Let’s talk about laying up in golf. Here’s a scenario for you.
You’re playing a par 5 and you just smoked your driver. You’re 220 yards from the center of the green, which is a well-struck 3-wood for you. The problem, though, is that there is a body of water about 20 yards in front of the green.
How often do you flush your 3-wood? Well, not enough to shake the feeling that laying up might be the safer and SMARTER strategy. With the right club, you won’t put it in the water. You’ll have a wedge onto the green and, from that distance, can put it close enough to still have a birdie look.
As you start to pull your 5i out of your bag, your friends start giving you grief. They call you a wuss and point out that Charlie Woods could get on the green from there. In fact, that little guy with the tiger blood running through his vains could do it with a lob wedge.
You say screw it and grab your 3-wood. As you address the ball, your life flashes before your eyes. You take a deep breath, start your backswing, and then fire into your downswing.
You catch it fat. You don’t even have to look — you know your ball is heading for the water as if it were being pulled in by a magnet.
Did you make the right play? Should you have laid up instead?
What the Data Says About Laying Up in Golf
Let’s start with what the data says about laying up in golf. It’s easy to fall in a trap of relying on feels or “that one time,” but numbers don’t lie.
Shot Scope’s data shows that when you layup instead of go for the green on a par 5, you lose 0.60 of a stroke. Most golf courses have two to six par-5s. This means you could be losing 1.2-3.6 strokes per round. Not an insignificant amount for any golfer.
So why do golfers choose to lay up?
- Many golfers feel they play better from a specific yardage using a wedge or low iron.
- There might be a lot of hazards around the green.
- Often golfers prefer to make full swing shots rather than half or three quarter swing shots, or play from commonly awkward distances (20y, 50y, etc.).
While there may be some logic or truth to these reasons, the data simply shows that going for the green in two makes far more sense instead of laying up. Why is that?
Shot Scope data also shows that greens in regulation (GIR) increase significantly once you get around the 170-175-yard mark.
Average Greens Hit % From:
| 130 yards | 44% |
|---|---|
| 150 yards | 31% |
| 170 yards | 19% |
| 190 yards | 9% |
| 210 yards | 8% |
| 230 yards | 6% |
So even if you go for the green in two and miss, you have an excellent chance at securing a GIR so long as your second shot is inside of 175 yards — at least more so than outside of it.
The other thing to consider is that the closer you get on your second shot, the shorter your third shot will be. No duh, right — but here’s why that’s worth pointing out.
It is well known by now that the closer your are to the green, the closer you can get your ball to the pin on average. So not only will you hit more greens inside the 175 yard mark, but the more you can reduce this distance on your third shot, the shorter your first putt will be.
Average Proximity From 50-110 Yards
| Fairway | Rough |
|---|
| Yards to Pin | Proximity to Pin | Yards to Pin | Proximity to Pin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 35 feet | 50 | 48 feet |
| 80 | 48 feet | 80 | 58 feet |
| 110 | 64 feet | 110 | 80 feet |
Even if you miss the green on your third shot – which will happen – being closer to the green gives you a much better shot at trying to get up and down versus trying to get up and down from 50 yards or 100 yards out.
So if you’re wondering whether you should go for the green in two or lay up on a par-5, the stats are clear — you should go for it.
Should Golfers Ever Lay Up?
Are there any exceptions to this? Is there ever a time that it’d make sense for you to lay up in golf? I think so. Here are a few situations
- Recovery Shots – If you’re hitting a recovery shot from behind some trees, deep rough, or an awkward lie or position, it might make sense to lay up. What you don’t want to do is try to go for the green on a shot you’re not comfortable with and compound your mistakes.
- Awkward Yardage + Hazards – Another spot I’d consider laying up is if I’m unable to get inside the 175-yard threshold on my second shot due to my tee shot yardage and/or my current club distances AND my longest clubs would reach hazards if struck average.
- No Direct Line to the Green – Assuming you’re long enough that you can actually hit a green in two shots, you might decide to lay up because you can’t hit aim at the green due to something in your way (tree, dogleg, houses, etc.).
- Strategy – If you’re participating in match play, you might want to play a little more conservative so that you don’t give away strokes due to an error.
While the data says that you shouldn’t lay up on par 5s, you still need to assess the situation you’re in and choose the option that has the highest odds of success. Often that will be going for the green, but other times that will be laying up due to the situation you’re in, course conditions, etc.
