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Lou Stagner's Newsletter #140

Lou Stagner's Newsletter #140

"Good" Approach Shot Benchmarks

Lou Stagner
July 24, 2026

Weekly Quiz!

To see correct answer, click “CONTINUE” button at the bottom of the next page.

Good luck! 😀

From 95 yards in the fairway on a par four, how often will a 7 index player make bogey?

"Good" Approach Shot Benchmarks

This will sound quite obvious, but the better the golfer, the more often they hit it solid and “relatively” straight.

But what does that actually look like? I did a deep dive into the Arccos database for this one. The tables below have some great benchmarks you can use to help you understand and evaluate your approach play (on the course and while practicing).

The tables are only looking at shots from the fairway. And I only used holes where the pin was at least 10 yards from every edge. These are not “tucked” pins by any stretch.

In order for an approach shot to be considered “good”, it had to meet two criteria.

The ball had to travel at least 90% of the distance to the hole. For example, on a 100 yard shot, the ball needed to travel at least 90 yards to be considered hit “solid”. On a 150 yard shot it would have travel at least 135 yards. etc…
The ball needed to stay within a given distance left/right of the flag. (5, 10,15 or 20 yards)

For example, in the first table below, from 100 yards in the fairway a scratch golfer hits it within 5 yards left or right of the pin and the ball travels at least 90 total yards 60% of the time.

As you look at the tables below, notice that as we get farther from the hole, the gap between scratch players and 20 index players widens (at least as a multiple).

From 100 yards, scratch players hit a solid shot within 10 yards left/right of the flag 78% of the time. Our 20 index friends are at 42%. Scratch players hit that “good” shot 1.9 times as often as the 20 index.

When we get out to 200 yards and within 10 yards left/right, a scratch is at 39% and a 20 index is only at 8%. From 200 yards, scratch players hit “good” shots 4.9 times as often as the 20 index!

Now, for the astute readers… the gap in raw percentage points actually holds about steady, and even shrinks a little (36 points at 100 yards, 31 at 200). What keeps climbing is the multiple. Part of the reason is that a lot of 20 index players struggle to even hit the ball 200 total yards in the first place. The farther we get from the hole, the more better players separate themselves.

For most players, approach play tends to be the biggest gap between the index they are currently at and the index they want to get to. This is especially true for most of our mid and high index friends.

Keep working on that approach play as it is a HUGE key to better golf!