The system for targeting approach shots in Golf Star

The system for targeting approach shots in Golf Star - adzias

To all golf stars, thank you for your patience.  I hope that the amount of reading involved is not daunting; I attempted to be as informative as possible.  I also hope that you find that the system improves your Golf Star experience.  If there are questions, comments, or outrage, feel free to respond back through my email or via the Golf Star forums. 

To Ingrid, I’m very, very sorry that it took so long.  However, with all of the interest from others, what was originally supposed to be a couple little charts with some funny jokes thrown in just for you, developed into a large document that explains around 75% of everything I do when I shoot approach shots.  Despite how my project quickly grew and changed, I still hope it fulfills my original purpose: to help you enjoy playing the game more.     --adzias

Preface: 

Thank you for your interest in learning the fundamentals of my targeting system and many of the standard compensations I make when I make approach shots.  I designed the system as a way to help me, as a lowly beginner, compete with other players in online matches and in 1 vs. 1 match play.  I was a typical beginner with a stat total less than 300, and every other player I encountered outhit me by 10, 20, 30 yards, and,  in some cases, much more.  So, I decided that until I acquired the stat points needed to increase my driving distance, the best strategy to be competitive was to improve my approach shots.  If the pro was hitting a short iron or wedge into a green to 5 or 6 yards away, I had to figure out how to get my middle and long irons (and even fairway woods), not only on the green, but close enough to hole out in one putt.  Also, I needed to create consistent results that would carry over from one hole to the next, one course to another.  Thus, “the system” was born.

This description of the system is intended for beginning players who cannot figure out how the environmental factors that the game presents affect the flight of shots to greens.  If one uses the system, one’s average distance to the hole for putts will decrease.  However, the system alone will not make someone as good as Chapstick41, Tigerhoodz69, or any of the other elite players.  It is imperative that a player improve all skills, particularly—for the purpose of employing the system—the high shot and the backspin shot.  The charts and notations below presume the player has gained level 4 to master on these skills.  However, I also presume that the player using the system is in the beginner rank (less than 500 total stat points), which is where I was when I developed this system.  Finally, I assume that the player is using a gold or pink golf ball that favors distance, as that is the ball I primarily use.

An observant, experienced player will note that I do not include the high draw or high fade approaches into this guide.   I do not wish to imply that these are not good, useful shots to have.  There are a couple simple reasons why these two shot types are not included:  First, for the beginning player, Golf Star offers so many options and features that it can be bewildering and expensive (as many of these features require coins and stars to purchase).  The purpose of the system is both to simplify the choices that a beginning player has to make in order to play competitive golf and to help the new player make smart choices in what features to invest resources to develop.  With the backspin shot, high shot, and the plain straight shot, a beginning player has enough options to get most approaches close to the hole.  Second, I have not spent enough time practicing these shots yet.  So, this system is not a “closed” system.  If you want to add your knowledge of hitting draws and fades into greens, that information can become part of “your” system, beyond what I have discussed here.  This is also not a perfect system: feel free to change aspects based upon your experience and abilities.

For both beginners and advanced players, I do not intend for this description of the system to be interpreted as a series of hard, fast rules that cannot ever be broken.  Please read this description as a kind of “quick start guide” that offers information on how the ball will behave when you take a shot.  If you follow the guidelines, you will learn how to place the target pointer so that approach shots should land within 3-6 yards from the hole the vast majority of times.  However, there are many, many exceptions to the guidelines offered here (I will discuss a major one at the end), and a player with experience and creativity should use those attributes in conjunction with the system to make the best approach shot possible.  This guide will not suggest to you which shot type to use for any given situation, but it will describe how various environmental factors will affect ball flight for the shot type you have chosen.  Finally, this description does not cover other aspects of the short game: chips, pitches, greenside bunkers, or putting. 

The fundamentals:

All targeting  and compensations for elevation, wind, lie, and shot type are done by manipulating the pointer around the green.  The pointer represents the precise point where the ball will land in ideal conditions (no elevation, wind, lie, and shot type changes, thus an exactly straight shot with the perfect amount of power).  However, if conditions were ideal, then we would just leave the pointer on the hole.  The pointer must be moved around because the ball's flight will not be ideal as elevation, wind, lie, and shot type will influence the path of the ball.  Since the pointer represents the exact spot the ball will land, it does not inherently include whatever hops, rolls, curves, etc. that the ball will have after it lands on the ground.  You must predict how much further the ball will hop and roll after it lands and include that amount of distance in the series of compensations you make to the pointer.