What is Preventing You From Reaching the Green in Two?
Not every golfer is long enough off the tee and/or with their fairway hoods and hybrids to reach par-5s in two strokes. However, we all can advance the ball as far as possible, assuming that strategy makes sense.
If you don’t want to go for the green in two, you should ask yourself why. You might find that you need to improve your mental game or there is a particular area of your golf game that needs some attention.
Here are a couple of examples of things to look for.
Tee Shots
With the exception of maybe older golfers (think maybe 60+ or 70+), you should be able to hit 250 yards or more with your driver. If you’re not hitting your tee shots that far, it’d be worth exploring why. Are you curving the ball too much (hooks and slices)? Are you popping them up? Are you hitting down on the ball?
Or are you choosing to hit a 3-wood off the tee instead because you think it’s more accurate? FYI, it’s only marginally more accurate, but not enough to justify the yardage you give up versus hitting driver.
Do you constantly put your tee shots out of bounds? Not only does this bloat your score, but it can often put you in awkward spots for your second shot after you drop.
Fairway Woods and Hybrids / Long Clubs
These are some of the toughest clubs in the bags to hit because of their length. The longer the clubs, the more precise you need to be at sweeping the ball rather than hitting down on it. This is much easier said than done.
For both your driver and long clubs, I’d suggest getting some instruction, and then practicing these clubs until you’re comfortable using them on the course.
If you read Lowest Score Wins, you’ll see that these shots often matter the most as they advance the ball the most and gets you closer to the pin. Everything else being equal, getting closer to the pin is most important.
Course Management Strategy
Do you often find that you don’t have a clear look at the greens on your second shot or that you’re often putting the ball into hazards like bunkers or, worse, the water?
If that sounds like you, then you might want to do a couple of things:
- Go to the driving range or hop on a simulator.
- Hit several shots with each club and note your dispersion.
- Create shot zones with your dispersion. Get an idea of what your shot patterns look like.
- Use these shot zones to create decision maps. You’ll use decision maps to figure out how to navigate every hole on the golf course.
Assuming you don’t have a swing fault that is preventing you from hitting the ball close to where you might want it – you’re not hitting major slices or hooks – then you might want to look at how you’re navigating the course. It’s possible that you’re not aiming in the right directions per your shot dispersion.
You could be putting yourself in difficult situations due to your strategy. Once you know what your dispersion and decision maps look like, you can better navigate the course to dodge all the hazards and obstructions.
Push come to shove, you can always get help from a golf pro if you’re struggling to figure out what you’re doing wrong.
Last Thing: If You’re Going to Lay Up, Don’t Get Sloppy
The last thing I want to point out is that if you’re going to lay up, you still want to give the shot the respect it deserves. Chris Ryan does a good job of explaining what this means.
Key Takeaways from the Video
- Don’t get sloppy. Go through your full routine, even if you’re not hitting a full shot.
- Make sure you still aim at something. Aiming at the “fairway” isn’t good enough. Choose a target just as you would if you were hitting a normal shot.
- Make sure your target – if you hit it – will give you a clear line to the flag or middle of the green.
Something else I think is important when laying up or even going for the green in two is to always think about what your next shot might look like. If you don’t think about this, then odds are your decision (making) is going to be subpar. You might also find yourself in an awkward spot that you could’ve easily avoided.
By thinking about what your next shot could look like, it will help you determine what is the shot with the highest odds of success and increase your chances that your next shot will either set you up well to hit a green in regulation, have a shorter putt, or perhaps even have an easier time getting up and down if you miss the green.
Other than the data I presented earlier, this to me is the best way to decide whether you should go for it or lay up on par-5s.
Laying Up Golf Strategy FAQs
Should you lay up on par 5?
The stats from Shot Scope, Every Shot Counts, and Golftec say no. You will lose 0.60 strokes each time you decide to lay up. The decision is ultimately up to you, however, and will depend on a variety of factors including your distance to the green, club distances, line to the green, and more.
What is layup distance in golf?
Many golfers choose to lay up to a distance that gives them a full swing into the green with a club they like — usually around 100-130 yards.
What is a lay up in golf?
Laying up in golf is deciding to aim at a target short of the green or shorter than the distance you could actually hit the ball. Many golfers choose to lay up as a means of playing it safe or to give them a distance to the green they would prefer — usually one that requires a full swing with a wedge or small iron.