The pin or the fat of the green?

DonM

For a guy who is pretty consistent with distances, I rarely get birdies. With anything longer than PW I start playing towards the middle.

I play with guys of similar ability who go for pins and get more birdies. On our greens, most misses are unfriendly. There are two ways to look at that. One, make sure to hit the green. Or two, since I’m gonna miss a bunch of greens, might as well die trying for the pin. I’m beginning to think I need to take on more pins. All of the conventional advice is to prioritize hitting greens. Because unless you are putting inside 10-15 feet, it’s almost a two putt anyway. But at least it’s an almost certain par. I get a LOT of those.

What are you? Pin hunter or no?

garyt1957

DonM putting inside 10-15 feet, But at least it’s an almost certain par.

This guy is a real comedian.

VigilanteTrail

DonM Pin hunter or no?

Majority of time I am No and aim center of green.
If striking the irons above average a given day I will creep more towards the pin but only enough to still allow for the particular miss that is shining through that day.

brownmoose13

Priority 1...hit the green unless the pin is right in the middle.

azgreg

Fat of the green every time.

sdandrea1

azgreg Fat of the green every time.

This for me, UNLESS I'm inside 50 yards. Then I'm thinking PIN.

ode

Depends on circumstances; where the pin is located on the green, where the trouble is, and what the distance is (i.e. is it a good.numbet or a tweener). Anything from 160 in is green light unless the pin is tucked or trouble looms with the likely miss!

Right now my home course is a brick, but the greens need to be watered to keep them going so the run up requires some finesse and the high shot is the percentage play. In these conditions the front pin is typically the hardest to get close as landing just short bounds to the back of the green or over.

garyt1957

ode Depends on circumstances; where the pin is located on the green, where the trouble is, and what the distance is (i.e. is it a good.number or a tweener)

This. So many variables. The majority of the courses I play you can't have more than a 30'er from the center of the green and be on. You go to some of the premier courses in the area and you can have a 100'er. Hell, it can be two clubs from the center to the front or back. At those courses I'm going for the flag most times.
I hit draws with short irons and fades with long hybrids. I'll never start a ball off the green and bring it back to the green, then I play middle of the green.

ode

garyt1957 also and this is hard to stomach but sometimes missing the green is the percentage play or no big deal as the up and down is the easiest par! #14 is a par 5 and the green is wide and has a crest in the middle and feeds to the front and to back. Back pin, if I can get home in two I try to be long if I can. Same thing with approach, miss us long.andnthe fringe as it's an easy chip/putt vs. leaving it on the front of the green and navigating the ridge.

KCee

I generally go for center of the green. Most of our greens are smaller so center is not far from any pin. There are some exceptions where you can be more aggressive with a wedge. You almost never want to chase a back pin at our club as long is dead and even OB. Some front pins you don't want middle of the green as you'll need to make the putt or be off the green. Short is almost never bad at my home course.

GimC

Anytime I need to take a full swing I go for the fat of the green.

johnnydoom

I am playing for recreation and not money or glory, so I generally go for the pin unless it is an obvious sucker placement. I'm not a good enough player that it matters much though. From a scoring standpoint my best scores have been from intentionally playing away from trouble (play for best miss) or in rounds where I just got lucky with most of my mishits. Generally speaking though, score is only a part of the satisfaction I get from playing and not my sole focus. I can have a bad score, but if I par or birdie a hole or two that even good players struggle on during that round I still may walk away feeling good.

azgreg

I read an article not long ago (can't find it now) and they were talking to a couple of touring pros (not big names) and both of them said they never go at pins with more than a sand wedge in their hand.

GimC

azgreg I read an article not long ago (can't find it now) and they were talking to a couple of touring pros (not big names) and both of them said they never go at pins with more than a sand wedge in their hand.

I think I saw that as well. Was one of them DJ? I recall being a little surprised.

Par4QC

azgreg they never go at pins with more than a sand wedge in their hand.

But they hit their SW from 130. I hit mine yesterday from 88, and begged like hell. Just to hit any part of the green.😉(kick in bird, btw)

PA-PLAYA

The fat of the bunker.

PA-PLAYA

And partially plugged.

johnnydoom

PA-PLAYA 😁I didn't play out of it, but found my ball in a six inch deep footprint near the steep lip in a bunker last week. Someone climbed out and didn't bother to rake behind them. Normally I'll accept the lie in an unraked footprint and try to play it, but I wouldn't have been able to get the club through enough sand to get to the bottom of the ball that time.

PA-PLAYA

johnnydoom

Yeah. Had that happen on more than a few occasions over the years. It’s like golfers suddenly get this urge to become mountaineers conquering Everest.

I don’t mind deep faced bunkers. They add to the challenge. But most courses have entirely too much sand in them.

[deleted]

If it's an 8 iron - wedges usually on the fat side of the pin, but I tend to miss my fair share!

ode

Also note......the greenskeeper and the other crew that occasionally set pins are not golfers or do not care about golfers. I.e. pins set in spots they should not. I get a kick out of it. Most do not😆

Weirfan

YES