- 1 week ago
HOW TO SCORE BETTER ON PAR 5s! Ultimate Strategy Guide With Matt Fryer.
Professionals and elite players see par 5 holes as their main scoring opportunities, whereas they can often strike fear into the heart of the recreational golfer. The sheer length of these holes can be daunting and often lead to some card-wrecking scores. In this video, Golf Monthly staff writer and PGA Pro Joe Ferguson joins YouTuber Matt Fryer on the 18th hole at Royal Liverpool Golf Club to get some insight on how club golfers can tackle the par 5s more successfully with a better strategy…
Professionals and elite players see par 5 holes as their main scoring opportunities, whereas they can often strike fear into the heart of the recreational golfer. The sheer length of these holes can be daunting and often lead to some card-wrecking scores. In this video, Golf Monthly staff writer and PGA Pro Joe Ferguson joins YouTuber Matt Fryer on the 18th hole at Royal Liverpool Golf Club to get some insight on how club golfers can tackle the par 5s more successfully with a better strategy…
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Par fives, some of the most interesting holes in golf. Elite players and tour pros think they're
00:04the most scorable opportunities there is, but they can strike fear into the heart of
00:09the recreational golfer. We're here at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, home of the 2023 Open.
00:14We've got Matt Fryer and he is going to talk us through the best strategy to attack par fives.
00:19So we're here on the 18th tee Matt and it looks tight, we've got out of bounds all down the right.
00:31Are you still seeing this as a scoring opportunity? It can be and it can't be. I think there's a few
00:35things you have to take into consideration to make sure it does become a scoring opportunity
00:40instead of turning it into one of the card wreckers that you mentioned earlier. Correct, well for you
00:44from this tee we've got bunkers down the left there, 234 yards to reach, 253 yards to get past,
00:51out of bounds all down the right. Talk me through how you're going to go about this and talk me
00:55through how a recreational player might make a good strategy from this tee. Yeah well if we started
00:59with the recreational player obviously, as you said earlier, it can be scary sometimes I think
01:04we get onto par fives and we think oh these are the super long holes, see this one here 552 yards from
01:11where we're stood now. So that can bring a lot of fear into the golfer's eyes you know they think
01:15I'm never going to get there in three four maybe it's a long way I've got to hit some really good
01:20shots but if we broke it down I always say to my students if it was you know three shots that went
01:25200 yards we're 50 yards over the back of the green so it's not actually too long in that sense so don't
01:32let that big number think well that's your one destination almost break it down into small parts as we
01:38start but then once we understand if we could do it in segments you know three shots four shots bear
01:43in mind as well a lot of people probably have a stroke on the hole because they're usually in that
01:48sort of lower lower than 10 um on the stroke index for these par fives onto the team we've sort of
01:55looked at the distance aspect it's them building a plan I think a lot of amateurs would walk up here
02:00a lot of friends that I play with would generally get the drivers round about that 230 to 250 mark and
02:06they'll stand on the tee they'll hit a great drive that goes somewhere down the middle a couple of
02:11dodgy bounces and you're in a pot bunker and then straight away now you've got a hack out now you've
02:16got to try and get it back in play you've almost forced bogey upon yourself just one on that are you
02:22whilst you're assessing the hazards are you assessing the severity of those hazards to see whether it might
02:27be worth rolling the dice if those bunkers were shallow enough to advance it 180 yards yeah that'd be
02:33worth the risk of bringing them into yeah definitely and then look it and say okay well what what does
02:37it mean if I hit it in that bunker is it almost you know a definite bogey because I'm going to be in
02:42this small little pot bunker that I've got to flick out if it was a scraped bunker that I could even hit
02:47a three wood out of or a rescue and I can still go for it you can go for it so your first thing you've
02:52got to do is assess you know well what club can I put down there in play that can maybe allow me to go
02:58for the green in two or allow me to put my next shot into a point where I could hit a wedge or
03:03something like that into the green well this sounds very exciting you're talking a good game let's see
