Playing Conservative or Aggressive...57
What's the difference?
We've often heard about playing conservative and playing aggressive. What does that mean? Here's my suggestion for understanding conservative and aggressive.
In its simplest form, playing aggressively is playing the high-risk shot, and playing conservatively is playing the low-risk shot. How do you know which is which?
The difference is dependent on your “shot dispersion”. On the range, choose a target and hit twelve wedges attempting to remember the location of each ball. Now imagine a circle that encompasses the twelve (left to right and front to back). Consider that your “shot dispersion”. For 100-125 yards the PGA average is 20 feet. Let’s assume your dispersion is 30 feet.
In the diagram above, assume the blue circles are 30 feet. If we play for the flag, our shot dispersion brings in the penalty area (water). Playing to the flag would be the aggressive play. Circles A and C are the conservative targets because our shot dispersion does not bring in the possibility of a penalty stroke and ensures we have a putt for birdie. Every tour player bases their targeting on their shot dispersion.
Bottom Line: The terms aggressive and conservative are not descriptors of our bravery. They are terms of percentages. Learn your shot dispersions when you are on the range and make better target decisions on the course.
Each Thursday we’ll bring you a helpful insight.
Swing to the Target,
Ed
Learn from our YouTube videos
Have golf buddies? Share this article.