When you have finished your adjustments and compensations to account for all the influencing factors, and you prepare to shoot, you will notice a red line marked on your power meter.  That red line is keyed to the distance at which you have set the targeting pointer.  Your goal is to tag power meter ON the red line ALL THE TIME.  The closer you get to the red line, the closer your ball will fly the amount of distance you want, based upon how you have set the pointer.  The system eliminates all adjustments you may want to make to the strength of your shot.  The pointer and how you have positioned it prior to the shot determines the strength that you must employ on that shot.  NEVER make adjustments with the power meter while using this targeting system as the ball will land extremely short of or far over your intended target.

As you do your compensations and move the pointer around the area, you may lose track of what you have accounted for, and what you have not, especially if you are on the clock and must hurry to finish a hole before the timer runs out.  I suggest that you have a set order in which you do your compensations, like a checklist a plane pilot consults before take off.  My order is:

            1. elevation

            2. club/shot type (in other words, the amount of hop and roll the ball will have after it lands)

            3. lie

            4. wind strength and direction

You may find that a different order is easier to remember.  The order of the compensations doesn't matter, just that you do all of the them before shooting.

When you are ready to target your shot, the pointer arrow should begin at the flag.  If you follow my order of compensations, you will move the pointer forwards or backwards to account for elevation.  When that is completed, leave the pointer on that “new” target; do not return it to the flag.  When you start to compensate for the shot type and club selected, move the pointer arrow from that “new” target forward or backward to yet another “new” target, and leave the pointer there.  From that point on the green, you will begin moving left or right to account for lie and then, eventually, wind.  When you become proficient at targeting, your pointer will seem to be flying all round the green searching for the ideal spot to aim at.

For the following list of compensations, “forward” means moving the pointer further away from the golfer, lengthening the distance of the shot.  “Back” means moving the pointer closer to the golfer, shortening the distance of the shot.  I will also refer to “dots.”  Dots are the marked spots on the green (colored red to yellow to green to blue) that you see as you target your approach shot.  I assume that those dots are separated from each other at 1 yard intervals. 

The standard compensations:

Elevation

Uphill elevation:  Take the number of feet and divide by 3.  This will convert the number of feet the game provides you into yards.  Move the pointer forward from the flag that number of dots.

Downhill elevation:  Take the number of feet and divide by 3.75.  Round that number up or down if necessary.  Move the pointer backward from the flag that number of dots.

Club selection and shot type

At this point, you should choose the type of approach you want to make (straight, high, or backspin).  The selection you make should be one that you are able to do.  You can only use the high shot with 3 iron (i) to 9i.  Only the 7i to 9i can do backspin shots.  Once you have made an appropriate selection, you will continue to move the pointer around the green to do all the other compensations.  As you move the pointer forward or backwards, the Golf Star computer will auto-select the club for that length of shot.  Allow the computer to select the club.  You may have started your targeting with a 5i and when you are finished, the computer has switched to a 6i.  That’s acceptable as the computer has chosen the club that can reach your intended target indicated by the position of the pointer.

            Straight shot

The compensation for the straight shot is to predict how much hop and forward roll the ball will take after it lands.  So, if you have already accounted for elevation, then you must pull the pointer back a certain number of yards, or dots, depending on the club the computer has selected for you.  If you don’t account for the forward roll, the ball will go racing past the hole after it lands.  Below is a listing of the usual amounts of forward roll for each club.  The number represents the amount of dots you must move the pointer back.  When adjusting the pointer forward or back you can also use the yardage indicator above the pointer instead of the dots. 

1 wood (w) -   12-14

3w -                 8-10

5w -                 6-8

3i -                  5-6

4i -                  5-6

5i -                  4-5

6i -                  4-5

7i -                  3-4

8i -                  3-4

9i -                  3-4

pw -                 2-3

aw -                 1-2

sw -                 1

            Backspin shot

The backspin shot is only available if you are close enough to approach the green with 7i-9i.  However, if you are playing a distance ball—gold or pink—while the ball will have backspin it will rarely spin and roll backward.  It will still move forward, although the hops will be lower to the ground.  Often the ball will hop sideways and roll in a circular fashion.  The significance of the backspin shot is that the ball will stick to the ground more and stay nearer to the hole.  Below is the listing of the forward roll; thus, the numbers represent the number of dots you must move the pointer back.

