If you’ve ever had to hit a crucial shot under pressure, you’ve likely heard the popular golf adage: aim small, miss small.
In a game where fractions of an inch can be the difference between birdie and bogey, it sounds like sage advice. But just because it sounds good doesn’t mean it’s true.
Does aiming at a smaller target actually guarantee a better miss? That’s the question Eric Alpenfels, a GOLF Top 100 Teacher, and Dr. Bob Christina of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro set out to answer in a 2018 study.
To determine how target size affects performance on the course, they conducted studies across various shots: tee shots (driver, 3-wood), irons (9- and 6-iron) and short game (pitching, chipping and putting).
While all of the studies revealed surprising conclusions, the results from the driving portion might be the most unexpected of all — and their findings could even help you hit more fairways.
Conclusion: Aim big to hit more fairways
Contrary to the “aim small, miss small” belief, Alpenfels and Christina’s study proved that aiming at a larger target led to improved performance in driving accuracy and distance off the tee.
How they got there
To reach this conclusion, Alpenfels and Christina monitored 32 right-handed male golfers, with an average age of 65. Players were split into two skill levels: low- and high-handicap golfers. The USGA indexes ranged from 1 to 11.8 for the low-handicap group and 13.4 to 30 for the high-handicap group.
A pre-study questionnaire revealed that, like many of us, most of the players in the test preferred aiming at small targets off the tee and typically chose driver over a 3-wood when given a choice.
To determine if small or large targets were more effective, each player hit 12 tee shots — six with driver and six with 3-wood — using their own clubs and the same ball for consistency. For each club, they hit three shots using a small target (roughly 0.30-yards wide) and three aimed at a large target (about 30-yards wide). Performance was measured by three data points: distance from the center of the fairway, fairways hit and total distance.
After analyzing the data, Alpenfels and Christina found that players performed better overall when aiming at a large target.
Average driving error (distance from the center of the fairway) was smaller when players focused on the larger target (~13 yards) than when using a small target (~14 yards). The number of fairways hit was also significantly higher when using a large target (64 fairways hit) when compared to using a small target (48 fairways hit).
Players also saw a small spike in driving distance — roughly 5 yards — when using a large target off the tee. The average driving distance when using a large target was ~220 yards, while players average driving distance with a small target was about ~225 yards.
With the data from this study, Alpenfels and Christina demonstrated that the old phrase “aim small, miss small” doesn’t hold up. In fact, they proved that “aiming big” might just be the key to unlocking more accuracy and distance off the tee.
