There is little doubt that every golfer will find themselves out of position during their round of golf. In some cases, players will have to hit their ball over an obstacle in order to land their ball close to the pin. A majority of the time it will be a bunker, but a water hazard, plants or rocks can cause the same distress on their close approach shot. Regardless, it is important to understand that the lofted shot over something is a something every golfer should have in their bag. There are a plethora of methods to successfully execute a chip over a bunker and I am going to present a simple, repeatable shot that every golfer can emulate.
Continue readingchipping tips
Watching Your Ball Roll Past The Hole
Whether you are chipping or putting the ball, it is important to watch your ball come to a complete rest. I have witnessed players look away in disgust when they know they have missed a chip or putt while their ball scoots past the hole. Instead to watching how their ball reacts to the undulations of the green, they through a little tantrum and lose out on the valuable information offered by the green as their ball misses the hole. This frustrating habit does cost stroke and is easily avoided.
Continue readingHitting The Perfect Wedge Shot
If you regularly shoot over 90 our wedges are used more than any other club except the putter. The reason for this is that we miss the green more than we hit it on approach shots. Not to worry, this errand shot allows for more use of our scoring clubs….our wedges. The ability to hit the perfect wedge shot is a fundamental must for any player seeking lower golf scores. Of course there are many different theories about how to hit the perfect wedge for players to try, however I am a supporter of the fundamentals when hitting our wedges. Keeping that in mind, many players overlook ball position prior to contact because they think that moving the ball around in their stance helps make better wedge shots. This theory, in my opinion, is folly and should be revisited my most amateurs.
Continue readingWhen Is The Best Time To Start In Golf
Golf is a unique sport that allows every player to set their own time schedule for success. It allows us to stay in one spot for an indefinite period of time if we are happy with our game. Of course the factors to making that decision are unique to each player and only they can determine if their golf game is meeting their expectations. Ideally, at least for my game, I try to limit the peaks and valleys of erratic play through making small incremental changes to my game. Once I have identified an area of concern I take active and intentional steps to improve that area in the hopes that it will lower my golf scores. I have found this process to be very successful and think that it is a proven methodology of most golfers. Let me explain further.
The set of sign waves on the left are a great visual for my process. Consider the top of the wave to be success and the bottom of the wave to be failure during the execution phase of chipping. (I randomly used chipping, but you can insert any skill that you want to improve.
The green sine wave indicates a chipping game that is unpredictable. It is a challenge to determine if I was going to be successful or not. This approach to lower golf scores did not work for me. The frequency of failure was something that continued plague how well I played and I needed to reduce the frequency of miss shots.
By practicing my short game, I was able to reduce the frequency of erratic play (the blue sine wave). I still did not achieve the solid play I wanted so I used different drills and practiced more challenging chipping scenarios. As I continue to improve, I was able to move the x axis upward where to improve my successful hits, but still had too many poor shots for my liking. So, more focused practicing was required.
After training, trial and error, and improving my skills, I was able to transition to the red sine wave where mishits were rarer and more steady, consistent play became prevalent. The x axis was at lowered and I was hitting better shots more often. The frequency of good to better shots was up and overall, my short game improved. Now, I am confident with my short game and feel that my journey was successful. So, what does all of this really mean?
The best time to start working on your golf game is now. The desire needs to be large enough to drive and sustain our progress through all the stages of improving a skill. In my case, improving my chipping is a continuing journey. I am currently playing in the red sine wave, but do drop to the blue from time to time. Then it is immediately back to the practice range and focused drills. Fixing any skill in golf starts with the first step and working our way to sustain solid, consistent play in the red sine wave is always the goal. To get there, now is a good time to start.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
Chipping/Putting Around The Green
There are a plethora of methods to strike a golf ball around the green. Anything within 10 feet of collar is a distance that affords so many choices, that many players become paralyzed. Or they only use one method regardless of the shot. I have lived all the spectrums of the above situation until I found a new way to hold my wedges/7 iron when playing close to the green. I always tried to figure out why I changed my grip on my wedges and 7 iron, but could never find the proper solution. Well, low and behold I found a short video that explains it perfectly.
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The Grateful Golfer 