What can I do to improve my GIRs?

[pappaf2]

How are you measuring distance to gain? GPS, phone, laser? (Or just guessing?) When I got a laser last year, it was a revelation for truly knowing my iron distances.

On the range, do you use alignment rods? Just setting one parallel to your target line helps getting your toe line, hips, and shoulders all in alignment. Also sometimes where you think you’re aiming isn’t really where you’re aligned.

 

Just guessing based off experience (golfed on and off for about 10 years, mostly off until this year), don't have a laser. I'd love one, but again - money is a pain.

 

No, but I really should. I have an shaft that used to belong to my 7 iron that I keep in the bag and try to use as an alignment tool sometimes, but I just can't get comfortable with it. I know that means my setup is probably very weird, but I can't tell what specifically is wrong and trying to line my feet up to the shaft just feels so uncomfortable.

 

You have a smart phone I assume? You can download golf logix (or some other golf gps app) for relatively inexpensive ($20-$30). That will at least give you some kind of distance gauge to the green. Once you play with that for a while you will get a better idea of how far each of your clubs are going. That alone should help at least a little in hitting more GIR.

[vance astro]

How are you measuring distance to gain? GPS, phone, laser? (Or just guessing?) When I got a laser last year, it was a revelation for truly knowing my iron distances.

On the range, do you use alignment rods? Just setting one parallel to your target line helps getting your toe line, hips, and shoulders all in alignment. Also sometimes where you think you’re aiming isn’t really where you’re aligned.

 

Just guessing based off experience (golfed on and off for about 10 years, mostly off until this year), don't have a laser. I'd love one, but again - money is a pain.

 

No, but I really should. I have an shaft that used to belong to my 7 iron that I keep in the bag and try to use as an alignment tool sometimes, but I just can't get comfortable with it. I know that means my setup is probably very weird, but I can't tell what specifically is wrong and trying to line my feet up to the shaft just feels so uncomfortable.

 

You have a smart phone I assume? You can download golf logix (or some other golf gps app) for relatively inexpensive ($20-$30). That will at least give you some kind of distance gauge to the green. Once you play with that for a while you will get a better idea of how far each of your clubs are going. That alone should help at least a little in hitting more GIR.

 

Found a free one that looks good (18Birdies), I'll give it a shot when I go out this evening.

[Solidstrike]

Play to the middle of every green. Sounds too simple but it is very effective.

 

Other than just getting more consistent with your swing, the range isn’t going to help you that much with distance control unless you are at a really nice range with nice range balls.

[MadGolfer76]

I think you need zero GIR to break 90.

 

I highly doubt you can break 90 w/o any GIR.

 

I once missed 17 greens and shot 73...so...

 

I don't how that's possible unless your chipping and putting was on.

 

Some stats on score to gir.

 

SCORE GIR

 

71 12

75 10

79 8

81 7

85 5

89 3

 

It was.

[hybrid25]

Aside from just playing more, what can I do on the range to give myself a better chance to hit the greens once I'm in the fairway (or teeing off on par 3s)?

I think making smart approach shots will help out. As one person alluded to in a previous post, aim for the middle of the green, not at a pin tucked in a corner somewhere. Also, loft on a club is a higher handicap's enemy often times. I am a higher handicap golfer and whenever I can get away with it I will punch the ball into the green, with  a lower lofted Club , and let it roll onto the green or just hit the front of the green and let it roll up to the pin. What I consider success on my approach shots is just being on the green, and having a chance to 2 putt.

[Double Dutch]

There are two ways to improve your GIR. One is hard: improve your swing.

The other oneis easy: get a better understanding of your distances. In your last round you hit 18 approach shots. How many of those were short of the pin and how many were too long? My guess is you hit more approach shots too short than too long, that’s the case for 99% of all amateurs. Use a longer club, or even two longer clubs with what feels like a shorter backswing, and watch your GIR go up.

[vance astro]

There are two ways to improve your GIR. One is hard: improve your swing.

The other oneis easy: get a better understanding of your distances. In your last round you hit 18 approach shots. How many of those were short of the pin and how many were too long? My guess is you hit more approach shots too short than too long, that's the case for 99% of all amateurs. Use a longer club, or even two longer clubs with what feels like a shorter backswing, and watch your GIR go up.

 

My swings into greens (so par 3s and approach shots), probably 2/3 came up short, most of the rest had the right distance but went off line, and maybe 2 or 3 were long. However, a lot of the ones that had the right distance probably would've gone long - my shots don't stop on the green whatsoever, so if it hits the green it's liable to bounce over to the back.

