Instruction
The key to stopping your ball on the green
For most average golfers, stopping the ball on the green with anything but their shortest irons is an issue. There is nothing worse than hitting a great shot into the green — and then watching in horror as the ball cascades over the green.
Most people believe that you need spin to stop a ball on the green. This is correct to some degree, but I can assure you that a ball with 10,000 rpm of spin that lands on the green with a flat landing angle at MACH 1 speed will NOT stop as quickly as most golfers would like. In fact, most bogey golfers do not have the necessary speed to produce spin rates that will seriously impact the ball’s stopping power with anything longer than an 8 iron.
In this article, I would like you to put the ball’s spin rate aside and focus only on the ball’s landing angle. Yes, I know that spin rate is a vital piece of creating a better landing angle, but let’s break it down even further for simplicity’s sake.
Let’s examine two different Tour Players and their respective landing angles.
Tour Player 1: A low-ball hitter.
Photo 1
- Club head speed was 90.2 mph and the spin rate was 7552 rpm.
- Overall height was 71.5 feet high giving us a landing angle of 44.4 degrees.
- The carry was 145.2 yards and the total was 150.8 yards — a difference of 5.6 yards.
Tour Player 2: A high-ball hitter.
Photo 2
- Club head speed was 93.2 mph and the spin rate was 7521 rpm.
- Overall height was 120.8 feet high giving us a landing angle of 51.5 degrees.
- The carry was 171.2 and the total was 174.8 yards — a difference of 3.6 yards.
As you can see, the steeper the landing angle caused the ball to settle quicker. The question now is this; If you cannot increase your club head speed to increase spin, how can add height so your landing angles are steeper?
The key component? Dynamic Loft, which measures the loft of the club at impact.
Photo 3
Photo 4
Let’s examine the data for the trajectory ladder I put together with 7-iron shots for Photo 3.
- The Dynamic Lofts ranged from 10.6 degrees to 26.7 degrees, giving us a height difference of 36.6 feet versus 118.0 feet. That’s a difference of 81.4 feet!
The Heights, Carry Distances, and Landing Angles were as follows:
- 36.6 feet 147.0 yards 28.7 degrees
- 64.2 feet 158.5 yards 39.2 degrees
- 80.3 feet 166.7 yards 43.3 degrees
- 102.8 feet 169.6 yards 48.9 degrees
- 118.0 feet 163.0 yards 51.0 degrees
What does this all mean?
We’d like to hit the ball higher so we can land it softer on the greens. Ninety percent of the people I see on a daily basis have a ball flight that is too flat. In order to hit the ball higher you’ll need to add more dynamic loft at impact.
The easiest way to add dynamic loft — and more stopping power — is to put the ball up in your stance slightly and try and hit the ball higher. That increases the loft of the club head at impact, which leads to higher-flying shots.
How do you know when you are doing it correctly? It’s simple. Your ball will flying higher and carrying farther than it was before.
Be careful, though, because if you hit the ball too high it will fly a shorter distance. You can see that this happened for me when my iron shots hit the 118-foot mark.
Experiment and enjoy!
There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.
And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.
But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.
When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.
Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.
For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!
Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.
Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.
If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.
1. Cultural mindset
What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!
It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.
2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling
Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.
3. Learning theory basics
It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.
As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.
So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!
Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.
The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).
But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.
Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)
Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.
What Woad did:
• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances
• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins
• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets
• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”
Why most golfers mess this up:
• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”
• Distance becomes more important than accuracy
• They try to be heroic instead of smart
ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.
The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire
Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.
How she responded to pressure:
• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th
• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys
• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th
• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked
What amateurs do wrong:
• Get conservative when they should be aggressive
• Try to force magic when steady play would win
• Panic when someone else makes a move
ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.
Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game
Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.
Her mental approach:
• Focused on her process, not the competition
• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)
• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”
Her physical execution:
• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)
• Methodical iron play
• Steady putting
• Everything effective, nothing spectacular
ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.
Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built
The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”
Her winning mindset:
• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself
• Focused on playing well and contending
• Made winning a byproduct of a good process
• Built confidence through recent experiences:
- Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
- Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
- Each experience prepared her for the next
What this means for you:
• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up
• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine
• Commit to every shot
• Stay present in the moment
ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.
