On Friday, I posted a poll asking readers: Do you think you should subtract 5 yards of distance for every 15 yards you aim on W/I shots? The post had 24 views as of early Sunday night. Here are the results:
Ten people voted; nine of them think you should subtract 5 yards of distance for every 15 yards you aim on W/I shots. I said in the intro to the poll that this is essentially how the W/I Shot Planner and Aiming tool in the Game Caddie work.
I misspoke. They don’t actually subtract anything from your shot, but they let you know that you will have to hit the ball five yards farther for every 15 yards you aim off the centerline to reach whatever target you are aiming for when taking a W/I shot. (This is the same point that Charles Derbes makes in his comment on the post.)
In retrospect, I think I should have reworded the original question that was posed to me via email to avoid any confusion. In any event, I’ll leave the poll up indefinitely, so anyone who wants to vote can. If there is any significant change in the results, I’ll make those available, too.
Personally, I don’t adjust back to the centerline. I only use the centerline off the tee. Full disclosure, I made my own rules years ago, and don’t rely on the grids … I aim directly from the ball to a chosen “target”. So, I don’t feel qualified to “vote” on the rules as written.
However. I would point out that I can find absolutely no evidence that the W&I charts are distance- adjusted for either the draconian original adjustment (full yardage off-center added to distance) or the more modest adjustments in the modern (2010-) game. Actually, the only place where I see any real need for an adjustment is closer in, where Pythagoras has a larger impact on the actual distance to the pin.
For reference, a simple distance-adjustment chart like ASG uses makes a lot of sense for one using grids.