The Approach Window
Twelve sessions that replace guessed yardages with measured ones and train every approach at a center-of-green window.
How you'll know it worked
Measured in session 1 and again in session 12: Approach shots in the window, out of 15; Honest 7-iron middle-six average carry.
Twelve sessions: a test, five building your real yardages, five training the window, the same test again. There's no weekly schedule — session 8 waits until you get there.
Each session is 35–45 minutes and about 30 balls including warm-up. A rangefinder helps for the target distances; the range's markers do the rest.
Two lies keep you off greens
The first lie: your distances. Most amateurs carry a number for each club that they've hit twice in their lives, play for it every time, and finish short and right all day. The second lie: the target. A tucked flag is a target you can miss by five yards and be in sand; the middle of the green is a target you can miss by twelve and be putting.
This program replaces both — your fantasy yardages with measured ones, and the flag with a window.
The honest expectation
- Window: 3 more than your baseline, whatever your baseline was
- The honest 7-iron: the number won't change — what changes is that you finally play for it
- On the course: one or two more greens in regulation a round (a green "in regulation" just means your ball is on it with two putts left for par) — worth a stroke or two on its own
Sessions
Session 1 — Baseline
Two tests to start. The test is the session.
The window test
Pick a range target and imagine a green around it
- 20 yards wide, and no more than 10 yards short of the flag or past it
- score where the ball first lands, not where it rolls out
- a shot on line but 15 yards short is a miss
Warm up with 10 uncounted balls, then hit 15 approach shots at the green
- use the club you would hit from 140-150 yards
- full routine on every ball: stand behind the ball, pick the target, one practice swing, hit
- playable counts; perfect is not required
- write the club in the block's notes, since the last session uses the same club even if your yardages have changed by then
The honest 7-iron
Hit 10 full swings with the 7-iron and enter the carry of each ball in Carries
- read the carry (where the ball first lands) against the range markers
- halfway between markers is a real read; nearest 10 yards is fine if that is all your range gives you
- the number does not have to be exact, but it should be read the same way every time
- range balls fly shorter than the ball you play, which is fine because the retest uses the same balls
- the score is the average of the middle six (the app drops the two longest and two shortest)
- compare it to the number you would have said out loud yesterday
2Real numbers: pitching wedge
Measure the pitching wedge's honest carry number and put it on your yardage card in My Bag.
- The middle-six measure · score: Middle-six average carry
- Repeat it · score: Carry spread of final ten
3Real numbers: 9-iron
Measure the 9-iron's honest carry number and put it on your yardage card in My Bag.
- The middle-six measure · score: Middle-six average carry
- Repeat it · score: Carry spread of final ten
4Real numbers: 8-iron
Measure the 8-iron's honest carry number and put it on your yardage card in My Bag.
- The middle-six measure · score: Middle-six average carry
- Repeat it · score: Carry spread of final ten
5Real numbers: 7-iron
Measure the 7-iron's honest carry number and put it on your yardage card in My Bag.
- The middle-six measure · score: Middle-six average carry
- Repeat it · score: Carry spread of final ten
6Real numbers: 6-iron
Measure the 6-iron's number. My Bag now holds five honest numbers. In your first round after this session, check one real approach (a rangefinder, a sprinkler-head yardage, or pacing from a marker all work) and adjust the whole card by the difference, since range balls fly shorter than the ball you play. One shot is a rough check, so let a few rounds confirm it.
- The middle-six measure · score: Middle-six average carry
- Repeat it · score: Carry spread of final ten
7The window
Every approach is aimed at the center of a green and scored on the window. No flag-hunting, regardless of how good the number feels.
- The scored set · score: Shots in the window
- Wrong-number reps
- One pressure finish · score: Windows found
8The window
Same window work: the scored set, wrong-number reps, and one pressure finish.
- The scored set · score: Shots in the window
- Wrong-number reps
- One pressure finish · score: Windows found
9The window
Same window work: the scored set, wrong-number reps, and one pressure finish.
- The scored set · score: Shots in the window
- Wrong-number reps
- One pressure finish · score: Windows found
10The window
Same window work: the scored set, wrong-number reps, and one pressure finish.
- The scored set · score: Shots in the window
- Wrong-number reps
- One pressure finish · score: Windows found
11The window
Last window session before the retest: the scored set, wrong-number reps, and one pressure finish.
- The scored set · score: Shots in the window
- Wrong-number reps
- One pressure finish · score: Windows found
12Retest
Session 1 again: the window test with the same club you used at the baseline (even if your card now says a different club from 140-150), then the honest 7-iron. Same green, same strictness.
- The window test · score: Shots in the window
- The honest 7-iron · score: Middle-six average carry
Content from Range Reps v2.0.0.