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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…
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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.
00:25So we're here on the 18th tee Matt and it looks tight, we've got Out of Bounds all down the
00:30right,
00:31are you still seeing this as a scoring opportunity? It can be and it can't be, I think there's a
00:35few
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 we get
01:04onto par fives and we think oh these are the super long holes, see this one here 552 yards from
01:11where
01:11we're stood now so that can bring a lot of fear into the golfer's eyes you know they think I'm
01:15never
01:15going to get there in three four maybe it's a long way I've got to hit some really good shots
01:20but
01:21if we broke it down I always say to my students if it was you know three shots that went
01:25200 yards
01:26we're 50 yards over the back of the green so it's not actually too long in that sense so don't
01:31let that
01:32big number think well that's your one destination almost break it down into small parts as we start
01:38but then once we understand if we could do it in segments you know three shots four shots bear in
01:43mind as well a lot of people probably have a stroke on the hole because they're usually in that sort
01:48of lower lower than 10 on the stroke index for these par fives onto the team we've sort of looked
01:55at
01:55the distance aspect it's them building a plan I think a lot of amateurs would walk up here a lot
02:00of 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
02:10dodgy bounces and you're in a pot bunker and then straight away now you've got to 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
02:21you
02:21whilst you're assessing the hazards are you assessing the severity of those hazards
02:25to see whether it might be worth rolling the dice if those bunkers were shallow enough
02:29to advance it 180 yards yeah that'd be what worth the risk of bringing them into yeah definitely
02:35and then look at and say okay well what what does it mean if I hit it in that bunker
02:39is it almost you
02:40know a definite bogey because I'm going to be in this small little pot bunker that I've got to flick
02:44out if it was a scraped bunker that I could even hit a three wood out over a rescue and
02:49I can still go for
02:50it you can go for it so your first thing you've got to do is assess you know well what
02:54club can I put down
02:55there in play that can maybe allow me to go for the green in two or allow me to put
03:00my next shot
03:01into a point where I could hit a wedge or something like that into the green well this sounds very
03:06exciting you're talking a good game let's see it let's see it as I get this half decent the out
03:13of
03:13bounds isn't in play and the bunkers shouldn't be in play either that's a good one because I've actually
03:21pulled it a little bit left but luckily because of the club I've chosen I've managed to clear
03:26the traps because my carry distance gets by that last one right Matt we've located the ball as you
03:31said those bunkers out of play they went a little bit left of that now you've got a bit of
03:35thinking
03:36to do I guess what's the first thing that you do now I've got a yardage for you got 277
03:40to the pin
03:42where does it where does your thought process go what do you what do you think when you get here
03:45yeah again I think if we go back to what the amateur would do we think oh 277 I need
03:51to get
03:51up there it's par five I need to get there in two that's the only way I can make a
03:54birdie if I knock
03:55it on in two and two put but we've got to look at the lie firstly because that's going to
04:00dictate how
04:01I play those next 277 yards and for me here although I've managed to get out of the way of
04:06the trouble
04:06that was the bunkers in the out of bounds it's not the best lie that we've got so straight away
04:11if I
04:12were to make the mistake which I think I see a lot of amateurs go um through because we've got
04:17that
04:17distance they think right get one of your long clubs out now whether it's a three wood five wood
04:22seven wood hybrid we see that in behind the golf ball looking great it's not going to be the easiest
04:28shot out of there we know that we've got 277 and I like pitching from about 90 yards I've got
04:33a club
04:34in my bag a wedge that I use on a um on a clock face style swing that I would
04:38know would go 90 yards
04:39so it's okay well 277 minus my 90 I want to try and get it 187 the wind's a little
04:45bit into us today
04:46so I've selected a six iron because this is my 195 club but with this wind and how the lie
04:52is there's
04:53going to be a bit of grass in between the club face and the golf ball so that's going to
04:56take yeah
04:57exactly it's going to take some distance off me I will get a nice bounce here and also I just
05:02feel
05:02with the six iron it's enough to get the ball up out of that lie and still have some control
05:07with it I
05:07could go five iron potentially or four iron but again the out of bounds is still running down the
05:13right hand side so I know that that's there I still want to maintain an element of control as I'm
05:18going
05:19through this when we get on to the fairway in a moment it's a different scenario just taking you