03:08it let's see it as I get this half decent the out of bounds isn't in play and the bunkers shouldn't be
03:16in play either that's a good one because I've actually pulled it a little bit left but luckily
03:24because of the club I've chosen I've managed to clear the traps because my carry distance gets by
03:28that last one right Matt we've located the ball as you said those bunkers out of play they went
03:33a little bit left of that now you've got a bit of thinking to do I guess what's the first thing
03:37that you do now I've got a yardage for you've got 277 to the pin where does it where does your
03:43thought process go what do you what do you think when you get here yeah again I think if we go back to
03:47what the amateur would do we think oh 277 I need to get up there it's par five I need to get
03:53there in two that's the only way I can make a birdie if I knock it on in two and two put but
03:58we've got to look at the lie firstly because that's going to dictate how I play those next 277 yards
04:03and for me here although I've managed to get out of the way of the trouble that was the bunkers and
04:07the out of bounds it's not the best lie that we've got so straight away if I were to make the mistake
04:13which I think I see a lot of amateurs go um through because we've got that distance they think right
04:18get one of your long clubs out now whether it's a three wood five wood seven wood hybrid
04:24we see that in behind the golf ball looking great it's not going to be the easiest shot out of there
04:29we know that we've got 277 and I like pitching from about 90 yards I've got a club in my bag a wedge that
04:35I use on a um on a clock face style swing that I would know will go 90 yards so it's okay well 277 minus
04:41my 90. I want to try and get it 187 the wind's a little bit into us today so I've selected a six
04:47iron because this is my 195 club but with this wind and how the lie is there's going to be a bit of
04:53grass in between the club face and the golf ball so that's going to take yeah exactly it's going to
04:58take some distance off me I will get a nice bounce here and also I just feel with the six iron it's
05:03enough to get the ball up out of that lie and still have some control with it I could go five iron
05:08potentially or four iron but again the out of bounds is still running down the right hand side
05:13so I know that that's there I still want to maintain an element of control as I'm going through this
05:20when we get on to the fairway in a moment it's a different scenario just taking you back a second
05:24Matt would you recommend most recreational players getting one you mentioned 90 yards as a comfortable
05:29one for you would you recommend amateur players finding a number that they they're particularly keen on
05:34and trying to play to that yeah I think so yeah as a starting point I think a lot of
05:38amateurs when we you know especially from a layup distance here even if you're on a par four let's
05:43say and you hit the ball into the trees and you're knocking out you're probably knocking it round to
05:47some distance around that 100 yard mark all the time so whether it's 75 150 whatever it would be if
05:53there was something that you were confident with when you find yourself on the par fives what you're
05:57able then to do is say right okay well what is it I need to do to try and get as close as I can to that
06:02distance if it's possible if not you would build another strategy to it lovely shot we're just
06:11bringing it in there we go scampering down the fairway and now it probably looks like I'm somewhere
06:18around that 90 number right so Matt you played that one nice and safely you were in the rough
06:21I've magically popped you in the middle of the fairway here just a little bit further up I'll give
06:25you 40 yards as well which is very kind to me that leaves us 235 I just lasered in fact from the middle
06:32of the fairway so I'm guessing for you this would be a green light situation yes talk me through it
06:39what's what what what what consideration are you giving this from here because it's still not an easy
06:42shot we've got bunkers in line with the pin short we've got out of bounds down the right what do you
06:47factor in here a from a strategy point of view and b from an equipment point of view yeah so I think
06:52again strategy comes to that question of like what lays in front of us as we saw off the tee it was the
06:58bunkers off the um off the tee and the out of bounds when we were in the rough it was the lie and then
07:04also again the out of bounds and what I was looking to do here when I get into sort of my green light
07:09go scenario here some people just go oh well it's my distance that I hit my rescue three wood I'll do it
