How Do Golfers Know Where The Ball Lands
Hitting the ball in golf is only one part of it; the next trick is to find the ball so that you can play the next shot, and this is where a lot of time can be wasted or expended during a round of golf – so, how do golfers know where the ball lands?
The only real way to know where the ball lands are to watch it carefully and have your playing partners or caddies do the same. In most cases where the ball will not land on the fairway or green, golfers will take a line using the natural environment and then follow that to find the ball.
Let’s tee it up and see what methods and ideas you can use to track your ball in flight and use course markers, trees, and other natural landmarks to get a more accurate picture of where your golf ball lands.
How Do Golfers Know Where The Ball Lands On The Fairway
For the most part, hitting the ball on the fairway doesn’t require any ball-tracking skills, as you’ll know once you’ve hit it, when the ball lands it will hit the runway.
You’ll see this a lot in professional golf events, where the tee shot is hit, and the players turn away to pick up their tee within a few seconds after hitting the shot.
This is because they can see the line and know it’s not going to fade or draw, plus they have a good idea of where the ball should be on the fairway based on the trajectory and direction. The same would apply to all golfers. They also have marshalls and spotters on the course to watch where the golf ball lands ( something you won’t have!)
To get a more accurate idea of where your golf ball lands on the fairway, you can use bunkers, water, and other fairway landmarks to create a mental map of where your ball lands and where it should be.
How Do Golfers Know Where The Ball Lands On The Green
Again, this comes down to watching the ball in flight, and if the green offers an unobstructed view from the fairway (or rough), you will be able to see where your ball lands or if it has landed on the green.
It can be fairly difficult to determine exactly how far from the hole the ball is from a distance, and it often appears that the ball has landed closer to the hole than it has. We have a calculator to help you chose your clubs for the next shot on the site, both for men and women
Again, if there are greenside bunkers or other landmarks you can use for reference, you will have a pretty good idea of where your ball lands and where it has come to rest on the green.
How Do Golfers Know Where The Ball Has Landed In The Rough
The simple answer is – they don’t! Using the same techniques above to track the ball in flight and utilize the course landmarks to give you an idea of where the ball could be is the best you can do from the tee – unless you have a spotter.
If you are using a caddy, and if your caddy is any good, they will position themselves down the fairway to keep a closer eye on your ball, and when it goes left or right, they have a much better chance of finding the ball and the vicinity it’s landed in than you would.
Even so, if the ball is beyond the first cut, it may take some time to locate it, especially if there are leaves and other ground debris.
If you don’t have a caddy or spotter, most players will watch their playing partner’s ball in flight and then provide some info on where they saw it land or the line it may have traveled on using course landmarks as a guide the player to the ball’s vicinity.
Where the ball may have landed over the green, in a bunker or hazard, following the ball flight as best as you can gives you some idea of where the ball has landed and the line you should follow to find it.
Why Do Golfers Struggle To Know Where Their Ball Has Landed
The main reason why many golfers, especially amateur weekend players, often struggle to know where the ball has landed is that they don’t watch it!
This is particularly true when they have hit a bad shot and turned away in disgust and not watch where the ball lands, and this is the cardinal error and causes more balls to be lost than any other, especially considering how fast they can go if you really make contact with it! We look at how fast a golf ball can go in the link.
Everyone is guilty of this, even the pros, but they have caddies, spotters, and TV to help them find the ball, while the average weekend player has no such luxuries, so here is a tip: it will help you track and find your ball more often.
See The Ball Land To Know Where It Is
This is something that not many players do, and it’s a simple but very effective technique that, if you use it, will help you know where your ball has landed.
Once you have hit the shot and the ball is flying, don’t take your eyes off it until you see it hit the ground.
This sounds obvious, but how many times have you ‘watched’ the ball, only to assume you know where it’s going to land, and then when you arrive in the vicinity of where you think the ball should be, it’s not there?
This is because you take your eyes off it at the last minute, and that last minute is the minute that matters! Your eyes and brain are designed to track and follow objects in flight, so use that ability on the course and the range.
Practicing following the ball and seeing it land on the range will improve your skills in doing this on the course, and even better is to watch it roll and then settle after it lands. There are videos of golf balls taking a bounce on cart tracks and heading off on their merry little way hundreds of yards past where they should be! We have some examples of this in our What is the farthest a golf ball has been hit article.
This may not always be possible if you are hitting an elevated fairway or green, but make every effort to watch the ball land and come to a stop wherever possible.
We have a range of articles on golf balls that should answer the most common questions. Feel few to dive in.
- How do you know where the ball lands.
- How many dimples on a golf ball
- How far can a golf ball travel
- How fast is a golf ball
- why does my golf ball curve right
- Can you keep golf balls you find
- Why are golf balls white?
- Can you use colored golf balls
- Can you wash golf balls in a dishwasher
Conclusion
Knowing where your golf ball has landed doesn’t mean you’re always going to find it immediately, but not watching it in flight will greatly complicate that process.
Watching your ball in flight, seeing it land, roll and then settle, is key to having a greater probability of success in finding it!
