When the pins are set close to the edges, stop aiming at them. Aim away from the edge of the green and you can still end up with some reasonable birdie putts. I always look at where the pins are and aim L or R of it depending on which side gives me the most room for the shot I want to hit. You should also take into account your normal ball flight...do you hit draws or fades and aim accordingly.

This is a question only the golfer can answer for themselves based on how they are striking the ball on a given day.
If you are on, go for it!

I always like to attack pins like you have stated you do. I hit a straight shot or slight draw. So I tend to miss a right edge side flag because of it. When I draw it on a right side pin I do have that longer putt but I am content with a 2 putt par.

But because of my draw I hit at most of them and let the draw place the ball on the green some place.

I also started shooting yardage on back flags (L,M,R) let's say 165 yds I would hit at the flag but a 160yd shot so I don't have a bad direction miss & length miss as well which can be costly to a round. Once again a 2 putt par isn't a bad thing.

A good short game is a must, I work on chipping, pitching & putting once a week. I average 34% on getting up/down per round

The more greens you hit the more birdie opportunities will you'll have, even if it's a 15-20ft putt.

Good Luck Joe

DM

MEDIO TUTISSIMUS IBIS

Latin for "it's always safest in the middle"

Middle of the fairway, middle of the green, middle of the hole!

Words to live by my friend.

Seriously though, if you are trying to score better, look for where you do not want to be (short sided in deep grass, OB, water) or where you want to be (on the green with a 10-20 foot putt for birdie). Would I like to have a 3 foot birdie putt on every hole. Yep. I just don't want the chance of bringing double or more into play.

But odds are going for that pin tucked to the far right of the green with water seriously in play if you are left or short, always take the safe route in the middle of the green between the bunkers leaving a 20-25 ft birdie putt. (Augusta # 12)

Some good advice by Barry B, i would also take into account your confidence with the club you'll have into the green. For example, if you love your 9 iron and feel good about it, thats a time to go. If you have a 5 iron and thats a little more dicey like me, you're hoping to just hit the green!

Aim at the center of the green. If you hit the green then you will have birdie putts more often.

Buy more Mulligans!

First, there are no mulligan's in golf. If you hit a bad shot, take it where it lies and play it. Our greens are new and play hard, will probably be that way for about two year. We cannot take on the pins for the obvious reason. We have to choose our positions on the green, but never flying it at the pin is one of them. Teaches us a lot of new ways of play the hole. Can be a learning experience. Seth Raynor greens.

If there were no flag on the green where would you aim??
Answer...middle of green..
The correct answer is always the middle of the green.
It does not matter if you are a righty or lefty.
The goal is to have 18 birdie putts a round, what you do with those is between you and SCOTTY C.
You always want your putter in your hand even if its 3 times the distance from the flag stick. Remember a bad putt will always be better than a bad chip.... madgolfer hitemstraight

Hi Joe:

I haven't seen anyone mention the distance for your second shot. As most have said, middle of the green is great, but what is your dispersion with your clubs. If you have 5 yards of green on either side of the flag and your normal dispersion is 10 yards, aim at the pin. If not enough room to fit your dispersion on either side of the hole, make the pin the outside of your dispersion and give yourself the fat part of the green.

Have you looked at the Decade scoring system? It's a game changer that has told me when its ok to go for the flag vs. when to play away. Its help my scoring ten fold and has gotten me down to scratch. Highly recco!

https://decade.birdiefire.com/

I suffer from being consistently inconsistent :)

Congrats! Everything is normal. Focus on approach’s inside 100-150 yards, aim for the center of the green and take a extra club and a silky smoooooth 3/4 swing back and forward.

Look at your tendencies over time. Are you consistently short-long-left-right? (most are short) Use that info to adjust so that you go for center green. As you improve, you can be more precise. Use your stats to take a hard look at reality for you.
Evaluate where your miss should be. If really bad long+right, adjust so that you do not go there.
Give yourself a few months - look at stats before and after.

