Ultimate Guides: Approach Shots

Few things in golf are more frustrating than splitting the fairway with a drive and then wasting it with a poor iron shot that leads to a big number. In this video, Golf Digest Best Young Teach Jason Birnbaum shares his best tips for hitting crisper long, middle and short iron shots that will lead to more greens in regulation and lower scores.

Even the best players in the world spend a lot of time playing from the rough. For amateurs, the thick stuff can be intimidating, but fearing it will only make it more difficult. Jason Birnbaum’s tips will help you get over these daunting lies and get out of the long grass more effectively.

One of the more difficult shots amateurs face is the long approach that requires a fairway wood. Most players aren’t confident hitting a 3-wood off the ground, and they don’t practice the shot enough to build confidence. In this video, Jason Birnbaum shares his best confidence-building techniques and tips on how to make a solid contact with these long clubs.

Driving the ball into a fairway bunker is a nightmare for most golfers, so emotions are part of the problem. That negative tension can lead to another bad shot out of the bunker, adding to the frustration. Jason Birnbaum’s fairway-bunker advice will make life a lot easier when you’re faced with this challenging situation.

Throughout the course of any round, you’re going to face a variety of situations, including shots from uneven lies. These uphill, downhill and sidehill shots produce some unique challenges, especially mental ones. Players tend to treat these like any normal fairway shot, but uneven lies require adjustments and a plan, which Jason Birnbaum helps with in his video.