7i -      3-4      

8i -      3-4

9i -      2-3  (note, I often use 4 dots for the 9i to position the ball in front of the hole)

            High shot

The high shot is the most complicated to calculate of the three shot types discussed here.  You must make the compensations for the high shot in conjunction with the strength and direction of the wind.  Since the ball will fly much higher, it will be buffeted by the wind for a much longer amount of time. Since it will be landing on the green in a much steeper angle, the ball will hop and roll forward a little bit less than with a straight shot.  Functionally, the high shot is the only way to get the ball hit by the 3i-6i to behave in a similar fashion as the ball does when struck with the 7i-9i with the backspin shot.

If using the high shot for 3i-6i, you can take the compensation for forward roll listed above in the straight shot section.  However, you must then also decrease the number of dots that you pull the pointer back between 2-3.  So, if you were hitting a regular, straight 5i to the green, the standard compensation for forward roll would be 5 dots back.  If you were hitting a 5i high shot, the compensation would be only 2-3 dots back.

If using the high shot for 7i-9i, you can take the compensation for forward roll listed above in the straight shot section.   Then, you must decrease that number by 1.  So, if you were hitting a 8i straight shot, you would pull the pointer back 4 dots; if you were hitting an 8i high shot, you would only pull the pointer back 3 dots instead.

If you are hitting the high shot, you must also account for greater wind influence.  That will be covered in the wind section of this guide.

Please keep in mind that those numbers above represent the amount of forward roll the ball will take on a perfectly flat, level green.  However, almost all greens have some upward and downward slope.  You must adjust the standard number given the sloping of the green between the targeted landing area and the hole.  Move the pointer forward if the landing area is upward sloped, move the pointer back if the landing area is downward sloped.  My usual adjustment for slope is between 1-2 dots.  However, that number increases given the severity of the slopes of certain greens.  The best way to learn what the correct adjustment to make is through playing experience.  Once you have adjusted for forward roll, then make corrections to account for the slope of the landing area.

Lie

The lie concerns the area of ground where your ball sits in the fairway.  That ground is angled in two ways, and both must be accounted for when you target your approach shot.  First is upward and downward angle.  There will be a meter in the lower right of the playing screen that shows this angle of the ground.  For every degree upward, move the  pointer forward 1 dot.  For every degree downward, move the pointer back 1 dot.

The left and right lie is also given in the lower right corner of the screen.  For approach shots between 100 to 180 yards, take the number listed for sideways lie, and move the target pointer in the opposite direction the same number of dots.  Say, if the sideways lie is L4, take the pointer and move it to the right 4 dots.  For shots under 100, move the pointer around half the number.  So, if the lie is L4, move the pointer to the right 2 dots.  For shots over 180 yards, add 2-3 more dots.  If the shot is 200 or longer, you may have to add 4-5 dots.  Again, playing experience on particular holes will be necessary before you can be more precise with measuring the effect of lie.

Wind

           

Below are three sample wind directions.  In these examples, the wind is either blowing into the player or from right to left, or both at once.  The charts to the right show the number of dots forward (f) and to the right (r) that the player must move the pointer.  These numbers assume that the player is hitting a straight approach shot or a backspin shot.

Example 1                                                          

3 mph                          2 mph                          1 mph

8-9 f                            5-6 f                            2-3 f

6-7 r                            3-4 r                            1-2 r

Example 2                                                      

3 mph                          2 mph                          1 mph

5-6 f                            3-4 f                            1-2 f

7-8 r                            4-5 r                            1-2 r

Example 3

3 mph                          2 mph                          1 mph

0 f                                0 f                                0 f

                                                                       

9 r                                6 r                                3 r

For winds that are blowing in the opposite direction, move the pointer the same number of dots indicated in the charts, but in the opposite direction.  One note on technique: never move the pointer diagonally when you are targeting.  Move first either forward or back, then left or right.  Or, you can reverse the order.  I emphasize, avoid moving the pointer diagonally.

When hitting a high shot, as you measure the wind you must add extra dots.  For hitting 3i-6i, add two to three dots.  For hitting 7i-9i, add one to two dots.  Additions must be made for both forward/back and left/right directions.

One major exception

Often a green will be guarded by a large mound in front or the green will rest on a plateau (in golf terms, the green is “crowned.”).    In these situations, you must decrease the number of dots you move the pointer back to account for forward roll.  In some case, you may need to add dots of distance—moving the pointer forward.  This will make your approach shot distance longer and you may land the ball beyond the hole.  However, if additional distance isn’t added and only the standard compensations are made, the ball will likely strike the mound or the steep slope of the plateau.  These obstacles will prevent the ball from reaching the green or, at best, the ball will trickle forward getting to the front edge of the green.  If the pin is located in the middle or the back of the green, you will have to chip/flop onto the green or, at best, a difficult, lengthy putt.