Greens in regulation (GIR) is the the one stat that I tops all others. Of course the challenge of achieving a high GIR percentage is something I try to work at most of the time. It sets up great scores and helps build confidence in your ball striking. For example, yesterday during my round I shot my season high of 14 greens in regulation (78%). This GIR percentage helped me comfortably loop the round without any fear hitting a poor shot. It was a great day and my success makes me think about what went right.
As I thought about how my GIR set up my game for success, I found these four things Chris Ryan talks about in his video.
The primary point that Chris makes that was really important to improving my GIR was understanding my dispersion distance. Has Chris says, if I was to hit 20 balls from 120 yards, my dispersion rate would be the distance between my farthest ball in the cardinal points. Once this is established, I can determine my aim point in relation the pin location. It is a very simple concept, but one that is highly important to hitting the green more often than not!
Obviously the rest of his points, know your distances, club selection and committing to the shot are critical as well, but for my game, understanding my dispersion rate tops the list.
There are many ways to improve your GIR percentage and maybe you have something that works for you. If you do, please share so that we can all learn.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
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Hi Jim,
sadly we have been in covid lockdown for a couple of weeks now, no golf. It will be back to the basics, how to swing a club.
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Pete,
We lived that for six weeks at the beginning of the golf season. It sucks, but like you said you can use the time wisely to work on parts of your game. Stay Safe.
Cheers Jim
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Knowing your miss, and your dispersion is certainly helpful when you’re trying to avoid trouble. Unfortunately, as amateurs our miss is more often than not in both directions which makes knowing dispersion a little less useful. On hole 16 at home I know my miss is usually right. And the shot I took tonight, an attempt at a low punchy 8 iron into the breeze from 135 is also going right most often when I miss. Today we played the same 9 holes twice and the first time around, I missed on 16 to the right as normal and left myself safely on the green for a not too difficult two putt but the second time around I hit a pull and sent the ball flying right over the green left of the flag leaving me a short sided downhill chip from deep rough which I somehow got spin on and stopped 5 feet short. I parred the hole both times, but knowing my dispersion didn’t really help the second time around. That one was more more luck and a solid putt. I fully expected to run right off the green with that chip.
It was nice out for our round this evening. Not as hot and muggy as we’ve had to suffer through recently. And Tony, a slightly younger Hawaiian native who has taken to playing with us gave me a good fight. We battled it out all the way around and ended up tied. He hits them with low draws most often and I hit tall fades as my go to shot so we both find it extra interesting watching the other navigate the course. I let myself get a little jealous of the club choices he’s able to make with the longer distances he gets and I overheard him telling a 4th who joined us how he admires the flight I get on the ball. It’s hilarious when I think about it.
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Kevin,
Great to hear that you are having fun playing with your new group. It is always nice to meet new people on the course. Ref your first comment, every tip in golf applies an 80% solution to our approach in golf. Knowing our dispersion rate should allow for a safe shot 8 times out of 10; the fact that it does not apply during some shots should be expected. There are many factors affecting the dispersion rate, but first most players have to actually figure out what that is on the range. Regardless, the tips are helpful for most players and I think it helps them focus on ways to improve their game.
Cheers Jim
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