Picking On Golf Skill To Hone

As an amateur golfer, I need work in all areas of my game. I am not the longest hitter, greatest short game player or smoothest putter in the game, but I try to emulate the resemblance of a solid game when I tee it up. I have learned over the years that some areas of my game need more focus than others, but that was a tough lesson to learn. Until I started recording stats on fairways hit, greens in regulation, number of putts, etc, I would work on what I felt like at the practice facility. This usually gravitated towards something I was already doing well, hence it did not translate to lower golf scores at the end of the day. I often wonder why and it took a very large ‘ah ha’ moment to change the way I approached my practice sessions.

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Golf Lessons I Continue To Relearn

The past two days I played an early bird round at my home course of Mattawa Golf and Ski Resort. Each round I focused on different aspects of my game in order to prepare for a scramble tournament on Wednesday. Although Wednesday’s event will be mostly a fun round, I like to be ready nonetheless. As I worked on various aspects of my game, a mental fault kept cropping up that would cost me strokes if I was keeping score. It is a lesson I continue to relearn and one I would have thought I mastered by now…..I guess not! The reason I call it mental is because it my actual stroke is fine, but my tentative nature while chipping is forcing me to either make long putts or to chip again!

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Basic Chipping Lowers Our Golf Score

Every player misses the green on approach shots. It does not matter if you are the world’s best golfer or an amateur who is hitting the links for your weekly loop around the course. Everyone will be chipping the ball in order to lower their golf score. There seems to be millions of ‘how to chip’ videos that involve many different styles in order to get our ball up and down. Likely some have value to your game considering your skill level, however I support the concept of knowing the concepts of basic chipping in order to lower our golf score. This process allows for an easy, repeatable chip that has proven results. It is a matter of understanding the process and making it your own.

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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.

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Simplify 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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