Just What Is Shotmaking?

In this week's edition of Global Golf Post, Mike Purkey attempts to turn the notion of shotmaking on its head.

If you really want to put the full skills on display of the best players in the world, don’t regulate their grooves. Slow down the fairways. Then you will really find out who the shotmakers are.

A large part of Purkey's argument is that course conditions have stifled shotmaking. Firm fairways, he argues, which often supply upwards of 30 yards of roll, leave too many short iron approaches. Softer fairways, like those most recreational golfers hope to hit, would leave longer second shots and force the pros to hit a few long irons a round, thereby revealing the true shotmakers on Tour.

Now it is certainly true that long irons are more difficult to strike accurately than their shorter counterparts. But the club manufacturers have an answer for that. Witness the hybrid. Even the best players in the world are transitioning to hybrid clubs in lieu of 2 & 3 irons. Hybrids fly higher and mishits fly farther and straighter. They have made the game less difficult for players of all skill levels. It's safe to assume that should the Tour players find more long approach shots, even more would carry the more-forgiving hybrid in an attempt to mitigate the difficulty of the carry.