The Biggest Strategy Myths In Golf You Need To Know!

Joel Tadman dispells the biggest myths in the game when it comes to strategy, including common approaches like laying up to your favorite yardage or hitting a 3-wood for safety on tighter holes instead of the driver. With the help of data from Shot Scope, hopefully this video will give you a better idea as to the best way to tackle your golf course next time out!

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► Chapters:
Introduction 0:00-0:34
3-wood is straighter than driver 0:34
Low handicaps hit every fairway 2:23
Par 3s are a scoring opportunity 3:49
Laying up to a favorite yardage 6:18
You should stiff it close from 100 yards 7:51
You should hole every putt from 10 feet 10:10

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Now, in golf, I think there are an awful lot of misconceptions out there when it comes to optimum strategy and club selection. So, in this video, with the help of data from Shot Scope, I’m going to help dispel some of the biggest myths in the game to help you make better decisions on the golf course. And it starts right here on the T- box. [Music] Should we get started? Now, myth number one, and I think probably the biggest myth among club golfers, is that you are going to be more accurate off the tea with a 3-wood than you are a driver. Now, you get to a tight hole like this one here, the 13th at Peter Milson Golf Club. Instinctively, a lot of golfers will reach for their 3-wood over a driver because they think it gives them a little bit more control over accuracy. And the the theory does sort of make sense. 3-wood, it’s got a little bit more loft. It’s a slightly shorter shaft. It should in theory give you a little bit more control. But if you look at the shotscape data, which I’ll flash up on the screen now, you can see that there really is no difference in terms of fairways hit with a driver versus a 3-wood, we’re talking around 1 to 2% on average. So pretty negligible really. And and obviously this is very much player dependent. Some golfers who are terrible drivers might find more success with a 3-wood, but as an average, generally speaking, there isn’t a lot of difference between a driver and a 3-wood. And the big reason why golfers actually should probably favor a driver over a 3-wood, even on tight holes, is because obviously with a 3-wood, you’re going to be not as far down the hole as you would be with a driver. And that’s going to have a knock-on effect on your scoring. So on average, to flash up the stats, you can see here that golfers are around about 20 yards shorter off the tea with a 3-wood than they are a driver. And when you factor in that actually you’re probably going to be as much in the rough as you are the fairway with either club, you’re far better off being down the hole further down the hole with a driver than you are a 3-wood. So on tight holes, generally speaking, unless you’re a terrible driver, put the 3-wood to one side, go with the driver, and you’ll be further down the hole and you probably not going to be any more weward than you would be with a 3-wood. And if you smoke it down the middle like that, you got nothing to worry about. Now, the next myth is that better players hit every fairway or a considerably higher number of fairways per round than an average golfer. But if you look at the shot scope data, it is enlightening in that actually there’s not much difference in the number of fairways hit between a scratch golfer and even a 25 handicapper. We’re only talking 4% more fairways per round. Even if you compare it with PJ Tour golfers, the average last year was 61% of fairways found. So actually basically any ability of golfer, even better players, low handicappers are not actually hitting that many more fairways. It might seem like they are during when you’re playing with them, but in reality there’s not much difference between a low handicapper and a high handicapper. But the real big difference, and we’ve already touched on this earlier in the video, is comes down to distance off the tea. And where scratch golfers have the biggest advantage over say a 25 handicapper is the distance off the tea. So while they’re not finding that minimal fairways, they are 80 yards longer on average than a 25 handicapper. That is where the big advantage comes. So the takeaway is don’t get worried about missing fairways. Every ability of golfer misses fairways. Your priority really should be increasing your driving distance rather than your accuracy. That’s going to have a bigger impact on your scoring. So, let it rip. And if you miss the fairway, don’t worry about it because even the best players in the world miss fairways. Now, the next myth is that par threes like we have here are a genuinely good birdie opportunity. And the theory sort of makes sense. You only have to hit one good shot off the tea to give yourself a good look at a birdie versus a longer hole like a par four or five par five where you have to hit at least two shots to give yourself a good look at birdie. But in reality the stats show you get paid out for a birdie two for a reason. They are much harder to come by than you might think. And actually even if you’re making a par on a par three, you’re actually gaining on your competitive set. And if you’re a 10 handicapper who averages between 3.9 and 4.2 two on a par three. If you’re making a par, you’re gaining a pretty much a shot on your competitive set. And if you make a two, you make you’re gaining two shots. So clearly par threes are more difficult than you think. And par is absolutely a good score. Now obviously it depends on the difficulty of the hole, how long it is. This is a relatively short par three, I think. I’m going to laser it in a second, but um generally speaking, you need to just focus on hitting the green on a par three. That is a good result. That’s going to give you the best chance of making a par. You don’t need to necessarily go attacking tight flags. And there’s a couple of things I like to do on a par three. Obviously, we need to get the appropriate distance. So, I’ve got my Shock Scope Pro L5 rangefinder here. It’s telling me 123 yards to the green. That was especially quick. Um, first thing I like to do is make sure I’m hitting a club that’s going to take the hazards out of play. We know on most par 3es, most holes on the golf course, hazards tend to be short of the green. This is a classic example here. You got a bunker just short left of the green. Need to make sure we get over that. And also be really specific with your aim. So I know this is a pitching wedge. It’s a perfect pitching wedge for me. Slightly into the wind, but just be really specific with where you’re aiming. Don’t just aim at the middle of the green. Aim at a very specific point in the distance. So there’s a tree right behind the flag there, which is on the the side I’d like to miss. So I’m going to just air on the side of caution. Aim at the fat part of the green, but be really specific with where I’m aiming my club. get the club base aligned at that and really focused on hitting that. That’s going to increase my margin of error on par threes. Hopefully