The term ‘short siding yourself’ is something you may have heard of before but you are not quite sure what it means. Short siding yourself is when you miss the green on an approach shot and leave the ball on the side of the green which has the shortest distance to the hole.
It does not matter whether it is the right side of the green, the left side of the green, the back of the green or the front of the green, it is always the side which is closest to the pin.
So, what is the problem with short siding yourself and why should you avoid doing it?
When trying to keep scores low, one of the keys is to avoid double bogeys. If you can do that, you are on your way to a solid round of golf. The problem with short siding yourself on approach to the green is the tough shot you are left to play.
You will feel you need to get the ball in the hole and as such, you will play the shot with that thought only in your mind. This means playing an aggressive shot and in most cases, it will go wrong. One of the most common ways for this shot to go wrong is leaving it short. You are trying to get the ball to land on the very edge of the green and failure to get it right means the ball remains off the green.
Even the professionals get this shot wrong, that’s how difficult it is to master.
If you are playing an approach to the green and the pin is in the middle of the green in terms of depth but off towards the left side, you should play an approach shot towards the middle of the green.
Using a right-handed player as an example, if you aim at the flag and pull the shot, you are going to miss on the short side and leave yourself one of those tricky shots highlighted above. However, if you aim for the middle of the green and pull your shot, the ball will land close to the hole.
In addition, if you aim for the middle of the green and slice your shot, you could end up off the green on the right side but have plenty of room between the ball and the flag to get play an easier shot.
The best way to think about this type of shot is by aiming at the pin, you are reducing your chances of making a birdie. If you can keep that in mind when approaching greens with the pin on one side, you are on the way to seeing your scores drop.
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