[vance astro]

Well, it happened - I was 0 for 18 on GIRs today.

 

Technically, I hit one. However, I pulled my wedge approach shot left and it bounced off a ridge onto the green, so I don't really count that. Shot a 95, 43-52 - could've broken 90 if I hadn't been 10 over through the first 4 holes of the back 9. I was getting up and down much more on the front nine, though, so that's something at least.

[bigeasygator]

Here’s what I’d recommend:

 

- get something like Arccos for your clubs. Really learn how far you’re hitting each iron, what kind of deviation you’re seeing, andwhere your misses are.

 

- shorten your backswing. Have a 3/4 takeaway at most for all your irons to help with your control. Sounds like distance isn’t an issue and you likely won’t lose much with that approach.

 

- though this isn’t necessarily in the “how to hit more GIRs” advice column, it sounds like you’re aiming for the center of the green. I’d suggest aiming for the side of the green that keeps you away from danger. Learn to avoid bunkers, water, the short side of the green, etc. Aim away from things more so than you aim at flags (or even the center of the green).

 

- if you’re really serious, pay someone to give you a lesson.

[vance astro]

Again, I'd love to have access to a launch monitor and lessons, but the only way I'm even golfing right now is buying the eight dollar codes for $50 off teeoff.com deals and playing twilight rounds. Distance is more my issue than accuracy. I didn't track where I missed the green today, but it was more distance based. I can't get any bite on my irons or wedges, so a lot of shots hit the green and roll off, and my distances for pitch shot under 100 yards are improving, but still imprecise.

[Justsomeguy]

Iron play. Specifically anything under 150.

Driver, if the setup suits you (shaft, lift, bias, etc), is something you can get respectable without a lot of variation. Setup the same every time in a tee box w a tee. Don't overswing. Hit the fairway.

Your irons from 150 and in need to hit the green as much as possible.

If you're respectably off, then you use your short game, no biggie. And nobody expects to reliably hit greens from 200. So practice the 6i on down and make it work.

But the driver is a fixed something you can figure out through reps. The irons vary much more in lie, setup, length, etc. That's the hard part.

[OakLawnGolfPro]

How many greens you want to hit? If you’re trying to break 90, and you’re 2 putting, you only need to hit 1. Otherwise you’re chipping and inside 100 game are suspect.

[vance astro]

How many greens you want to hit? If you’re trying to break 90, and you’re 2 putting, you only need to hit 1. Otherwise you’re chipping and inside 100 game are suspect.

 

My goal is 4-5 right now. Depending on the course I have a lot of full wedge shots in, which I should be able to hit more than never, and not hitting a single par 3 is pretty bad. Actually I hit one par 3, but it was on the fringe 25 feet from the hole and I 3 putted so eh.

[pappaf2]

How many greens are you hitting only to have the ball roll off because it doesn't "bite"?

[vance astro]

How many greens are you hitting only to have the ball roll off because it doesn't "bite"?

 

Hmm... Maybe 3-4, today? Not a majority of my approaches, but most of the time when I hit a shot on line and it lands on the green, it'll roll off the back.

 

*When I hit anything PW or longer, I mean.

 

[jbrunk]

Did you use the 18birdies app? Learn anything useful about your distances?

[pappaf2]

How many greens are you hitting only to have the ball roll off because it doesn't "bite"?

 

Hmm... Maybe 3-4, today? Not a majority of my approaches, but most of the time when I hit a shot on line and it lands on the green, it'll roll off the back.

 

*When I hit anything PW or longer, I mean.

 

Seems like unless the greens are as hard as rock you aren't hitting the ball very solidly. Even a cheap 2 piece ball should have more than enough spin to stop if struck solidly.

[wmblake2000]

Inconsistency is the amateur’s biggest symptom. My experience is as my swing improves, there are fewer moving parts,less independent motion. The whole thing hangs together.

 

For this to happen, I had to identify solid principles that I could commit to. I started to detail them but it doesn’t seem worth the effort. But I found 4-5 key principles (thx Monte!) that I committed to doing well and it took a while but now I do them reasonably well. The result is obvious.

 

I don’t think there were any magic tricks that would have worked for me. I had to rebuild a much more solid swing. But the result is a total leap in consistency.

