Pitching and chipping around the green often causes anxiety for amateur golfers. We feel that these delicate shots are a challenge because we are not confident with our ability to get the ball up and down. Of course practice will help, however staying calm during the entire short game process can be a game changer for many aspiring golfers. The challenge most of us that we focus on the wrong aspects of pitching and chipping hence we do not produce a swing that we can repeat more often than not. That all changes today and Danny Maude is here to help!
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Shooting A Personal Best Golf Score
Well, how did that happen!? Yesterday, I shot my personal best of three under par 71 at the Mattawa Golf and Ski Resort. I was completely surprised as I was able to shoot five birdies, 2 bogeys and 11 pars. All of this with two poor strokes that led to over par one each hole. No one was more surprised than me and after I was able to calm down, I decided to dissect my round to see where things went right. After much thought, I am not surprised at the results.
Continue readingMy Chipping Woes Is Very Frustrating!
My 2024 golf season is well underway. I have played a few times, but the weather is not cooperating so hitting the links more often is in my future. After 10 rounds I can say that my chipping is the worse it has been in years. I truly am struggling around the green. My chipping woes has created several high scores and I am now on a track to fix my challenges. It is a frustrating journey, but one that needs to be addressed immediately!
My challenges are rooted in contact with the ground before the ball. For some reason, I am not in the proper body position or at my ball is not in the right spot in my stance. Or, Or, Or……I could go on! The point is that I am currently experiencing a very low point in my short game. Unfortunately, my poor ball striking is also affecting me mentally. I am starting to second guess my club selection regardless of where the ball is located. This approach to chipping has failure written all over it!
The question now is: what to do about my chipping woes. Before I lay out my roadmap, here is a quick refresher video that might help you (and me) focus on the basics of chipping:
My path forward is pretty simple or at least I think it is 😉 Actually, nothing is simple in golf, right! My challenges started early in the year when I was miss hit a few chips. During my first rounds, poor contact is expected as I have not practiced all that much. Unfortunately, a few poor hits turned into a few more and now I am in my head. I second guess my shot selection and even choose what I think is an easier shot, but will not produce the results I expect. Well, all of that stops now!
I have a three step plan that I think will reset my short game and allow me to focus on hitting great chips. It is simple, focused and easy to implement. Sounds perfect in my head as I am writing this article.
First, stop overthinking about how to chip. I already know how to execute this simple shot. I have proven that my stance, ball location and landing area skills are honed. Currently, I am overthinking everything because of my mental approach of focusing on not making mistakes. I know how to chip and thinking about all the steps only makes it worse. Therefore, stop overthinking is the first step.
Second, slow my tempo and clubhead speed of my chipping stroke down. As my woes grew (at least in my head), I changed many things about my swing. I am fast, choppy, and inconsistent when swinging my clubs. I am hitting behind the ball more than ever before and I am negating the bounce on my wedges. All of these issues are a result of a poor tempo and clubhead speed. Thus, I need to reset my swing and rely on what I already know what to do.
Lastly, I need to mentally reset. This is different than overthinking because I am mentally in a negative spot. I need to focus on the positive aspects of my chipping. Mostly within the process, not in the results. I have to stop thinking I am going to chip poorly before I even get to the ball. This negative thinking is as much to blame for my poor performance as anything else. It really is time to mentally reset.
My chipping woes need to stop. I am heading the course shortly after I publish this article to take the first steps towards changing my current short game challenges. I am confident that I can make the appropriate changes to be successful, it is a matter of doing it. I will update this article after today’s adventure.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
Using The Eight Iron Shimmy To Lower Your Golf Score
What exactly is the ‘eight iron shimmy’? Well, it is a term I coined when my friend, Rick, chips with his eight iron. Many years back, our group had a discussion about chipping with a slightly delofted club when playing a shot around the green. It is a shot I have used for many years, but in my case I use a seven iron. This shot is very versatile and according to Dave Pelz prevents hitting behind the ball. It is a shot I developed long ago and is a stable go to shot for my game. If you are wondering, the eight iron shimmy should be part of your game as well.
Continue readingSimplify Your Chipping!
If you are a golf video junkie like me, you are always looking for tips to improve your short game. Well, here is a tip……simplify your chipping. Xander Schauffele recommends finding two types of chips and focus on mastering them as soon as possible. He explains when he was playing on the Web.com tour that he had to reinvent his short game in order to head to the next level of golf. His efforts seem to been successful as he is competing against Rory McIlroy for another tournament this weekend!
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The Grateful Golfer 