Archive for the ‘Improve your Short Game’ Category

When you decide to become a better, more strategic golf player, you must put extra emphasis on the improvement of the accuracy you make with your short irons.

The Reason?

Because your game will be made up of far more layup shots than those long drives from the tee. Once you have properly gone through your layup shot on longer holes, the short iron is your next club for success.

The short irons you use in the game are really the clubs that make or break your score. Considered to be the scoring clubs in the game of golf, these are the ones that you should use to get the ball close to the hole.

Short irons are the best clubs used for pin-point accuracy because:

1) The clubface of these clubs have the most loft.

2) They have the shortest shafts.

So long as you set up the ball properly then the high degree of loft provided practically guarantees your ball to be a straight shot. Combined with the shorter shaft, you have an accurate and more controlled swing. This means that it is less likely that you will have a major mistake within the mechanics of your swing.

I played a round of golf last week and discovered my lob wedge. An ideal club for the flop shot.  It has been sitting in my bag for years after I won it for the longest drive in a competition. I have however, been reluctant to use it but some reason last week decided to give it another go and it worked. The lob wedge is ideal for playing the flop shot.

A flop shot is when the golfer purposely hits the ball high into the air without sending it much distance. Flopping the ball like this became popular with the creation of the 60° wedge and square grooves.

A perfect example of a common scenario on the golf course is when a player misses the green with their approach shot. The ball is sitting right off the green, but buried in medium length grass.

When you assess the situation, you notice that the green is a bit elevated above the ball.  In addition, a bunker stands in the way. You cannot just hit the ball, as it will fly far over the top and you will face a long comeback putt. The chip shot will fly too low, and travel too far. The pitch shot will fly longer, but may still travel too far.

The only answer? The flop shot! The ball will fly for a short distance, and will barely roll after it lands, which is exactly what you are after. It worked for me on a couple of occasions last week and got me out of some tricky situations.

Deciding if and when to pitch the ball when you are close to the hole depends on several factors, especially if putting is out of the question (which is always the best shot to take near the hole whenever possible, on or off the green).

Here are some tips to help you decide the next time you play:

1) Always play the pitch shot whenever you must carry several yards of rough in order to get the ball to travel to the edge of the green.

2) You should attempt the pitch shot whenever the ball is buried in the rough with only the top half showing.

3) When playing from the fairway, a pitch shot is the ideal choice if at any point you feel that chipping the ball makes you uncomfortable (learn to listen to your instincts).

4) And finally, a wet golf course means pitching the ball almost entirely throughout the game. Why? Because it can be almost impossible to predict the length the ball will run when the course is drenched.

Hands Lead the Clubhead

One of the golden rules of chipping is to make sure that the hands lead the clubhead through the hitting area, thus guaranteeing that all-important descending angle of attack.

This is a crucial point of understanding for amateur golfers: if the hands stay ahead, a clean and consistent strike is far more likely.

If, however, you allow the clubhead to overtake the hands coming into impact, the arc of the swing effectively bottoms out before it reaches the golf ball. In that instance, a miss-hit is virtually assured.

Keep The Forearms “Soft”

As you probably already know, any tension in your hands, arms, or body destroys your chances of hitting solid, consistent golf shots. This is also the case with chipping.

To prevent this insidious fault from creeping into your action, try to make sure your forearms stay soft as you swing the club back and through. That thought alone effectively “oils” the swing with a lovely smooth rhythm.

It also helps to keep the acceleration smooth through the hitting area, so that the ball comes off the face not too “hot”, but on a soft and easily controllable ball flight.