05:23back a second Matt would you recommend most recreational players getting one you mentioned
05:2890 yards as a comfortable one for you would you recommend amateur players finding a number that they
05:33they're particularly keen on and trying to play to that yeah I think so yeah as a starting point I
05:38think a lot of amateurs when we you know especially from a layup distance here even if you're on a
05:42par
05:43four let's say and you hit the ball into the trees and you're knocking out you're probably knocking it
05:47around to some distance around that 100 yard mark all the time so whether it's 75 150 whatever it would
05:53be if there was something that you were confident with when you find yourself on the par fives what you're
05:58able then to do is say right okay well what is it I need to do to try and get
06:01as close as I can to that
06:03distance 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
06:31from the
06:32middle of the fairway so I'm guessing for you this would be a green light situation yes talk me
06:38through it what's what what what what consideration are you giving this from here because it's still
06:42not an easy shot we've got bunkers in line with the pin short we've got out of bounds down the
06:46right
06:46what do you factor in here a from a strategy point of view and b from an equipment point of
06:51view yeah so
06:52I think again strategy comes to that question of like what lays in front of us as we saw off
06:58the t
06:58it was the bunkers off the um off the tee and the out of bounds when we were in the
07:02rough it was the
07:03lie and then also again the out of bounds and what I was looking to do here when I get
07:08into sort of my
07:08green light go scenario here some people just go oh well it's my distance that I hit my rescue three
07:14wood I'll do it and they don't take into consideration like you just said three bunkers guarding the flag
07:20that look like they're very tight to it the out of bounds is down the right which brings you to
07:25where
07:25the front of the green is so if I wanted to try and get this close today I'm gonna have
07:29to get a
07:30little bit of launch on this and try and land it a little bit softly because anything coming in flat
07:35is going to get caught out by those bunkers and get snarled up in them so I've got to try
07:39and carry
07:40this pretty much all the way and get this launching high and landing soft as I go through so then
07:46when
07:46we move into our equipment side of thing you can see here I've got three of the woods that I
07:50do 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
07:56with my five
07:56and the hybrid depending on where I'm playing but all do a very different job these things you know
08:02in terms of distance and trajectory yeah distance and trajectory so my three woods are a longer one
08:08you would expect it to be the longest but it's also a bit of a flatter flight so this is
08:12a club that
08:13if I'm on the tee and I'm not driving it great this is sort of my fallback to fairway finder
08:19so if we
08:20go down to the five wood this is one that again launches a little bit higher due to the loft
08:24but
08:25what I've done is got a slightly stiffer shaft in here and a slightly firmer tip because with a
08:31five wood the issue I would find is that they do pop up a little bit too much so depending
08:35on the profile
08:36of the shaft you would select so you're managing that loft with the profile of the shaft yeah exactly so
08:42we've got the ventus in all of these here the uh the rescue is the only one that isn't a
08:47tr one
08:47and it's the hybrid model but normally I'm a red ventus player so I'd normally see that go into my
08:54five
08:55wood but it launches too high for me yeah that's where I have the hybrid so it sort of does
09:01the same
09:01job as my five wood but this is sort of the I want to get a par four that's maybe
09:07a little bit longer
09:08you know the 460s or I want to get a par five in two when it's a nice still day
09:13I can launch this
09:14up and know that it's going to pretty much stop like a seven iron when it's coming in so it
09:19comes
09:19down to you know I think getting a good fitting overall there's there's lots of clubs out there
09:25and when we go through our bag selection maybe looking at what those woods are especially in that
09:30end of your bag because I see a lot of people still just carrying a three wood and then when
09:36do you
09:36hit it oh off the fairway do you generally have much success with it not really I struggle to get
09:41it up that's where maybe you know a five wood with maybe a slightly softer profile helps you launch it
09:46just because it says five wood on it you know my five would nearly goes as far as my three
09:50would but
09:50it's going up a little bit more one more question yeah you've got 230 are you always trying to play
09:56to
09:56the yardage because I hear a lot of tour pros saying when I hear those conversa you know the conversation
10:01overhearing when the caddies chat to the player on tour right we're leaving this short we're we're going to play
10:05to
10:05the back of the green we're going to play over there are you is that something you bring into
10:09your game would recommend yeah I would you know I'm a big user now of the of the watches yeah
10:14so