 

I don’t think most people want to hear my story about improving because it wasn’t easy at all. It took time, patience, perseverance, great teaching and intelligent learning. But it worked for me.

[RobertBaron]

making a relatively consistent swing with your irons should be step 1.

 

Then get a better idea of your distances.

 

Work on aim and alignment. Alignment rods are handy for this. Aiming-wise, stand behind your ball draw a line from your ball to your target. Then find a spot (a leaf, divot, dead grass, etc) along that line a few inches in front of your ball. Line up to that spot.

 

Learn your miss. If you’re a natural drawer, aim a little right of your target (obvi, under normal calm conditions).

 

Hit more fairways and hit them longer so you have less club for your approach. 9/13 is actually pretty good statistically, but if 6 of them were short pop ups or the like leaving you with a long iron approach, then it’ll be difficult to hit the green in regulation.

 

And least but not least, since you’re still shooting in the 90s... club up! Instead of 8 use a 7. Instead of a 5 use a 4. If you catch it a little fat, you still might hit the green. Same if thin. Chances are you’ll overestimate your club distances anyway and most ams leave their approach short rather than long. So club up!

[Double Dutch]

Club up!

You say 2/3 came up short, so that’s 12 holes were you didn’t even have a chance to hit the green if direction was perfect. Take more club! Most greens are around 30 yards from front to back so there is plenty of room to hit long and still be putting your next shot. The only risk you’ll run is that you have to chip a couple of shots from behind of the green, but that’s better than having 12 chips from in front of the green.

 

I’ve been taking one or even to clubs extra this spring on almost every approach shots and I’ve overshot maybe 3 greens in 15 rounds.

[vance astro]

How many greens are you hitting only to have the ball roll off because it doesn't "bite"?

 

Hmm... Maybe 3-4, today? Not a majority of my approaches, but most of the time when I hit a shot on line and it lands on the green, it'll roll off the back.

 

*When I hit anything PW or longer, I mean.

 

Seems like unless the greens are as hard as rock you aren't hitting the ball very solidly. Even a cheap 2 piece ball should have more than enough spin to stop if struck solidly.

 

Soft a** greens today. Even shots with my 54 degree have some roll out, I just can't figure out how to compress the ball and get it to spin back. Granted, I'm playing old Craiglist irons and a used ~5 year old wedge, so the only good grooves on my clubs are on my 58 deg SM6.

[vance astro]

Did you use the 18birdies app? Learn anything useful about your distances?

 

I used it and it was helpful for the specific course I played (lots of courses where I needed to tee off about 220 yards with a hybrid to avoid trouble), but it didn't really teach me anything about my distances I didn't already know. I know I don't have a good 100 yard shot, and I know generally how far my clubs go, and I'm pretty good at estimating where I am based off yardage markers.

[gregsimms1017]

Swing at 80% and keep your head still throughout the backswing. You will make much better contact and hit it straighter. Good luck!

[PorscheFan]

In a similar boat, but as swing improves and becomes more functional you sort of take one step back before taking two forwards...

 

You actually increase front-to-back dispersion as these more pure shots start to pop out, but not with the consistency needed to take advantage of it.

 

Driver and chipping can take a slight step back as you focus on the ‘right’ shots in practice (i.e. approaches with 7-PW)

 

I feel this is a point where it’s really easy to give up on improving because strike quality improves, but scores do not. It’s like losing weight.. you move from a period where it’s easy to where it sucks and you simply have to buckle down, stick to the plan, and get through it.

 

But, you need that plan (sounds like what you’re trying to build now).

 

You also need ruthless specificity or you simply won’t have the feedback needed to improve.

 

‘About 110’ with a pitching wedge simply isn’t good enough. That needs to be ‘102 duff that’s typically toe and right to 120 that’s typically a draw.

 

Specificty in distances

Specificity in strike location

Specificity in left to right dispersion

 

You’re entering the sucky part of the diet. You need to re-focus, get way more precise, and expect the grind.

[bigeasygator]

I used it and it was helpful for the specific course I played (lots of courses where I needed to tee off about 220 yards with a hybrid to avoid trouble), but it didn't really teach me anything about my distances I didn't already know. I know I don't have a good 100 yard shot, and I know generally how far my clubs go, and I'm pretty good at estimating where I am based off yardage markers.

 

You say you know generally how far your clubs go, but your problem is distance control and not accuracy. Shorten your swing and focus on consistent contact. Consistent contact will lead to consistent distances.