07:15and they don't take into consideration like you just said three bunkers guarding the flag that look like
07:21they're very tight to it the outer bounds is down the right which brings you to where the front of
07:25the green is so if I wanted to try and get this close today I'm gonna have to get a little bit of
07:30launch on this and try and land it a little bit softly because anything coming in flat is going to
07:35get caught out by those bunkers and get snarled up in them so I've got to try and carry this pretty
07:40much all the way and get this launching high and landing soft as I go through so then when we move into
07:47our equipment side of thing you can see here I've got three of the woods that I do carry
07:51I've got my three wood I've got a five wood and I've also got a hybrid I chop and change with my
07:56five and the hybrid depending on where I'm playing but all do a very different job these things you
08:02know in terms of distance and trajectory yeah distance and trajectory so my three woods a longer
08:07one you would expect it to be the longest but it's also a bit of a flatter flight so this is a club
08:12that if I'm on the tee and I'm not driving it great this is sort of my fallback to fairway finder so
08:19if we go down to the five wood this is one that again launches a little bit higher due to the loft
08:24but what I've done is got a slightly um stiffer shaft in here and a slightly firmer tip because
08:30with a firewood the issue I would find is that they do pop up a little bit too much so depending on
08:36the profile of the shaft you would select so you're managing that loft with the profile of the shaft yeah
08:41exactly so we've got the ventus in all of these here the uh the rescue is the only one that isn't
08:46a tr one and it's the hybrid model but normally I'm a red ventus player so I'd normally see that go
08:54into my five wood but it launches a little bit softer in the tip higher launching yeah that's where
08:58I have the hybrid so it sort of does the same job as my five would but this is sort of the I want
09:05to get a par four that's maybe a little bit longer you know the the 460s or I want to get a par five in
09:11two when it's a nice still day I can launch this up and know that it's going to pretty much stop like
09:16a seven iron when it's coming in so it comes down to you know I think getting a good fitting overall
09:23there's there's lots of clubs out there and when we go through our bag selection maybe looking at what
09:29those woods are especially in that end of your bag because I see a lot of people still just carrying a
09:34three wood and then when do you hit it oh off the fairway do you generally have much success with it
09:39not really I struggle to get it up that's where maybe you know a five would with maybe a slightly
09:44softer profile helps you launch it just because it says five would on it you know my five would
09:48nearly goes as far as my three would but it's going up a little bit more one more question yeah
09:53you've got 230 are you always trying to play to the yardage because I hear a lot of tour pros saying
09:59when I hear those conversation you know the conversation overhearing when the caddies chat to the
10:02player on tour right we're leaving this short we're we're going to play to the back of the green
10:06we're going to play over there are you is that something you bring into your game wouldn't
10:09recommend yeah I would you know I'm a big user now of the of the watches so I look at front
10:15middle and back and if it was a shot like this where I can see that there is trouble there there's
10:18three pot bunkers that if I get them going in there and the faces look rather high from here
10:24it's going to be a struggle getting it up and down so two three five I'm on my hybrid but actually for
10:30this shot I would probably say right I'm going to get five wood out because I know I can carry it
10:34there yeah and if I do go a little bit beyond what we tend to find is that there's not much trouble
10:39at the back of the green so well that's pretty much as you drew it up Matt high floaty middle of the
10:50green oh look at that I think we're looking at an eagle pat let's go and have a look we'd sell that
10:57one right Matt we're here we're at your layup you've got 93 yards so it's very good distance
11:02control from the rough I'm impressed with that you've actually opened up the angle as well here
11:05you're right half the fairway pins left is that something that was deliberate or is that a happy
11:10accident obviously okay obviously we go so right you're back in position give me your thoughts from here
11:16yeah it's you know like we did we planned to get this distance so now I've got a swing that I'm happy
