Green Mapping: A Look Under the Hood

Yes, there are golfers that are more than happy to take down every bit of information they scrounge up on the internet and put it into play during their next round. Others though, might proceed with a little bit more caution than that in their ventures. More often than not, that person wants to see proof of concept before they buy in to whatever it is they're watching or reading.

Flashback to May 1, 2017 when I posted a video about how I am mapping greens prior to a tournament. If you haven't seen it already, get caught up HERE. A lot of people really liked having some direction for what to look for on a green during a practice round. Others suggested that it was too much to think about when preparing. Those people probably wanted proof of concept. Well, here we are taking a look under the hood and delivering that proof.

Last week, I spent some time with Nick Delio, one of our long time clients here at Don Parsons Golf Instruction where I'm based. (Give @donparsonsgolf a follow on IG while you're at it). To prepare for US Open Local Qualifying at Fort Washington Golf Club in Fresno, CA, we briefly charted the greens during our late afternoon practice round. That even allowed us to take a look at some of the hole locations for the tournament round the following day. I rewrote holes 16 and 18 for this post so everyone could follow along a bit more easily in these two videos outlining what we noted on each hole, what was important, and why.

HOLE 16

HOLE 18

So what does this do for you? As a tournament golfer, you're going to want to have every advantage possible while you're out there. Despite having a pin sheet, you're going to want to know, not guess, if a pin is on top of a shelf, or just in front of a ridge. If you're fortunate enough to have the hole locations, you're going to want to have a pretty good handle on what the percent slopes are around those pins. It's the little advantages that can be the difference between punching your ticket to the next round, qualifying for the big event, or bringing home the trophy. Consider this post a look under the hood at how I work and the proof if you don't think this stuff matters.

Congratulations Nick on qualifying for US Open Sectionals!