Great advice Paul T! I actually purchased the Arccos system and it tracks all that data with your scoring clubs. You get a dispersion pattern that shows percentage of shots left, right, long, short, or on target. Having golfed for over 40 years, I thought I new my tendencies, but I think we all tend to forget poorly struck shots. My percentages were heavily weighted towards coming up short. So, now what I do as part of my approach prep is laser the flag. If it's 140 yards, I'll check the distances to front, middle, back. If the back is 160 and front is 125, I'm hitting my 150 club, no questions asked, knowing I won't go long unless I blade it, but a poorly struck shot will usually lose me about 10-15 yards shorter, which is still on the green. It's worked miracles for my GIRs...now I'm working hard on my lag putting!!!

I have found three things have helped me in this area: 1. Practice your lag putting! If you are confident that you can 2 putt from 30 feet, you won't feel as aggressive to go after pins that are cut near the edge, near bunkers, near water, etc. Just aim for the middle and take your chances from 20-30 feet. 2. Know your scoring clubs. I tend to play a slight draw but mostly straight, but I can hit a nice little baby fade with my 7 iron. So, on a hole with a pin cut on the right, I may play that hole to set up for my 7 iron instead of just bombing it to 8 or 9 iron range where I don't have that same capability; and 3. Map out the hole to minimize the left to right. What I mean is, if the hole is cut on the back left, coming at it from the right side of the fairway makes it less of a back left shot, and more of a back shot. So, again, maybe you fade your driver and drawer your 3 wood. So, for this scenario (if you're righty), you may choose to tee off with driver to increase your chances of getting it down the right side if you aim down the middle. You need to take it 1 shot at at time. If that drive doesn't wind up down the right and winds up down the left, you need to determine if you are comfortable drawing a ball in there off the center of the green, or just hit the middle and take your chances with a long putt...

I just started changing balls based on the known pin position. If I know at the tee box that the pin is up front I'll play a V1X for the stopping power. If I know the pin is in the back I'll play an AVX for the roll out. Middle, tight, left or right I'll again play the V1X to the middle leaving it close or no more than 30 feet for the left/right side middle positions. You know, I've been swinging a club 37 years but only started PLAYING golf about 5 years ago. Darn good question to help support the mental game. Thanks!

And what happens when you play in a competition with the 1 ball rule

The biggest thing for so many amateur golfers I play with is " course management " as they go for some silly or impossible shots

Fortunately I am lucky to be able to hit green with regularity so I get plenty of birdie putts

When I play a new course that's where course management works so well as I can plot my way around very easily

I have found that tracking my stats was the biggest thing that helped me in this area and with overall course management. Start with the big numbers, # of putts, # of GIR... then drill down further, to the clubs used... tracking those stats over time started to focus me in on what was working and what wasn't in a round.

Some of my best scores, I only used driver four times (par 5's), typically had a 6, 7, or 8 iron into the green which I am lot more consistent with. Once I realized that it changed the way I played, and I agree with one of the posts up above...

Take the trouble out of play. Even if it means a longer putt, stay away from a compounding mistake.

There are times when you can be aggressive such as a front pin location as long will still keep you on the green
Problem I find is most people are short because they don't commit to the shot and come up short
Confidence with a club is a great asset

There are a lot of different ways to approach the game; especially when it comes to attacking pins. I'm a big fan of Jon Sherman's book 'The Four Foundations of Golf'. His approach to the mental and then physical aspects of the game have helped improve my handicap. Stat tracking is always helpful and doesn't need to be over complicated. Simply track where you are missing greens & from what yardages. Are the shots short, long, right or left? This will help show you what to practice.
Personally, anything outside of 190 yds makes me go for the center of green no matter where the pin is located. That could change if there is a hazard on one side of the green pushing me further away from that.
The other note is related to your comfort level with the yardage / club you are hitting. This also makes it important to know you typical (stock) yardages.

Matter of knowing the course you are playing, the greens and know when to lay up and when to go for it. With some of the false fronts on our course and odd pin placements I will lay up to the edge of the green, chip up and play strictly for a par. Play the percentages. It balances out in the game of golf.