Entries Tagged as 'Chipping'

Learn to Bump and Run – You are not a PGA Professional!

When your ball is greenside with the cup 30 feet away from the fringe do you try to be a PGA Professional? You pick up a sand wedge or a pitching wedge and try to fly the ball to the hole. When I try the ball occasionally flies very nicely to the hole. But often it goes everywhere but where I want it to go. We all know the line drive over the green or the flubbed shot that goes three feet.   There is a better way.

Learn the bump and run. It is not sexy but it is effective. The idea is to try to fly the ball 20% of the way and have it roll 80%. Use a seven or a six iron or even a five if necessary. Place the ball back in your stance with a majority of your weight on your front foot. Have the shaft leaning ahead of the golf ball. Then just make a putting motion. It’s amazing! With a little practice your ball starts ending up consistently near the hole.

Remember it is easier to hat a ball shorter and gain consistency. Forget about sexy, look for results.

As always, keep ‘em in the fairway!

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Golf Chipping and Putting – Love it or Hate it?

When you are out golfing on a beautiful day how many times have you had two great shots to almost reach the green and then take four or five more shots to get in the hole?  That has certainly happened to me many times.

No one likes to practice chipping and putting.  There are so many different instruction books on the short game, all with a different technique.

First you need to commit to one technique and stick to it. Far be it from me to dictate which technique to use (I am a David Leadbetter guy), just pick one. Next practice, practice and practice some more.

But that is only part of the solution to becoming an improved player. If you do not have the right attitude you will mentally find a way to self destruct. (Try to remember the putter is not your enemy) Dr. Bob Rotella is the guru of the mental side of the game. Below is a short video from Practice Like a Pro in which he discusses the attitude you should have about the short game. While easier said than done, he makes perfect sense.

What do you think?

As always keep ‘em in the fairway.

 

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Golf Chipping Instruction That finally Worked

I firmly believe in not giving anyone  golf lessons as I am far from qualified. It is also not great for a marriage but that is for another blog.

Becky has been playing golf for four years. She has had some success in all phases of the game except for chipping. Once she is on the green she can putt well but it is painful watching her trying to get on the green or roll over the green. It got to the point where it was producing anxiety for her and taking away her enjoyment of the game. So I broke my no golf lesson rule and tried to help her.

We first tried the classic technique of setting up with the majority of the weight on the front foot. The ball played towards the back of the stance and the heads ahead of the ball. The key to success is maintaining the angle of the left wrist.  However Becky consistently tried to flip the ball up with her left wrist.  We tried various aids including taping a comb to the back of her left wrist but nothing seemed to stop her from the “flip”. I threatened to put her wrist in a cast but she failed to find that funny.

We next tried to chip putt. Placing the shaft near vertical, which places the club slightly on its toe, and using her putting stroke also did not work out. She felt that by putting the club on its toe the available hitting area on the face of the club decreased and left her too small of a margin for error. Her efforts proved her to be correct.

Finally we decided that since she has a consistent putting stroke we needed to find a way to make it work for her. Starting with a seven iron, she soled it naturally in the middle of her stance; weight evenly distributed like her putting stance, choked down slightly on the club and simply used her putting stroke. The ball came out cleanly with the appropriate amount of loft. Most importantly it was repeatable. She tried the eight iron, nine iron and pitching wedge and settled on the seven and the wedge as the easiest to handle.  Currently she is using the distance formula for the seven iron of 30% air and 70% roll. The wedge is 60/40. As her works more on her chipping her guesstimates will also improve.

This technique will not get her on the LPGA but it has taken out the frustration and anxiety she felt and has helped her regain the joy of the greatest game of all…Golf    

Tom

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