This Simple Golf Hack Is ILLEGAL On The Course... But Every Amateur Should Try It When Practicing!

Head to the driving range armed with Peter Finch's golf hack for finding more fairways. It might be banned on the course - but you have to try it in practice!

Peter Finch using his hands to point towards an inset image of himself aligning the golf driver clubface to an intermediate target (a tee peg in the ground) in a bid to hit more fairways
This simple golf hack could be the key to hitting more fairways...
(Image credit: Tom Miles)

There is no better feeling in golf than standing on the tee box and flushing one straight down the middle, but finding more fairways can be a difficult target to achieve for amateur golfers.

Despite a desire to improve your accuracy on the golf course, it appears the odds of finding the short grass might be slightly against you - according to the latest Shot Scope data.

The average amateur golfer hits around 47% of fairways off the tee, with a scratch golfer only averaging marginally above that (50%), but there is no need to be content with just being 'average'.

In this article, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach and PGA Professional Peter Finch shares a simple golf hack to try on the driving range that will revolutionise your performance off the tee - but remember not to try this one on the golf course...

Peter Finch: Simple Golf Hack For Finding More Fairways

Tips by...
Peter Finch hits driver at the 2024 Creator Classic ahead of the Tour Championship
Tips by...
Peter Finch

Peter Finch is one of the most recognisable PGA professionals in the world, delivering online free lessons to golfers across the globe with a combined social following of almost one million people.

In his coaching career, Peter Finch has supported golfers of all abilities to play better golf and shoot lower scores.

Improving your performance off the tee is a key component of the recipe for how to break 80 in golf, but it also allows us to be more positive with our second shot into the green.

If you are a 10-handicap or above, the stats suggest you are going to miss more fairways than you hit, but that in itself provides an opportunity - as if you can improve your driving accuracy then you should start to see a cut to your handicap index.

Much of this comes down to alignment on the tee box, which is something you can practice during your next driving range session using this very simple golf hack.

I must warn you, however, this is actually 'illegal' on the golf course, but every amateur golfer should absolutely try this when next hitting a bucket of balls while practicing at their local club.

Pick a target in the distance, then place a tee peg in the ground a few feet in front of your golf ball which is on that chosen target line. The tee peg now becomes your intermediate target, while the spot in the distance is your desired location.

Now, forget the desired location for a second and just focus on lining up the centre of the clubface with the intermediate target (the tee peg).

While you can't place a marker in the ground on the course, you can use an object or mark that is already there - so try to pick out a leaf, divot, twig or something else that can act as your intermediate target.

Peter Finch aligning his driver clubface to an intermediate target a few feet in front of him, a tee peg in the ground, in an attempt to hit more fairways with his driver

Use the intermediate target, the tee peg, to give yourself a reference point when aligning the clubface

(Image credit: Tom Miles)

Try to imagine you are playing on the course, so don't spend too much time thinking about your swing mechanics - just let everything flow naturally.

The idea is to get the golf ball travelling over the intermediate target. As if by magic, I bet you will notice your tee shots ending up much closer to your desired location in the middle of the fairway.

How Often Do Tour Professionals Hit The Fairway Off The Tee?

You'll be unsurprised to learn that tour professionals hit far more fairways on average than amateur golfers, but how many more?

The PGA Tour average is 57%, with the best performers averaging north of 70% - including Takumi Kanaya and Collin Morikawa hitting almost three-quarters of all fairways.

On LIV Golf, Henrik Stenson (73%) and Kevin Na (68%) lead the way, while on the DP World Tour it's Edoardo Molinari (78%) and Jamie Rutherford (74%) who sit at the top of the stats table.

Barry Plummer
Staff Writer

Barry joined Golf Monthly in January 2024, and now leads the instruction section across all platforms including print and digital. Working closely with Golf Monthly's Top 50 Coaches, he aims to curate and share useful tips on every aspect of the game - helping amateurs of all abilities to play better golf. A member at Sand Moor Golf Club in Leeds, he looks forward to getting out on the course at least once a week in the pursuit of a respectable handicap.

Barry is currently playing:

Driver: Benross Delta XT Driver

Hybrid: TaylorMade Stealth 4 Hybrid

Irons: Benross Delta XT 5-PW

Wedges: TaylorMade RAC 60, Callaway Jaws MD5 54

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour

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