Leave yourself with a chance to still score.
Average players miss far more greens in regulation than they hit, especially on approach shots of 140 metres or longer. Knowing your next stroke probably won’t be a putt, it’s in your best interest to plan for the miss.
Factoring in your short-game strengths and weaknesses, ask yourself these questions:
(1) Where is my best opportunity to get the ball up and down and save par if I miss the green?
(2) Where is the worst place to miss?
Identifying those two places could lead to saving par instead of making a double-bogey or worse.
Take this approach shot I’m surveying on this driving range [above]. There’s no trouble short and right of the green, but there’s a large greenside bunker protecting the left side. If you’re not a very good bunker player, you wouldn’t want to mess with the left half of this green. The thing to do would be to ignore the flagstick and aim several paces right of centre. That way, if you come up short, you’ve got a straightforward chip to the hole. That’s much more manageable than being in that bunker.
Always make sure to factor in the probability for a miss, especially on hard-to-hit greens with trouble around them. You might even identify multiple spots where you don’t want to go. If you plan wisely, you can still walk away with a par or better – or at least a respectable bogey.
Jordan Dempsey, a Golf Digest Best Young Teacher, is at the PGA Tour Performance Center at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.