10:14I look at front middle and back and if it was a shot like this where I can see that
10:17there is trouble
10:18there there's three pot bunkers that if I get them going in there and the faces look rather high from
10:23here it's going to be a struggle getting it up and down so two three five I'm on my hybrid
10:29but actually
10:30for this shot I would probably say right I'm going to get five wood out because I know I can
10:34carry it there yeah and
10:35if I do go a little bit beyond what we tend to find is that there's not much trouble at
10:39the back of
10:39the green so well that's pretty much as you drew it up Matt high floaty middle of the green
10:51oh look at that I think we're looking at an eagle Pat let's go and have a look we'd sell
10:57that one
10:58right Matt we're here we're at your layup you've got 93 yards so it's very good distance and control from
11:02the rough I'm impressed with that you've actually opened up the angle as well here you're right half
11:06the fairway pins left is that something that was deliberate or is that a happy accident obviously
11:11okay obviously we go so right you're back in position give me your thoughts from here
11:15yeah it's you know like we did we planned to get this distance and now I've got a swing that
11:21I'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
11:25wind
11:26coming in off the right so that is gonna you know change how I may play this shot because as
11:31we look at where
11:32the hole is that green sorry the flag is tucked right in the back left corner of it so aiming
11:39straight at it the bunkers are still there on that left hand side if I don't quite get it yeah
11:43the wind
11:44could kill it and knock it down towards it so I'm probably actually going to aim in between where my
11:48second shot from the fairways ended up and where the flag is to allow the conditions dictate what the
11:54flight of the ball will be perfect and then again I think from the amateur's standpoint I see sometimes
12:00we get a little bit excited and we forget to do these things we've just got to stick to a
12:05consistent
12:05plan as we go through this scenario and try and build the score a lot of people think if I
12:11hit this
12:11close I'm going to make birdie it'll be my first birdie of the round or you know first birdie ever
12:15and they forget everything else that goes into it and subsequently end up hitting a poor shot so six
12:21into play yeah I think it's a case of like we just you know mentioned that consistent plan we've done
12:25it
12:25from the tee the layup go through it again just a couple of questions where's the trouble what club
12:31do I need to do again even technology comes into it here for what club you're using I think a
12:37lot of
12:37people have two um two stiffer shafts in their uh wedges and they're generally not using the correct
12:44loft as well well let's see this I think I think a good shot here would still be inside that
12:48five wood
12:49you've just yeah if I get it inside that five wood I've I've hit a pretty decent one it's it's
12:53pumping
12:54up a bit isn't it the wind it is all right
13:10hold up oh just off the back right down on the green mat how would you assess that wedge shot
13:18I
13:18know we're not you hear all these people thinking you've got you've got to stiff it every time with
13:22a wedge based on the yardage the crosswind the difficulty of that shot how would you assess 22 23
13:29feet from there yeah well if we go back to where the tee shot was I'm happy to be here
13:33because we've
13:34managed to take what wasn't a great tee shot and set up the the um the option of a birdie
13:39now 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
13:50way
13:50I'm making birdie is by knocking it on in two I probably would have been in the out of bounds
13:54so
13:54it'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
14:10lovely 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
14:21but 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
14:27how do you control your excitement levels here because I see that a lot of times in amateurs
14:32yeah I think acceptance in it we have hit a great shot the amount of times we would hit this
14:37shot to
14:37here you know it's probably a two out of ten something like that so it's you know yeah eagle's
14:42going to be great but let's just take everything into account again read it calm ourselves down go
14:49through that consistent strategy if 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
15:10an eagle put short left it short but it's good enough for me and a very easy birdie so
15:15two very different ways of attacking the par five there we've highlighted yeah what's your
15:19takeaway message for those at home I think for me it's you know finding the trouble you know don't
15:24be overwhelmed when we get on the tee firstly find out where the trouble is throughout the hole
15:28have a consistent plan and then if we are looking at the top end of our bag get the clubs
15:33right for the job don't just pick clubs off the shelf thinking I need a three wood or five wood
15:38pick the ones that are right for you get the right shafts that are going to help you do
15:43the right shot for you there you have it strategy don't be overawed get the right equipment and attack
15:48the par fives
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