You’ve found the fairway off the tee (and probably farther, too). So, now, how can we maximize our chances of hitting a good approach shot into the green?

Eric Alpenfels, the director of the Pinehurst Golf Academy, has a tip:

AIM WIDE.

Alpenfels, when studying whether the Aim Small, Miss Small philosophy works for golf (the study was featured in the October issue of Golf Magazine), found that golfers aiming at a 15-yard wide target of the green accomplished two things:

  1. When testing with a 6 iron, they hit shots nearly seven yards longer.
  2. Their average deviation from the center of the green was just 6.3 yards with a 6 iron, compared to 7.4 yards when aiming at a small target (like, say, the pin).

Alpenfels, to his credit, will say that, scientifically, that’s a minimal difference in accuracy.

But as a golfer, the chance to be 9-10 feet CLOSER on a putt is huge.