 

If you came up short most of the time, make sure you factor in things like green elevation, funny lies, etc. you may hit an 8-iron 150y off a perfectly flat lie, but throw in some elevation, some rough, some wind, ball below your feet, a downhill lie, etc and chances are that 8-iron isn’t a 150y club anymore. I have a tendency to do this all the time. In fact, according to my Arccos data when I miss it’s mostly short. I’ve been much more mindful of this lately and have put the ego aside and clubbed up more often and find I’m hitting more greens now.

[vance astro]

In a similar boat, but as swing improves and becomes more functional you sort of take one step back before taking two forwards...

 

You actually increase front-to-back dispersion as these more pure shots start to pop out, but not with the consistency needed to take advantage of it.

 

Driver and chipping can take a slight step back as you focus on the ‘right’ shots in practice (i.e. approaches with 7-PW)

 

I feel this is a point where it’s really easy to give up on improving because strike quality improves, but scores do not. It’s like losing weight.. you move from a period where it’s easy to where it sucks and you simply have to buckle down, stick to the plan, and get through it.

 

But, you need that plan (sounds like what you’re trying to build now).

 

You also need ruthless specificity or you simply won’t have the feedback needed to improve.

 

‘About 110’ with a pitching wedge simply isn’t good enough. That needs to be ‘102 duff that’s typically toe and right to 120 that’s typically a draw.

 

Specificty in distances

Specificity in strike location

Specificity in left to right dispersion

 

You’re entering the sucky part of the diet. You need to re-focus, get way more precise, and expect the grind.

 

Is there any way to get that information, though, without expensive time on a launch monitor? My distances will improve somewhat as I spend more time on the course (this is the first year in close to 10 years that I've played more than 2-3 times in a year), but that can only take me so far.

[PorscheFan]

In a similar boat, but as swing improves and becomes more functional you sort of take one step back before taking two forwards...

 

You actually increase front-to-back dispersion as these more pure shots start to pop out, but not with the consistency needed to take advantage of it.

 

Driver and chipping can take a slight step back as you focus on the ‘right’ shots in practice (i.e. approaches with 7-PW)

 

I feel this is a point where it’s really easy to give up on improving because strike quality improves, but scores do not. It’s like losing weight.. you move from a period where it’s easy to where it sucks and you simply have to buckle down, stick to the plan, and get through it.

 

But, you need that plan (sounds like what you’re trying to build now).

 

You also need ruthless specificity or you simply won’t have the feedback needed to improve.

 

‘About 110’ with a pitching wedge simply isn’t good enough. That needs to be ‘102 duff that’s typically toe and right to 120 that’s typically a draw.

 

Specificty in distances

Specificity in strike location

Specificity in left to right dispersion

 

You’re entering the sucky part of the diet. You need to re-focus, get way more precise, and expect the grind.

 

Is there any way to get that information, though, without expensive time on a launch monitor? My distances will improve somewhat as I spend more time on the course (this is the first year in close to 10 years that I've played more than 2-3 times in a year), but that can only take me so far.

 

Definitely:

 

Strike location from athlete's foot powder spray

 

Distance measuring using GPS (have to get into the habit of measuring from where you hit to where you land. It's easy to get caught up in the moment and forget to measure, but the discipline will provide you with info you can use to improve. Game golf is only about 100 bucks and will give you your real, true yardages from the course, which is way better than range numbers (always off) or indoor launch monitor swings (not a real situation).

 

Decent information can be gathered pretty cheaply. Athlete's foot powder and strike location alone may be an eye-opener.

 

Dispersion from simply hitting to specific targets on the range. Out of, say, 30 8 irons estimate how many are left or right. Is there also a correlation between a certain miss and long and short? Is there a stronger correlation between strike location and strike area?

[Nard_S]

If OP has issues holding a green with anything over a PW, GIR's should not be the focus. Failure of decent impact is. A basic working of ball compression is in order, no? Proper divot, killing off the thin/fat shot problem. You don't need trackman or a teacher to fix these things, you do need to school up a bit and play detective on what ails your swing. No money but plenty of effort.

[vance astro]

I mean, a trackman would be helpful, but you're right - in my golf career I've only ever worried about direction and distance, never gotten to the point where I needed to stop a ball on the green, but now that I've improved this season and I *want* to be able to stop a mid iron on the green when needed, I have no idea how.

[Nard_S]

Learning to read divots and ball flight will be far more helpful than anything trackman can offer.