the better places on the green or fairway to aim for in order to have a better “missed” shot. This is why you need to know how far you carry the ball with every club.
Throughout the 2016 U.S. Open Championship, the announcers kept up a steady refrain. “You just can’t miss there.” “He has no chance to get up and down from there.” “He just has to advance the ball with no shot to the green.” You may be putting yourself in these same situations without realizing it.
When quality golf shots end up with a poor result
Part of what causes this frustrating situation could be your pre-shot preparation. This is very easy to self-evaluate and fix. Another part could be not knowing the true carry distance for your clubs, causing you not to account for the proper yardages.
Knowing carry distances is crucial to your overall success throughout any round of golf, whether you are accounting for a fairway bunker on your lay-up shot into a par 5, or into greenside bunkers with a tucked pin position. You can use a golf rangefinder to pick out targets, but this isn’t as accurate as it could be. A Trackman for Foresight is the best way to truly dial in your carry distances.