Aim at the center, play the back number

Stop firing at the flag. Your target on every approach is the center of the green, and play the yardage to the back, not the front. Why? Because your dispersion scatters balls short and long, and the center of the green is never a bad place — 'the center never moves'. Designers know it, which is why 72% of a green's danger sits in front — bunkers and water almost always guard the entrance — while missing long is rarely punished. Taking just enough club to reach a front flag is walking yourself into trouble.