Course management
Miss on the fat side: the approach rule that protects your score
Getting short-sided costs strokes even for tour pros. A simple fat-side rule for approach shots keeps your misses on the side of the green with room to work.
The flag is tucked six paces from the left edge, there’s a bunker just beyond it, and you have a mid-iron in your hand. Aim straight at the pin and a shot that drifts a little left finishes in the sand with almost no green to land on; one that drifts right is on the putting surface. The left side is the short side, and the right is the fat side, where a miss leaves the whole green to work with. One of those misses usually costs a stroke and the other usually doesn’t, so choose your miss before you choose your target.
What the short side costs
Mark Broadie, the Columbia Business School professor behind strokes gained, measured the cost for GOLF.com using PGA Tour shot data. From 29 yards away in the rough, tour players needed an average of 2.72 strokes to hole out from a typical position, but 3.06 strokes when they were badly short-sided.
Shot Scope’s data, published by MyGolfSpy, shows a 15-handicapper gets up and down from inside 50 yards 34% of the time, and a 25-handicapper 25%. Sand saves are rarer again: 18% for a 15-handicapper, 10% for a 25-handicapper. GOLFTEC’s figures show golfers who shoot in the 90s average 3.6 strokes to hole out from a greenside bunker. At those rates, a hard chip or a tight bunker shot from the short side brings double bogey into play.
Why your misses are wider than you think
Shot Scope data reported by National Club Golfer shows that from 150 yards, scratch golfers finish an average of 41 feet from the hole and hit 51% of greens. Fifteen-handicappers hit 20% of greens from that distance and 25-handicappers 8%.
GOLFTEC’s figures cover depth: from 100 yards, golfers who shoot in the 70s spread their shots over about 6 yards, players in the 80s about 10 yards and players in the 90s about 20 yards. Width works the same way. If your shots routinely finish 10 yards either side of where you aimed, aiming at a flag six paces from the edge means a large share of your misses will be on the wrong side.
In research cited by GOLF.com, Scott Fawcett of the DECADE strategy system found Dustin Johnson hit his approaches to the safe side of the flag 78% of the time.
The fat-side rule
The rule applies whenever the flag isn’t in the middle of the green.
- Find the short side. Look at where the hole is cut. If it’s within roughly a third of the green’s width or depth from an edge, that edge is the short side. Note what’s beyond it: bunker, slope, water or rough.
- Name your target on the fat side. Usually that’s the middle of the green. If the flag is cut left, your target is the centre or slightly right of it. Never aim between the flag and the short-side edge.
- Check your usual miss. If your typical shot curves towards the short side, move the target further towards the fat side so your curve finishes on the green. If your shot curves away from the short side, the centre is usually enough.
- Commit and swing normally. The plan only works if you make your usual swing at the new target. Steering the ball back towards the flag at the last moment undoes the decision.
When the flag is in the middle of the green, there’s no short side. Aim at the flag and let your pattern spread around it.
When to bend the rule
- Your short game. A player who can hit a soft, high lob shot off a tight lie pays less for being short-sided. If that isn’t you yet, give the short side an even wider berth.
- The slope beyond the fat side. Sometimes the fat side runs away downhill into a swale or a fast chip. On those holes the middle of the green, not the far edge, is the target.
- Trouble on the fat side. If the “safe” side of the green has water or out of bounds beyond it, the hole is asking for the centre. Don’t trade a bunker for a penalty.
- Distance. The longer the approach, the bigger your spread. From long-iron and fairway-wood range, play almost entirely to the middle, wherever the flag is.
How close to the flag to aim, by handicap
Aiming to break 100. Treat every flag as if it were in the middle and aim at the centre of the green on every approach. Your goal is to make sure your misses finish where a simple chip or putt is possible, not in a bunker on the short side.
Handicaps of roughly 10 to 20. Use the full fat-side rule. With short irons and wedges, you can aim between the centre and the flag, but always on the fat side of it. From 150 yards and beyond, the centre is almost always right.
Single-figure players. You’ll get more birdie chances by aiming closer to the flag with your scoring clubs, but keep your whole pattern, not just your good shots, away from the short-side trouble. Learn which way each club tends to miss and pick targets that keep that miss on the fat side.
Mark your misses S or F
On every approach, say the short side out loud (or in your head) before choosing a club: “short side left, aim centre-right.” On the scorecard, mark every missed green with an S if you finished on the short side or an F if you finished on the fat side. After 18 holes, count the S marks and compare them with the total after your next round.
Sources
- GOLF.com: Mark Broadie on quantifying the penalty for missing on the short side
- GOLF.com: ‘Cautiously aggressive’: why you should aim for the middle of the green
- MyGolfSpy: How good is your short game? Performance chart by handicap
- National Club Golfer: Could expectation management be key to lowering your scores?
- Colorado AvidGolfer / GOLFTEC: Target practice, approach shots
- Arccos Golf: Lou Stagner on short-sided vs long-sided
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