Fairway Approach Shots

I was recently asked to discuss fairway approach shots from one of our readers. I thank you guys for posting questions and giving me ideas for articles to write about. I can’t say this enough that I am here for you guys and genuinely am interested in helping each and every one of you out there.

In order to properly play any shot into a green, whether it’s a par 3, par 4, or even a par 5, you must understand the concept of red light, yellow light, and green light pin placements. While planning your shot you must first observe the surroundings and the shot ahead of you. How is your lie? How will the lie affect your shot? Will it make it hook, slice, go low, or go high? What is my natural ball flight? What is the club I am hitting in and what is my success rate with this club? In other words am I hitting pitching wedge that I feel comfortable with or am I trying to hit a 4 iron over water to a tight pin? These are the questions that good players answer immediately when they arrive at their ball. In regards to red, yellow, and green light pins we need to discuss a couple of things again. First, where is the pin on the green and what trouble surrounds it? Once you answer these basic questions you can start determining what color pin are you facing. Let me explain. I generally am comfortable working the ball left to right. If I come to a hole and the pin is 185 yards away (6 iron) and the flag is on the right side of the green with no trouble than I will start the ball at the middle of the green and work the ball towards the pin. This is a perfect green light situation for me. If however, the flag is on the left side of the green then I would have to start the ball left of the green to get it close. This would be a yellow light situation. If there is no trouble I would start the ball at the flag and if it goes straight then it’s close to the flag, but more than likely it will fade to the middle of the green. In this yellow light situation I am ok with that because I have given myself a chance at birdie and if I happen to miss the green to the right, I have given myself plenty of green to chip the ball close. If there is trouble around the green, like water, then that changes my game plan all together. This is a red light situation. For the right pin location, with water right, I would aim the ball at the left fringe and try to hit the ball straight. If it goes straight then I am fine and if it fades a little then I am still ok, but if it fades a lot then I am by the hole. In other words my bad shot will be closer than a well-struck shot. I am able to do this because I am not even close to aiming at the pin and know my bad miss will not miss right of the pin. Now back to the left pin location with water left. This situation is similar to the yellow. I trust my golf swing enough to know that I won’t hit the ball left, but in this situation I am not going to take any chances. I would aim this ball about 5 feet right of the pin and try to hit it straight and if it does great, however it will probably fade to the right and still be on the green. If I hit it bad then I will miss the green to the right and still leave myself a good chance to save par.

Understanding red, yellow, and green light situations is a necessary to playing good golf. I gave you an example of a six iron from 185 yards out. My red, yellow, and green light situation would also change depending on the club I am using. If instead of a 6 iron like the situation above, and I am using a sand wedge then I would play more aggressively, but not stupid. Even with a wedge in my hand and water near the pin I would still allow room for my bad shot.

The key to playing your best golf is reading lie and turf conditions and knowing when to take what the course gives you and when to back off. You must also know your general ball flight of good shots and the ball flight of your bad shots. Once you can answer those questions you can start to apply the red, yellow, and green light pin factors and start to play better golf. Keep me informed on your progress and post some questions on the blog if you need some help.

Keep em Long and Straight,

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24 Comments

rich Says:

im a 12 handicap how far should i hit my 9 iron 5 iron 5 wood and driver please?
February 7th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
richard Says:

nice article

another nice way to look at it is to relate it to playing pool. always think of the shot you want to make, and also the leave of the cue ball.

think about where you want to make it go, then think about what is likely to happen if you miss.

seems like the same thought process…
February 7th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Ivan Says:

6 iron for 185yards,impossible for me.tell me what you do to shoot 185yards me with a 5 irons 165yards but i do a 3/4 swing
February 7th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Martin Says:

Hi from over the pond! What are your thoughts on grips please. I play tennis and with small hands I still need a thick grip. With the shaft on a golf club being so thin it seems strange to a begginner to have such a thin grip. Any thoughts please?
February 7th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Delmar Says:

I am still working on trying to get more distance with my Irons. I have just out the blue hit my 9 iron 150 yards. Most of the time I only hit my 9 iron 110 yards.
So I am only guessing at what iron I should be playing. I am working on trying to lead more with my hands so the Iron face is more closed down at impact.
But still am NOT confiide enogh with my timing and when I am using my weight
shift properly.
I guess I need more drills. I live in Minnesota and in the summertime I have a big enough yard to practice in so can try any drills I need. I am in Calif. for the winter, so you can give me the drills right now.

Thank you for careing about us duffers with your help;

Delmar
February 7th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Randy Miller Says:

I was promise Nyle Pruitt secrect e-mail address. When am I going to get it?
February 7th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Randy Miller Says:

Iwant to buy the UST shaft. Is there a place that I can buy just the head of the Adams streamling driver?
February 7th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Regan k Says:

Golf season is starting up again and i am a junior golfer and i think my distances for my irons have changed since last year i was wondering what is a good way to figure out how far i hit each club?
February 7th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Xavier Munroe Says:

Hey, i’m a beast and i hit the ball extremely far. I was wondering if you have any tips for me in regards to being more accurate instead of hitting it extremely far. Thanks,
Xavier
February 7th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Craig Says:

CJ: So what ball should an older player use to get max distrance?
February 7th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Clive Says:

as you didn’t answer my question last time I must pose it again. have you ever coached a natural and strongly left handed person who hits the golf club right handed.? any thoughts will be appreciated
February 7th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Ron Says:

