Short game

[Dick Whitman]

I've been using Ben Hogan's "Five Fundamentals" to get my tee and iron game into gear, and it's really helped, and was wondering if anyone has any advice on short game instructionals?

I bought "Short Game for Dummies" this week for $0.01 from Amazon.com. I passed on the Pelz "Bible" because reviewers said it can be pretty dense for a novice.

I figure that the short game is a great way to get better because it's free to practice.

 

[Madhavok]

Find someone who is great around the green to help you out if they so choose to. For me, it's my friend RJ who is probably winning the club championship right now - he's also a +2. This is my routine, thanks to him.

Anyway - find the right clubs for around the green. For me, it's my PW, 54 and 60. 60 for some flops to get over humps, bunkers etc - 54 to do some nice pitches off the fringe and in the first layer and the PW for longer pitches.

I like to take six tees and set them around the hole, three feet away. I then take three balls and just go at it until I get three balls to sit within that circle.

I work on different sort of shots and lengths.

Once I'm done chipping - which is usually an hour or an hour and a half - I work on putting.

I do the exact same thing I did with chipping, but this time putting. Six stations, three balls - three feet away from the hole. I don't call it quits until I make all of the 18 shots in a row. If I miss one I start over.
This gives you the mindset and muscle memory for these short putts and as well as the mindset of seeing putts being made, not missed.

After that, I move back to six feet and do about 10-20 of those from one or two spots.

There's no point whatsoever in trying to make a 30' putt on the practice green. You're just going to get frustrated and also used to seeing putts not fall. Sure, you'll get speed dialed but you can get that done before a round by just putting three balls across the green.

I do all of this either before or after the range - but usually after. My range session with my irons, hybrid and driver is about 15 minutes long unless I'm working on something. There's no point in overworking your swing - you'll mess it up.


If you want other books to read, please grab copies of all of Bob Rotella's stuff.

Good luck!

 

[Freelance Hack]

I think it was Harvey Penick who said a short putt is worth the same as a long drive, so if you master the short game (putting and chipping) it will help your game more than if you can bomb it 300 yards down the fairway.

I would start with putting and work your way away from the hole, similar to a basketball shooting drill. Start a couple feet away from the hole. Once you've made a certain number of putts, move back to 5 feet, then 10 and so on until you're off the green.

Then work on your chipping, following the same regimen. Fringe out to about 50 yards from the hole.

 

[qtlaw]

Stan Utley wrote a great short game book, easy to read and follow. Fairly easy to execute too.

 

[Dick Whitman]

My range session with my irons, hybrid and driver is about 15 minutes long unless I'm working on something. There's no point in overworking your swing - you'll mess it up.

This is interesting advice and well-taken. It seems that my range sessions definitely follow a curve where, by the very end if I've been out there too long, it's almost like my body just won't stay to form any more.

 

[Madhavok]

I hit 20-25 balls max and give the rest to some kids I see since I get them for free. Just keep the flow of things on a day-to-day basis. Even if I end on a bad shot on one of my irons, I go right to the next one and go from there -

Also - while I'm at the range and since I'm only hitting a very small amount of balls, I approach every shot like I would on the course. I want to get a routine on lock that I do on course and off. That way, it all becomes muscle memory - the approach, setup, and aim.

 

[CentralIllinoisan]

Tic-Tac-Toe is a short game. As is Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Let me know how they work out for you.

 

[Kermit McManus]

I Practice a lot, on Tiger Woods; helping me get timing down.

Try this **** - it is very excellent.

I olny wish there were Video Game to help me with my heading skill's.

 

[CentralIllinoisan]

I Practice a lot, on Tiger Woods; helping me get timing down.

Try this **** - it is very excellent.

I olny wish there were Video Game to help me with my heading skill's.

The absence of a comma in the second graf sends the mind whirling in many directions. Especially given the subject of the first graf and the last two words of the last one.

 

[User 1019]

Good job, CI.

 

[holy bull]

My range session with my irons, hybrid and driver is about 15 minutes long unless I'm working on something. There's no point in overworking your swing - you'll mess it up.

This is interesting advice and well-taken. It seems that my range sessions definitely follow a curve where, by the very end if I've been out there too long, it's almost like my body just won't stay to form any more.

Agree 100 percent on the range routine. I'm better off hitting half a dozen junkers out of my own bag before a round than hitting a bucket.

Plus, my delicate Lord Fauntleroy hands got a blister once, prompting my brother to mutter, "Pencil-pusher can't take it."

Practice green, meanwhile, I'll spend an hour over there, inventing games like chip from a ridiculously tough spot and two-putt, say, three balls in a row.

 

[John]

I take about a dozen practice swings, but I never hit any balls before I tee off. This works for me.

I don't visit the practice green, either. This doesn't really work for me.

My handicap's around a 12 and would be half that if I spent more (or any) time on my short game.

Of course as a college football beat writer I'm about to put the golf bag in the closet for the next four or five months, so it probably doesn't matter much now.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Went out today to the local cow pasture and was very pleased to shoot a 46. I know that's not great, but didn't have any mi****s and had a really solid short game from away from the green. The putting needs a ton of work and that's where I surrendered shots.

Basically, two things seemed to really help. One was chipping with the 7-iron and rolling the ball to the hole in situations where I was 5-10 yards from the green with a flat look into it. The other thing that really helped was this week I bought a cheapie gap wedge, 52 degrees, this week. For whatever reason, I was really able to lob it up to the green with that from certain situations, much better than even the 60 degree sand wedge. Could have just been psychological, but also spent some time this week reading up on short game swing fundamentals. So probably a combo of that and the new wedge.

I'm very excited about what seems like the first step toward competence in a game that has frustrated me endlessly for about 20 years now.

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

Just hit every tee shot on the green. Problem solved.

 

[holy bull]

What's a "green"?

 

[Rhody31]

Chipping and putting is just about the only thing I can do well on the golf course.
Most of my practice came from years of working at a club; I'd wait for members to roll in off the course, so I'd chip balls while I waited. I'm not as good now as I was then, but still pretty solid.
Putting got a lot of work then, but you don't need a green to develop a good stroke. If you have a carpeted room, practice in there. Set up a small bulls-eye (I put tape down) and putt from 10-15 feet away. Do it 20 minutes a day. Eventually, you develop a stroke where you won't miss that target; it's really not difficult to translate it out on the course.
My biggest putting problem right now is the putter itself; the shaft is bent from me slamming it into the ground and now I have to turn my hands over a bit to straighten the putter head. Not good for my stroke.