11:21with I've still got to take in the lie I've also got to take in the conditions we've got some wind
11:26coming in off the right so that is going to you know change how I may play this shot because as we
11:31look at where the hole is that green sorry the flag is tucked right in the back left corner of it so
11:38aiming straight at it the bunkers are still there on that left hand side if I don't quite get it yeah the
11:44wind could kill it and knock it down towards it so I'm probably actually going to aim in between
11:48where my second shot from the fairways ended up and where the flag is to allow the conditions dictate
11:54what the flight of the ball will be perfect and then again I think from the amateur's standpoint
11:59I see sometimes we get a little bit excited and we forget to do these things we've just got to stick
12:05to a consistent plan as we go through this scenario and try and build the score a lot of people think
12:10if I hit this close I'm going to make birdie it'll be my first birdie of the round or you know first
12:14birdie ever and they forget everything else that goes into it and subsequently end up hitting a poor
12:20shot so six into play yeah I think it's a case of like we just you know mentioned that consistent
12:25plan we've done it from the tee the layup go through it again just a couple of questions where's
12:30the trouble what club do I need to do again even technology comes into it here for what club you're
12:36using I think a lot of people have two um two stiffer shafts in their wedges and they're generally not
12:43using the correct loft as well well let's see this I think I think a good shot here would still be
12:48inside that five wood you've just hit yeah if I get it inside that five wood I've I've hit a pretty
12:52decent one it's it's pumping up a bit isn't it the wind it is all right
13:09stay there hold up oh just off the back right down on the green mat how would you assess that wedge shot
13:18I know we're not you hear all these people thinking you've got you've got to stiff it every
13:21time with a wedge based on the yardage the crosswind the difficulty of that shot how would you assess
13:2822 23 feet from there yeah well if we go back to where the tee shot was I'm happy to be here because
13:33we've managed to take what wasn't a great tee shot and set up the the um the option of a birdie now but
13:39yeah 22 feet pretty decent to be fair it's just giving yourself that chance if it would have been
13:45on the tee shot I decided to hit a hybrid or a three wood because I thought right the only way
13:50I'm making birdie is by knocking it on in two I probably would have been in the out of bounds
13:54so it's good to be in this spot and still have something available so you've been pragmatic you've
13:58got the chance to break par let's see it let's roll the birdie putt in no pressure then no pressure
14:04just to win the open
14:05lovely park great pace and the most stress-free par you can imagine I'll give you that one in one
14:15let's go and see the aggressive shot with a five wood has left you with a similar length for eagle
14:21now no pressure this would be a really grandstand finish
14:25you've been aggressive you've taken the shot on you've pulled it off
14:28how do you control your excitement levels here
14:29levels here I think you know I see that a lot of times in amateurs yeah I think acceptance in it
14:34we have hit a great shot the amount of times we would hit this shot to here you know it's probably
14:39a two out of ten something like that so it's you know yeah eagle's going to be great but let's just
14:44take everything into account again read it calm ourselves down go through that consistent strategy
14:50if we hold it brilliant if not let's make sure it was another
14:54simple stress-free tapping like we had a minute ago
15:07looking good just a little shy of pace that's enough for me
15:10you'll put short left it short but it's good enough for me and a very easy birdie so two very
15:15different ways of attacking the par five there we did we've highlighted yeah what's your takeaway
15:19message for those at home I think for me it's you know finding the trouble you know don't be
15:24overwhelmed when we get on the tee firstly find out where the trouble is throughout the hole have a
15:29consistent plan and then if we are looking at the top end of our bag get the clubs right for the job
15:35don't just pick clubs off the shelf thinking I need a three wood or five wood pick the ones that are
15:39right for you get the right shafts that are going to help you do the right shot for you there you have
15:44it strategy don't be overawed get the right equipment and attack the par fives
Recommended
12:38
|
Up next
12:38
1:29
4:10
0:52
6:05
7:41
3:55
3:03
9:02
14:34
20:42
3:45
15:58
19:17
Be the first to comment