Watch pro golf and you might be struck by the number of different shots modern players can hit. But my question is more simple than that: What are the key shots you need to know how to hit if you want to become a better golfer?
That's the mission I've been on recently, and I've been using data to find the answers. ShotLink data from tour events, as well as amateur data from places like Arccos. It spat out some pretty interesting answers.
Now, before you ask, this isn't a comprehensive list of every shot you need in golf. But consider these your kind of prerequisites. The really important ones. Shots that either solve a common problem, or unique problems that can lead to big swings in the outcome. The shots that help you making a par instead of a double.
The data is the starting point, though, because what follows goes deeper into the technique that pros use for each shot. That way we'll understand not just which shots we need, but how to actually hit them.
1. The don't-screw-up long fairway bunker shot
This isn't the most important shot in golf — pros average less than one fairway bunker shot a round. But it's one of the shots amateurs are worst at, and on tour it has one of the highest variances in outcomes.
What pros are good at are limiting the true disasters from these areas. Pros hit these fairway bunker shots at least of the distance to the hole out to 200 yards. A 10-handicap only manages that to 140. One in 10 travels less than 20 yards.
The key is ball-first contact. Widen your stance, choke down, don't dig your feet in, play the ball a touch back, and take an extra club or two.
Boston Globe
2. A fairway-finding lowish shot you can hit off the tee
Tee shots are basically the most important shots in golf — you hit 14 per round, which is about 20 percent of a pro's total.
Again, amateurs have too many disasters from here. 80s and 90s shooters hit the fairway less than 50 percent of the time, and go OB or into a hazard more than eight percent.
To avoid these really bad ones, you need a fairway finder, which mostly involves making the same swing with a lower tee height. On tour last season, these low-tee drives launched two degrees lower, apexed 30 feet lower, and carried only 10 yards less. A good go-to that won't bleed distance.
3. A 50 percent launch wedge shot
Wedges from 30 to 100 yards are way more important for amateurs than pros. A pro may have one of these a round; a 90s golfer may have 13, but the formula is the same for both.
The 50 percent number is the degrees which the shot should launch at, meaning the ball should launch and half the height of the loft of the club—so a shot with a 60 degree wedge should launch 30 degrees.
Mark Blackburn says to do this, ball a little back, shift your weight a little forward, and shorten both the backswing and the follow through. Keep the speed up, though — it's a shorter swing, but still an aggressive one. That'll produce a shot that's low enough to cut through wind but spinny enough to grab it once it lands.
4. The soft-landing long iron approach shot
For pros this is 200 to 240 yards. For amateurs it's the scoring danger zone around 175 yards, where Arccos finds a 10-handicap hits the green about 20 percent of the time.
The tour data says the pros who perform best from here approach with above-average spin. It's hard to create that with a technique change, which is why this one's more of an equipment solution. High-lofted fairway woods, 9s and 11s, help steepen the descent angle so the ball stops faster. Just play it back of where you'd tee a driver — a slightly negative angle of attack adds distance.
5. The run-like-a-putt, maybe-hole-it chip shot
Stock chips from shorter grass inside 15 yards. Pros average just under two a round, and they're not just easy up-and-downs — ShotLink says pros hole chips inside 10 yards about 10 percent of the time, with an average proximity between three and four feet.
The motion itself on these shots should resemble a putting stroke. Narrow your stance, keep the face more square and setup with shaft a little more upright. Keep the wrist action limited, and let the loft of the club lift the ball.
Rich Storry/TGL
6. The kinda short-sided chip shot
These are shots that aren't severely short-sided, but they're not as straightforward as the previous shot.
Pros don't face many of these, but the rest of us have them all the time because we miss so many approach shots short (for 10-handicaps that happens about 50 percent of the time, and those same golfers then miss the green about 10 percent of the time from here)
The only change from the previous shot is to makie sure the the shaft isn't quite as upright at address, and that you add a little more wrist hinge going back.
7. The nothing-special bunker shot
Amateurs are bad out of bunkers, Shot Scope found an 8-handicap misses the green almost 20 percent of the time from greenside bunkers, and doesn't get out at all another 4 percent.
Remember that the goal on these shots is to hit the sand about an inch behind the ball. Open the face slightly and, as Joe Mayo says, create a little shaft lean because amateurs don't have enough. That's what helps the club slide through the sand instead of bouncing off it.
8. The dying-speed putt
Tour players hit their first putts inside a pretty tight window — usually two to three feet. The way they get that level precision is by not rapidly accelerating the putterhead through the ball.
That comes from a busted myth: that deceleration is bad, so you should accelerate your hands through. The only problem is that when teachers studied it, they found the opposite. Plenty of elite putters decelerate the putterhead slightly on the downstroke, which is why good putters have a follow through shorter than their backstroke. Legendary putting coach Phil Kenyon says the ideal feel is to get the putter moving back, then let it fall and glide into the ball.
9. The in-between shot
Fairway shots from 120 to 160 yards are the most common approach pros face — about three a round, and they hit the green more than 75 percent of the time. Even low handicaps are closer to 50 percent.
Cam Young told me learning this one was a big key for him. It's a minor change to fill the gaps between your stock yardages: The same swing with an abbreviated follow through, or your same swing but chjoking down slightly. Collin Morikawa told me he opens the face a touch at setup for a slightly bigger fade. Either way it's about five yards shorter, which is all the precision you need.
Now again, obviously these aren't all the shots. You need way more than just these to put together a good round of golf. But these are the key ones you need. The ones that at some point you have to learn if you want to become a lower handicap. The shots that will plug the gaps in your game, and leave you a better golfer as a result.