Aim: To provide you with an insight as to the typical mental "flowchart" which you should go through before a shot. This shouldnt take more than a few seconds except for the trickiest of shots, and you should already be thinking ahead as soon as your previous shot has landed.
Everyone has their own way of doing this, but I will share the typical thought processes which govern my shot selection. I don't use charts so this is not an excuse to take ages over the shot, you should already be thinking about the rough club you'll need as soon as you see the previous shot finish, once you know how far you have. Don't sit here for ages pouring over charts, just be positive, take everything into consideration and then commit to the shot. If it's a good one, make a note of it and likewise if it doesn't go according to plan then make a note of it and hopefully you may be able to identify where the error came from, be it a bad snap, misread of lie or wind, wind change etc....So, here is a rough summary of how my brain works out a shot, and this takes a few seconds for me, but don't rush...that sort of speed comes with experience and practice.
Step One : Distance to Pin
Look at yardage to flag. Adjust this yardage based on the uphill/downhill nature of the shot.Look at the lie, is it uphill or downhill ? equate this to an approximate yardage by thinking of it as a built in loft to your shot setup...a small lie is only about 1 click, bigger lies will be 2, 3 and sometimes more. Now you have a base yardage
Step Two : Factor in the wind
For breezy I play about 15 yards plus or minus if the wind is straight up or down, and either 10 or 5 yards for the two main angles between vertical and horizontal, for a side breeze I wont adjust the distance. For the wind you gain about 30-40 yards for most clubs in the range ( see wind section) for a tail wind and lose a similar amount for headwind..Refer to the wind section for advice on how to work out the difference for angles between vertical and horizontal. For a crosswind the shot will be about 5 yards longer unless you are going to fade or draw in which case its about twice as much ( 10yds ). Make sure the lie isnt too severe, if its very uphill the wind will grab the ball much more, and for downhill lies obviously less.You should have a fair number now for the club to use
Step Three : Factor in the greens
For hard/fast greens just play the shot as though it was 5-10 yards shorter depending on the slope, and for soft slow greens add about 5-10 yards depending on slope. Be careful if the pins are front or back....try to play too "cute" (ie short) with pins near the front on hard fast greens and you'll bump it into the front which may be a slope/rough or bunker...sometimes it can be the fringe which can help to stop the ball some. Similarly, dont go too far past the pins at the back, the greens might be uphill and sloping back to you, but you wont get any backspin or check if it hits the fringe or rough at the back and it may even kick on and go way long.
Step Four : Aim
For no wind, no lie and no severe slope on the green go for the pin with the pin camera...if there is a slight slope to the green try going a few feet to one side to allow some break on landing. For breezy I usually aim 15-30 feet wide of the pin and for windy you'll see (windy section) that the drift is anything from 20-28 yards for a full crosswind. Again, you'll hopefully learn in the wind section how to gauge the angles inbetween. Use a fade/draw if you can ( remember lost distance!) because the drift is reduced to 10-15 yards meaning you dont go so wide of the green..try and keep your ball path over the fairway and green if you can, avoid big looping bananaballs over hazards. Watch the lie, as mentioned in the lies section at pro level a slight lie is worth about 10 feet of drift and can be up to 40 feet or more for the big red arrows.The lie will accentuate a wind in the same direction and counter a wind ( but not much ) when in opposite direction. Remember also that fade/draw will be strongly increased by a lie in same direction and reduced if in opposite direction.
Step Five : Check
First up I look at where I am aiming and where I expect the ball to go, and make a final decision..is this smart...am I risking a hazard or trouble when I could play more cautiously for the middle of green...is there a mound /slope which is going to affect the shot a lot before it gets on the green, if I am happy I will make a final check that the wind hasnt changed significantly, and then I will go into my snap routine and fire away. As part of this stage I will often check if there is anywhere I DONT want to be, no matter what and maybe I will shift my aim slightly away from that or I will adjust my snap timing to make sure I dont miss to that side...this is usually for example when a hook will get in the water, I might go slightly more right and hold off the snap to make sure I dont hook, even at the cost of a slight slice.
You might not believe all that could be compressed into a few seconds but it is, and you'll find that the more you play the more you will be able to look at the shot, with an idea of club already in mind from where you know the previous shot landed, you'll look at the wind and lie, make a fair estimate of the effect on line and distance, and hit away in a matter of a few seconds. I only included so much just to give you a feel of everything that affects a shot, but you really will surprise yourself by how much of this is done semi-consciously and very quickly. If you find yourself taking ages for every shot then you are being too precise and laboured and you are probably boring everyone to death! Be thorough, dont be rushed and dont be scared to adjust your shot if something changes or you dont feel good about it, but once you commit to the shot, step up and hit it and trust your calculations / feel.
Key Points:
VISUALISE the shot as the previous lands so you have a rough feel for what sort of club is needed
Take account of all the relevant factors for the shot and adjust the club accordingly
Use LOFT to fine tune shots that you feel are slightly too long / short
Don't rush, be careful, but dont spend minutes on every shot you take
Dont be afraid to change your club but COMMIT to the shot once you step up to the ball before you snap
Try to picture holes in reverse so you know where you will be coming in from.Championship note: Nearly everything is still true for championship level, except for two things. Firstly, as you'll be aware the snap is going to be much more critical and this might affect how brave you are...if you have a lie and wind in one direction you know a mis-snap in that direction is going to be big trouble, so perhaps be more conservative and dont go for all the pins so hard, use the contours of the course to run balls up onto the centre of the green and aim for the biggest parts of fairways and greens rather than basing your aim on the pin. The other thing is the effect of lies is much stronger in championship level, maybe about twice the amount as in pro so watch out for those lies, especially the sidehill lies. Your shot selection process at champ level might also include a few practice swings, but check the conditions havent changed when you step back to the ball.