The heart of the green

When you head out for a round of golf, how often do you reach the green in 2?

Making a green-in-regulation is a great target to have on any given par-4 as you then have a pristine birdie putt opportunity. However, it’s often easier said than done.

How many times have you made a decent drive and found the fairway, only for you to send your ball into a greenside bunker or overhit the green on your second shot?

To make a birdie on a par-4 fundamentally revolves around finding the very central heart of the green on your approach shot, setting you up to sink an achievable birdie putt.

Take a moment now to think about your approach game, how many times during a round of golf do you make a green-in-regulation? Today we want to help you consider how many greens-in-regulation you make per round and offer a prime suggestion in how you can make more.

Average GIR made by handicap

If you're playing off a handicap of 20 and you make 5 GIR, you're really playing to a handicap of 15

golf.com

The data above demonstrates that 20-handicap golfers only make the green in 2 on around 20% of the holes they play. In an average 18-hole round of golf, that’s around 3 or 4 holes.

That being said, the data also clearly shows that the better the golfer is, the more greens-in-regulation you make. The more greens-in-regulation you make, the more often you have a scoring opportunity.

Making decent approach shots all comes down to how well you hit your golf irons.

Landing it on the green

Following your tee shot, you may well have landed between 100-200 yards from the green, see where the flag is situated, and take it as the natural target to aim for.

But rather than hoping you stick your ball right by the hole, you should consider the contours of the green, how it’s sloping, and aim for the heart of the green.

For example, if you know a green slopes from back to front, you’ll ideally want to land your ball short of the flag to give yourself a nice uphill putt rather than a sharp downhill putt you’ll feel less control over.

Whether you’re curious about the latest irons or you’d like to book some lessons with us to improve your approach game, we’re available and ready to help you in the pro shop.