Tim Elliott Golf รีทวีตแล้ว
You are on a par 5. You can't reach in two shots.
Do you lay up to 95 yards or advance it as far as you can and leave 55 yards?
The General Rule
You should advance the ball as far as you can, as often as you can, making sure to take into account penalty strokes and other trouble.
Dispersion Size
There are two ellipses in the image below. The larger orange'ish one on the outside is the approximate size of where 68% of shots would end up for a 10 index player from 95 yards in the fairway.
The smaller white ellipse inside of that is how big dispersion would be (for 68% of shots) for that same 10 index, but this time from 55 yards in the fairway.
Remember, this is not a representation of all shots. About 68% of shots will fit into the areas below. The area for all shots is larger.
Scoring Difference
You will hit your 95 yard shots into a bigger area than your 55 yard shots.
While this not look like much, having a dispersion that is just a bit bigger will result in higher scores.
A 10 index player will average 0.18 shots lower from 55 yards compared to 95 yards.
These small fractions don't seem like much, but if you are consistently making optimal decisions this alone can improve scores by several shots per round.
Pin Location
I am sure some will chime in about front pin locations.
To a tucked front pin (5 yards or less from front edge), a 10 index will average 0.16 shots lower from 55 yards than from 95 yards.
So the scoring gap from 95 to 55 yards does tighten a bit to a front pin, but you will still average much lower from 55 yards than from 95.
Get that ball down there as far as you can, as often as you can, and watch your scores drop.
(data from @ArccosGolf )
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