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.

How often on the golf course have we had a fantastic few holes and then it falls apart. For   me it is usually the front nine. I could be level par of under and then the wheels fall off in   the back and what could have been an excellent round of golf becomes fairly mediocre.    What happens? I start think about what could be. I rush to the finish visualising how I  would feel with a wonderful round of level par gross or under. I loose concentration.    After Oosthuizen’s win in The Open this year it was revealed how a red dot on his glove  provided a reminder to him to concentrate on the shot in hand. When seeing it he was  reminded “now’s the time to get back into the zone – concentrate”. I thought that was a  wonderfully simple approach to ensuring he maintained his concentration throughout  the 18 holes and it certainly seemed to work.

Is there anything that you do that works for you?

Golf may not be the easiest of sports to learn but there is something about the game that no other sport can offer: The ability to enjoy playing golf well into your golden years.

Think about other sports that you may have been involved in. Most of us stopped playing baseball, soccer, football, rugby etc. after school or college/university. The reasons can vary, but mostly it is those sports became too vigorous and strenuous.

Golf, on the other hand, is a physically passive game. It is the only sport I know where I would be able to play with my 12 year old daughter and my 80 year old year old father.

Golf is a humbling sport, not a macho one. The fact of the matter is that you will never beat the course. It’s not meant to be “won”. Golf is a personal game, one that you simply strive to make fewer mistakes each time you play.

Brute force and aggressiveness has no room on the golf course. Instead, you will learn that humility, grace, and your ability to concentrate are the number one components to the game of golf.

I settled down on Sunday as I normally do to watch the last group complete their final 18 holes with my usual feeling of expectation. We would see some drama on these final 18 holes. Nerves would get the better of Louis Oosthuizen and we would be in for a close and entertaining finish. It was not to be! No challenge was made in the first few holes from Casey or Westwood thus applying pressure and testing Oosthuizen’s nerve. As early as the 5th I felt it was all over. Congratulations to Louis Oosthuizen. Winning The Open is no mean feat. I am particularly impressed that after the first 2 rounds he was able to continue to build on it and win. If you take away McIlroy’s 63 on the first day, Oosthuizen effectively led The Open from start to finish. He has some record now – played 4 missed the cut 3 times, won once.

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Written by Andy Moyes, keen amateur golfer and founder of www.essential-golf.com

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.

Congratulations to Graeme McDowell, 2010 US Open winner. Good to see a Brit being in contention in the early rounds and finishing it off with a win. As he says his “career has started”. Did anyone notice a little know Frenchman also having a go? One for the future?

Now we look forward to July and The Open at St Andrews.

US Open golf courses are set out as tough examinations of golf. One of the big tests that golfers will have is the need to play out of thick rough. We have all been there. If you find your ball, very often it provides an unwanted challenging test. Take a look at this useful video below from Barry Power on how to get out of the rough.

The US Open is upon us and it returns to Pebble Beach in 2010. For me Pebble Beach is      everything you expect from a test of golf and as host for the US Open will be set out to be  an even bigger test. Holes 17 and 18 are wonderful finishing holes and I look forward to  the drama over the course of the next four days. Mention Pebble Beach and I always  remember Tom Watson in the 1982 US Open ( Watson US Open 1982).  Watson played his  tee shot into rough on the edge of the 17th Green. Trailing Nicklaus he probably thought  it was all over however, what does he do, chip it in! A fantastic shot which was no mean    feat given what I always remember about US Golf Opens and how the rough is kept long  so close to the greens.

It will be interesting to see how Tiger in his current state of mind plays on a course where  he triumphed so well in 2000 (Woods Pebble Beach 2000). I don’t expect him to repeat that feat and do feel that he finally has competition – Mickelson and Westwood to name but two. Here’s to an exiting weekend.

…you wait an age for one to win a tournament and then three win in the space of a few weeks. Luke Donald, Justin Rose and Lee Westwood have all won tournaments. I feel that myself and colleagues in work have contributed in some way to this as each of them have been on the receiving end of adverse comments. “Choker” has been mentioned along with “promised much over the years but as usual has not delivered”. Lee Westwood has found a rich seam of form and deserved his victory over the weekend. A British prospect for US Open I feel although paired with Tiger will be a good test. Justin Rose and Luke Donald were, as usual in the British press lauded as the next great golfers in Britain. This however, was at least 6 years a go and very little has happened. I am pleased for them that recently things look like they could be changing.  The true test of a great golfer will be their ability to maintain consistency over a number of years. Can they do it? Only time will tell but it is encouraging in this Ryder Cup year to see form from some British golfers. On a personal note it would be good to see some Scottish golfers showing the same promise.

Do you want to know a common trademark of golfers who have the knack for sending the ball flying with phenomenal distance? It’s the turning of the hips to the left during the downswing, while at the same time extending the right arm through the swing.

Here is a quick drill that can help you accomplish this:

1. Start by teeing up the drive in your normal stance.

2. Now set the ball down off of your left heel (and/or opposite of the left armpit).

3. Without moving your stance, reach down and slide the ball towards your target at approximately the same distance of the grip.

4. Tee up your ball at that very spot, which should be 10 to 12 inches closer to the hole. Your address for the ball should be back where your normal position was at.

5. Now to finally hit the ball you will have to move the hips to the left so your arms will be able to “reach” the ball. This will invariably cause your right arm to extend.

This drill should be practiced at least 30 times before hitting the ball in its normal position. By that time you should have made significant improvement in your distance.