Alex Noren Iron "Pin Locations" Tutorial

[@diminishedreturn]

The thing about amateurs is this: they tend to keep track of the best shot they ever hit with each club and then make that their 'benchmark' distance for the club. And they might not even take into account external factors like tailwind or hitting down a slope. This in combination with the importance of hitting greens (like Alex underlines here) and not hunting "sucker pins", has led me to the following pretty functional formula: Use your golf app or rangefinder to measure your distance to the back of the green (regardless of pin position). Then pick a club for that distance, but one that likely won't go over. Then aim for the "middle back" and swing away. Yes, even with front pins. That's the whole point: disregard the pin-it's about hitting greens. You will find that you will hit several more greens than usual and that it ACTUALLY makes a difference. If you look at Shotscope stats, or similar, you'll realize that EVERY pin is a sucker pin. Just like professional poker or blackjack players, it's not about winning every hand (hole) but increasing your likelihood of success over a longer period.

[@cleveland2022]

Yep. Hitting greens is huge. I play my home course mostly, so I am familiar. I found an interesting learning this summer. The 8th hole is the #1 handicap hole on the course. very tough green. especially back pin locations and front left. This was a back left pin and wasnt planning on going long, went slightly long but still on fringe maybe 9-12 feet away and was able to get up and down. Now conventional wisdom would say aim for middle and putt up. I found by missing slightly longer was able to get more pars, because even an uphill putt on this green was no picnic. Donald Ross designed course. I think it all depends on the individual hole and your skill set