The Real Lesson
Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.
The fundamentals that won:
• Hit more fairways
• Find more greens
• Make the putts you should make
• Stay patient under pressure
That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.
FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!
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tom stickney
Feb 12, 2015 at 4:31 pm
Capt– most ams don’t hit the ball far enough…hitting knockdowns would only cause them to hit it shorter. Know any am’s who like to hit it shorter than they do now?
Capt Hook
Feb 12, 2015 at 9:31 am
Completely bogus article. Most AMs need to hit 3/4 knock down shots at the front center of the green and have the ball hit close to the front fringe and roll on. This means taking one extra club, putting the ball back in your stance and hitting down on it. Also every AM should be using a urethane cover ball to assist in this strategy. Just this strategy alone will improve their scores more than any other. Trying to aim for the flag and hitting a high shot at the pin is a recipe for disaster – except for the very best players 2 handicap or better. AMs should be trying to make 2 putt pars not pin seeking birdies. An average 10 handicap who makes 16 2 putt pars and 2 bogeys in a round would be more ecstatic than one who makes a single birdie but shoots 88.
Tom Stickney
Feb 11, 2015 at 7:50 pm
Hudson- if you can get your landing angles on your irons above 45° you’re going to find her not gonna roll out quite so much I wouldn’t know the exact percentages for each club because everybody’s different. Slightly means half a ball
Tom Stickney
Feb 11, 2015 at 7:49 pm
Donnie that’s a question for track man sorry I can’t give you any more information
Tom Stickney
Feb 11, 2015 at 7:48 pm
Skip– if the distance is not an issue that might be a good choice
Tom Stickney
Feb 11, 2015 at 7:48 pm
Ed…less speed=less spin with all things equal. Most Am’s have a faulty pivot causing the low point to move around during the golf swing. Awful hard to hit a wedge with a forward ball position if your low point consistently is around your sternum or even behind your sternum
Hudson
Feb 11, 2015 at 5:44 pm
Great article as I believe that my shots are too flat with a few clubs: see the % of roll below on SW, AW and 9i…
What would be the “ideal” roll percentage per club ?
Roll % Launch Club
Angle loft
SW 11% 33 55
AW 11% 33 50
AW 12% 28 50
PW 6% 30 45
PW 5% 31 45
9i 13% 18 40
7i 7% 19 31
H5 7% 16 25
H3 9% 14 19
Last question : can you please precise the “slightly” in the sentence ” is to put the ball up in your stance slightly”. The equivalent of “one ball” forward ?
Thank you and I love your analysis !
Skip
Feb 11, 2015 at 5:17 pm
Why don’t I just use clubs that aren’t jacked (lofted down). Wouldn’t that produce a higher dynamic loft at impact?
JP
Feb 12, 2015 at 1:13 pm
True dat.
Donnie
Feb 11, 2015 at 11:50 am
Tom, I’ve always found those Trackman shot height figures ludicrous. Your highest shot, 118 feet, would roughly be what, a 10-story building? I know I get similar figures on Trackman, but I’d imagine I could hit the windows on 4th, maybe 5th floor of a building…what gives?
Pooch
Feb 11, 2015 at 11:15 am
Its called Urethane and technique.
Ed
Feb 11, 2015 at 11:00 am
Tom, I’m interested in further understanding your comment: ” most people don’t have the pivot action necessary to use only one ball position”. Thanks
Tommy
Feb 11, 2015 at 3:00 am
You want to hit it higher stop leaning the shaft foreward in your setup….try this one that even works on those dang mat driving ranges….take a 7 or 8 iron set up with the ball maybe one ball forward of center and sole your club right behind the ball and see that your hands are right over the ball, hit several balls, now move your hands foreward a balls length ahead of the ball, hit several balls. Keeping moving the hands foreward and watching your ball flight come down…(your learning how to hit some good into the wind shots while doing this also) then do the same thing moving your hands right over the club face and then some with hands behind club face….
Tom Stickney
Feb 11, 2015 at 12:46 am
Bla- how so?
