When looking for a new shootermany golfers tend to focus, like Fully Equipped co-host Johnny Wunder, on putting and putting.
“I look at pitchers like I can mark him and I can hit him up the middle,” Wunder said on this week’s episode.
But is this enough?
On this week’s episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped, Wunder asked him that question PGA Tour coach and GOLF contributor Stephen Sweeney. Sweeney responded that there is a little more to it for most accomplished players.
“I think once you get down there, certainly in single-figure handicaps, you’re definitely going to leave some meat on the bone there,” he said.
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Sweeney explained that he often tells people who ask the one about getting a new shooter that the real keys are making shots within eight feet and controlling speed from 30 to 70 feet.
“If a PGA Tour pro makes 25-footers at a 12 percent clip rate, if only a putter does, or a regular golfer only makes 2 percent of his 25-footers, they’re only 10% worse than a tour pro,” Sweeney said. “I mean, there’s no other area of ​​the game where you’re like, ‘Hey, I’m only 10 percent worse than a tour pro, right?’ But you can legitimately be – from 4 to 8 feet, – you can be 40-50 percent worse than a tour pro.
His point is that the pros make so few of their 25-footers; seeing how many 25 footers you can make with a new shooter is irrelevant.
What really matters is making short shots and not three-positions long.
“And at distance, you can be 70-80 percent worse than a tournament pro in your vicinity,” he continued. “So the average level of golf isn’t that important to the average player, but… 3 to 8 feet and then outside 30, you need something safe, you can aim, you can start on the web, you can hit it off center, but there’s definitely a weight component to setting the speed that I think the average 7-handicap consumer gets full value from what they invest.
So next time you are looking for a new shooterdon’t try to do 10-20 skirts. Make sure you can make them shorter and your speed control is good on the long ones.
For more from Wunder, Sweeney and co-host Jake Morrow, take a listen Full episode of GOLF’s Fully Equipped hereor see below.