I am in the same position as Clive. I am a left hander, but hit from the right side. Any thought for me?
February 8th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
David Says:

CJ, Firstly-Greetings from the UK-I am trying to improve my Wrist Cock and Lag–you say to Cup your wrists and get more W.C. –at takeaway or later in the backswing?
Regards David
February 9th, 2010 at 6:26 am
CJ Says:

David,
I would recommend that you have an earlier wrist hinge in your swing. There are times and or students that I have gone with a later wrist hinge, but 99% of the time the earlier wrist hinge is better. here is an example why…Take the club half-way back and make sure your left arm and the club form the letter L. Next, unhinge your wrists and point the club more away from you. You will notice the difference in weight of the club when it is hinged versus unhinged. When the club is hinged the club is in balance and lighter therefore you have more control over it and can swing it faster. Thanks for the question.
Keep em long and straight,
cj
February 9th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
CJ Says:

Clive and Ron,
Congratulations! I wish I was in your position and had that issue. Yes I have coached several people that are right handed or left handed and play golf opposite. Phil Mickelson is right handed and Nick Price is left handed. Your dominant hand and side gets to pull the club which will allow the club to shallow properly. Also most people create injuries in their body because they only work one side of their body. Do you remember when Fred Couples had really bad back problems in the 90’s? one of his cures was to swing left handed and work out his left side of his body. Your body will be much stronger throughout versus right handed golfers that play right handed. Hope that answers your question.
Keep em long and straight,
cj
February 9th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
CJ Says:

Craig,
To answer that without any information is difficult. The Titleist NXT is their longest ball. You might want to try that. Also look at the characteristics your looking for. Titleist has the DT roll and the DT carry depending on what you want out of your ball flight. Bridgestonegolf.com has a quick two minute survey and they will recommend a bridgestone ball for you. A little piece of information. A few years ago I was able to look at some testing data on balls and the Precept was the best. At that time the precept was the ball that the USGA used for all of its testing of clubs because it was the most consistent ball out there. Precept is made by Bridgestone and I am sure that all club companies have gotten better with their technology and equipment, but it was an eye opener for me to see that data on all the golf balls.
Keep em long and straight,
cj
February 9th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
CJ Says:

Xavier,
First question I have for you is , Do you know why you hit the ball extremely far? The reason I’m asking this is you might be in extremely good physical shape. Second, you might have played other sports like hockey or baseball. The reason this is important is we need to diagnose why you don’t have accuracy. Are your fundamentals good? Do you get the club stuck on the inside and flip hook the ball? Watch my DVD on the full swing and we cover alot of this. Hitting the ball far and accurate is no different piece of information that I would tell anyone else. Tour players have both and it is because they have proper fundamentals, swing plane, and body motion. I would say that it is much easier to give someone accuracy that already has distance than the other way around so figure out what is going on with your ball flight and lets work from there.
Keep em long and straight,
cj
February 9th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
CJ Says:

Randy,
I would suggest contacting Adams golf and there custom club fitting department to get the Head and the shaft combo.Adams Golf
2801 East Plano Parkway
Plano, TX 75074

Toll Free: (800) 709-6142

I am sure you can buy the head only and if you want a specific shaft I am sure they can do that also.

Keep em long and Straight,
cj
February 9th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
CJ Says:

Delmar,
Help me out here. I am confused. Are you asking the brand of irons or what club you should be using from 110 or 150. Hitting one shot may have been a fluke. Was it out of the rough? Did you catch a flyer? Where was the wind? lets keep talking. Ask me a specific question and I will answer it and then we can keep helping you with more and more questions. Sorry couldn’t help right now but please keep me informed.
Keep em long and straight,
cj
February 9th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
CJ Says:

Martin,
The difference between the tennis grip and the golf grip is in tennis you hold the club more in your palm and in golf you hold the club more in the fingers. You want to go with a smaller grip and to be precise when you take your left hand grip your second and third fingers (index finger being the first finger) should just touch your palm. You don’t want those fingers to be digging into your palm and you definitely don’t want them to not touch. The reason you want the smaller grips is to generate power and to use your wrists properly for maximum distance. Too big of a grip and you cant hinge your wrists. Hope that helps.
Keep em long and straight,
cj
February 9th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
CJ Says:

Ivan,
It comes down to proper fundamentals and then swing mechanics. You have seen me. I am not in the best of shape but will be soon. Make sure you watch my DVD and all the information is in there.
Keep em long and straight,
cj
February 9th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
CJ Says:

Rich,
Although I want to answer you on that question, I am reluctant. The key to scoring is knowing exactly how far those clubs go for YOU! Not me, or anyone else. The better you get at knowing how far they go for YOU the better you will be at hitting them close. Being honest.
keep em long and straight,
CJ
February 9th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
mark Says:

Where can I purchase a speed chain? I would like to try one out.
March 15th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
CJ Says:

mark,
the website is speedchaintraining.com. Just google speed chain and it will pop up. They also have other speed training devices. I have the NOS trainer as well. You will enjoy these and they will promote lag, distance, and a good core workout. Let me know how your doing.
Keep em long and straight,
cj
March 15th, 2010 at 7:24 pm