Tom Stickney
Feb 11, 2015 at 12:45 am
J- Am’s can’t geberate enough clubhead speed to reach the tour spin levels
Bla
Feb 10, 2015 at 11:39 pm
This is a bad article! Really bad!
J
Feb 10, 2015 at 9:12 pm
I was under the impression that tour players get added height from their higher spin levels compared to amateurs (and the ball therefore ballooning), is this factored into the need for increased dynamic loft…or are you saying it’s an amatuer’s better bet than trying to get the impact that will result in the added spin of your players?
Tom Stickney
Feb 10, 2015 at 7:54 pm
Keith– correct sir.
Tom Stickney
Feb 10, 2015 at 7:54 pm
M-siz- rather you read my articles before you comment. If not, don’t bother.
Tom Stickney
Feb 10, 2015 at 7:52 pm
Dave– works on the lesson tee
Keith
Feb 10, 2015 at 3:57 pm
This makes a lot of sense, thank you for sharing. Outside of moving the ball forward slightly, will an increase in secondary tilt away from the target help?
Trying to apply this logic to my own game as a lower hitter…flat shoulders tends to be a fault of mine.
tom stickney
Feb 10, 2015 at 1:47 pm
Ryan– most people don’t have the pivot action necessary to use only one ball position
tom stickney
Feb 10, 2015 at 1:46 pm
Thanks alex
tom stickney
Feb 10, 2015 at 1:46 pm
That– if you want to hit it higher that is one way…not saying to have your hands way behind the ball…but you know that already, right?
That guy
Feb 10, 2015 at 12:34 pm
Yea, great idea…let’s tell amateurs to keep their hands behind the ball more in order to add height. *conpletely sarcastic*
Dave S
Feb 10, 2015 at 3:35 pm
I had same thought. One of the biggest problems amateurs have is artificially trying to lift the ball into the air instead of hitting down on it and letting the club’s loft do the work. Now we’re suggesting that they actually TRY to hit it higher by moving the ball up in their stance? Doesn’t seem like a good move to me. Maybe in theory, in a lab, the numbers work out, but in practice, I think we’d see a different outcome… one littered with chili-dips and skulls.
Al
Feb 10, 2015 at 8:50 pm
I don’t think that’s as big or frequent problem with amateurs as it is so frequent a “tip” from instructors. I didn’t have any problem understanding “hit down on the ball” or “before the bottom of the arc”. I’m almost a perfect idiot, I understood immediately.
I only posted this because I’m sick of hearing/reading it. Maybe it provides an epiphany to many rank amateurs, but when Teacher X is describing hitting a high draw, then segues into “I see so many amateurs trying to lift the ball”, I find it an odd and jarring juxtaposition.
That guy
Feb 11, 2015 at 2:17 am
In my work, I see a LARGE segment of amateur golfers. The number one mistake I witness, day in and out, is scooping. Even if they are hitting down on the ball, or trying to, they continuously scoop their low hand under instead of driving it through. It would be a rare occasion, and long explanation following my telling of an amateur to shallow his swing and try to lift the ball
Alex
Feb 10, 2015 at 12:28 pm
YES!
When I did fittings daily, despite most claiming their ball flight was too high across the bag, most people I saw actually hit it way too low and with too little spin to be able to stop the ball on any sort of medium to fast green.
I can appreciate this article, for sure.
Interestingly, the higher ball hitting didn’t really increase spin, but I guess tour players probably have a consistent spin loft and just aim the dynamic loft differently so it would be pretty easy to have the same spin rates despite different dynamic loft values.
Ryan
Feb 10, 2015 at 12:16 pm
So Tom, I ask this more out of curiosity from a teaching perspective (though I’m not a teacher). Do you think that this changes common wisdom – that amateurs and pros alike should work from a middle of stance/chest ball position for PW and then move upward? In your opinion, should all of us mere mortals actually be taught to play all shots just back off the left heel (more like what a Jimmy Ballard would suggest) or that the standard ‘middle of stance’ PW should just be taught slightly more forward in general?
I understand the experiment yourself line, of course. But found this article very interesting.