give me a better chance of hitting the green, make a par, and gain on the field. That’s got to go. There you go. Pretty happy with that one on the green. On the safe side. I’d do very well to not make a path from there. Fingers crossed. Now, the next myth relates to laying up to a preferred yardage. Often, we get to a par five like we have here. You’ve got, say, 250 yards to the green. If you absolutely hit your Sunday best with a 3-wood, you might be able to get there or pretty close to the green. And therefore, you might think, well, actually, I’m better off laying back to my preferred yardage, say 100 yards, splitting it down into two shots, 150 yards from here, and then 100 yards onto the green. Actually, if you look at the data from Shot Scope, it is clear that you are far better off getting as close to the green as possible because the closer you are to the green, the lower your shots to finish becomes. And if you look at the data, we’ll take a 20 handicapper for example, you can see they’re actually a full stroke worse off playing from 60 yards than they are from 20 yards. This data is for all lie types, by the way, as well. So, even if there’s lots of bunkers down there, that doesn’t really matter. You still need to get as close to the green as possible. And a scratch golfer is actually half a shot worse off from 60 yards than they are 20 yards. So while you might think laying back to preferred yardage is a safer play, if you want to score better, you’re far better off going as close to the green as possible, which is what I’m going to do here. 250 yards out on this hole. Going to hit a 3-wood. Get as close to the green as possible. It’s right at it. Oh, I like the look of that one. Very nice. So there you go. If you’re in that sort of in between distance, you’re not sure whether to go for it, the data suggests you absolutely should have a crack at the green. Okay. So you can see where my uh shot with the 3-wood on this path I’ve finished just now going for the green rather than laying up to my favorite yardage. And this sort of leads into the next myth, which is if I had laid up to my favorite yardage, which for most golfers is 100 yards. The myth being you expect to stiff it from this distance, but actually the data tells us that you’re probably more likely that most golfers anyway are more likely to miss the green from 100 yards than they are find the green, let alone stiffing it close. I’ll flash up on the screen now. You can see 10 handicapper is a bit of a coin toss in terms of whether they hit the green or not from 100 yards are actually slightly less likely to hit the green. And a 15 handicapper, an average golfer is only going to hit the green four out of 10 times from 100 yards. So clearly if you’re expecting to knock it close from 100 yards every time that’s only going to lead to frustration but data tells us just fine in the green you could be gaining on your competitive set especially if you’re a mid to high handicapper. So there’s a couple of things you should absolutely do when you’ve got a 100 yard shot is really focus on where you’re aiming and for a lot of the time aiming at the fat part of the green will increase your chances of finding the green. One thing I like to do is not get casual with my aim from 100 yards and don’t just assume you can hit it straight at the pin. Be really specific with uh how I’m aligning my club face. So, what I like to do is I like to get behind the ball here and just aim the club an intermediate target. So, I’m just putting my club up here and on the line of the shaft. I can see there’s a little bit of um cut grass here, which is exactly where I want my ball to start. It’s just right at the p the pin here. The flag’s tucked quite tight on the left hand side. So, I want to be favoring just that right hand side. So, I’m going to really be really specific with my club face aim. Aiming at that little intermediate target there, that little bit of cut grass. And it’d be interesting to see if I get it inside where I hit it with my 3-wood earlier. But let’s see. So, going to be really specific with my aim and just focus on hitting the ball over that intermediate target. needs to go a little bit. Not too bad. So, there you go. If you’re actually finding the green from 100 yards like I’ve just done there, you’re going to be gaining in your competitive set. So, don’t go chasing tight flags. We’re expecting to stiff it from 100 yards. Now, how do you feel when you miss a 10-ft putt like I’ve just done there? You probably feel a bit frustrated, a bit annoyed. you felt like you could and probably should be holding it from this distance. But actually, that’s one of the biggest myths in golf is that you should be hauling more than you miss from 10T. Actually, if you look at the data, you can see most golfers are far more likely to miss from this distance than they are to hole out. And a five handicapper, you’re talking only hauling one in three attempts from 10 foot. 10 handicapper, one in four. So clearly, you really need to adjust your expectations when putting from 10 ft. Obviously, you’d love to make here, but actually, if you’re missing and two putting from 10 foot, that is absolutely no disaster. And if you’re holding it, you’re going to be gaining on your competitive set. Now, when it comes to trying to hole out more from 10 foot to really help yourself gaining on your competitive set, there’s a couple of things I like to try. Obviously, you’re definitely focusing more on the line than you are the pace. So, getting the right line is really important. Um, and there’s a couple of drills I like to try. The first is, um, using an elevated string line. That’s a really good drill. So just having the putter underneath the string and just making sure that the the face is aligned and you’re returning it to square every time. But another drill that I think is worth you trying is the push drill. So that really helps you get some feedback on exactly how square your putter face is at impact. So just from this sort of distance, just get the putter right behind the ball and just push it towards the target. That’s going to give you immediate feedback on whether your putter face is pointing open or closed. You see there was a little bit open so you can sort of get the ball back and give it another try and hopefully you’ll get a feeling for what square actually feels like at the point of impact. So pushing it through that was a lot better. The slope moved it to the right. So try that push drill. Really focus on getting the correct line from inside 10 foot. You hopefully hold a few more putts but if you do two putt it’s not the end of the world. So there you have it. We have officially dispelled the six biggest myths in golf with the help of data from Shot Scope. Hopefully you enjoyed the video. Do click the like button if you enjoyed it and found some of these insights useful. And if you’re interested in starting your own journey with Shot Scope, do check out their website for some of their gamechanging distance region devices and game tracking technology. But that’s all from me here at Peter and Milton Golf Club. We’ll see you next time. [Music]