Golf.com: Short Game

[3-Putt]

How to Develop Great Touch With Your Chips


Forget the ball! Practice chips while looking at the target.

This story is for you if...
? You tend to chunk or skull your chips.
? You don't get up and down very often.
? You wish you could control the speed of your chips better.

Try This!

Practice chipping while looking at the target, not the ball. When you focus on the target, you'll turn your body toward the target in your follow-through ? an absolute must. Once you get used to it, your club will bottom out at the same place every time, giving you great touch and control.

On the course, take your practice swings while looking at the hole, making sure to brush the grass with your clubhead. This will help you feel how your body and club move together and you'll be more confident on your short-game shots.

By Laird Small
GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teacher
Published: May 01, 2009

[GIR]

I'll need to try this

[3-Putt]

How to Blast It Out With One Swing


This drill helps you take the right kind of divot and float the ball close to the hole

This story is for you if...

? You can count the number of sand saves you had last year on one hand.

The Problem

You struggle in bunkers because you usually enter the sand too far behind the ball. This means that your club exits the sand at the ball and fails to take the sand directly underneath it, which the ball needs to ride on as it exits the bunker. You know this is happening to you if you often leave your first attempt in the bunker. Sometimes you may even hit so far behind the ball that the club exits before it. That's when you end up skulling the ball over the green.

The Fix

Try the "Umbrella Drill." It's the easiest way to learn how to make contact with the sand in the right spot and float the ball close to the pin.

STEP 1

Draw a line in the sand that arcs around your body. Think of this line as an umbrella. Draw a second line from the center of the umbrella�this is the umbrella's handle. Position the ball on the handle line and take your stance (with the ball positioned just forward of center).

STEP 2

Once you're set, swing your arms along the umbrella line. You'll notice that as your arms swing in the direction of the arc on the way back to the ball, they pull your sternum over the handle of the umbrella. This forward body move allows you to enter the sand closer to the ball and exit the sand in front of the ball, taking the perfect-size divot to float the ball onto the green.

By Laird Small
GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teacher
Published: April 01, 2009

[3-Putt]

How to Run It Up Close


Read the fairway like the green to knock it stiff

This story is for you if...

? You always try to fly the ball to the pin, and almost always fly it too far.
? You think the only time the ball should roll on the ground is when you putt.

The Situation

You're short of the green with the pin in front, you don't have a lot of room to work with, and your lie makes this a difficult shot to spin.

The Solution

Forget trying to make a complicated half-wedge shot to a manhole-sized landing area. Instead, play a bump-and-run and roll the ball up there. It's an easy shot ? really. Just follow these instructions.

ASSESS YOUR ROUTE
Read the ground just like you would for a putt, noting the firmness and any slope. This shot will spend more time on the ground than in the air.

SET A TRAP
Feel like you're trapping the ball between the club and the ground. To guarantee a low ball flight, abbreviate your finish with the club close to the ground.

GET SET
Choke down a little on the club and play the ball right of center. Lean a little toward the target and press the shaft slightly forward to ensure solid contact.

PICK YOUR CLUB
Make a note of the distance to the hole, and plan to fly the ball one-third of the way there. The more you need to fly the ball, the more club loft you should use.

By Tom Patri
GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teacher
Published: March 01, 2009

[3-Putt]

How to Make Bad Lies Look Good


A little house cleaning turns recovery situations into green-light opportunities

The Situation

Your ball has come to rest in some light rough, but there's enough debris around it to make you think twice about hitting a full shot toward the green.

The Typical Reaction

It's a trouble lie, so you hit a short-iron back out to safety — a good move in most recovery situations, but not when you need to score.

The Better Option

Don't let lies fool you — you're not always stuck with the one you see when you first arrive at your ball. Spend a few moments picking up the leaves, sticks, or anything else around your lie. After removing the loose debris, you'll discover that your ball isn't sitting so badly. As you can see from the photos at right, this bad lie is actually pretty good when you eliminate the rubbish. It's sitting just high enough for you to make a full swing and get on the green without wasting a shot.

Lies like this are an important lesson: never select a shot until you make the situation as good as it can be. As kids, my teammates and I practiced cleaning up lies by playing pick-up sticks with pine needles. We'd see how many we could pull from the lie without disturbing the ball. We became experts at turning bad lies into good ones. It's a simple task that a lot of players don't bother doing, and it can pay real dividends in your score.


By John Elliott Jr.
GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teacher
Published: July 01, 2009

[3-Putt]

Roll & Lift to Pitch It Tight


Doing this with your right ankle gives you the clean contact you're looking for

This story is for you if...

1. You often hit your pitch shots thin.

2. You never think about your footwork on pitch shots.

Check this!

One way to think of your pitch swing is that it's a slightly bigger version of your chip swing — more arm swing, more wrist hinge and more body turn. The differences are pretty easy to spot, but what you might not recognize so easily is the footwork involved with both swings, which has a lot to do with how you shift your weight.

Once you complete your pitch backswing, roll your right ankle toward the target, then lift your right heel slightly off the ground. This subtle bit of downswing footwork gives you the correct amount of shift and turn you need to catch the ball crisp. It's a good swing thought to bring to the course, and it also works for your chip swing. The only difference is that your ankle only rolls — it doesn't lift — when you're hitting a chip.
 

By John Elliott Jr.
GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teacher
Published: October 01, 2009