Flight Club

Anyone heard of a “flyer” at all? commonly used term when a ball jumps way further than you thought it should have.

How do you get a flyer?

It comes from grass trapping in between the ball and the face at impact and it reduces the spin on the ball and causes it to carry further and run more. It happens mostly with Irons and Wedges but it was always something that caught me out now and then and the ball would rocket over the green and in to trouble.

How do I stop a flyer?

Hit the fairways. It emphasises the benefit of hitting the shorter grass as it normally happens coming out of the rough. A place I became familiar with growing up. My game matured over the years but I have had rounds where I was level par after 14 holes and didn’t have a single par on the scorecard and it was always quite colourful. Birdies from the trees and bogeys from the simplest of places because I had no shot to imagine or focus on.

Thinking back, I was simply in the rough too often.

What do I do now?

Something that will be a focal point for me now, getting back to tournament golf will be hitting fairways and thinking about tee shots to leave specific (heavily practiced) yardages in to greens.

Some golf courses aren’t as protected and are easy enough to bash the driver round and wedge it all day but for a long term marathon it will be the fairways i’ll be hunting for to get maximum control in to the pins.

When preparing for a tee shot. Do you feel like you could play it 10 times successfully? Is there a different choice of shot you could pull off more often to have maximum control over the next shot?

Hopefully my thoughts help, drop a comment or a like if it is of value to you.