| Short-game problems aren't always due to a bad | | | | distance from the ball. Your hands should hang down |
| swing. Recently, a student came to me about his | | | | under your shoulders in a neutral hanging position--not |
| short game. He was unable to cut strokes from his | | | | too close and not too far away. If you feel like your |
| golf handicap because of his chipping and pitching. His | | | | reaching for the ball, your hands are to far away |
| inability to get the ball close from 100 yards in was | | | | from your body. You're standing too far from the |
| costing him strokes. Since he was serious about | | | | ball. Adopt a proper posture and your mis-hits should |
| improving, he wanted to strengthen this weakness. | | | | drop dramatically. |
| He scheduled a golf lesson, hoping I could provide | | | | Faulty grip is a third cause of wedge problems. It's a |
| some golf tips to resuscitate his short game. | | | | mistake I see all the time in my golf instruction |
| When set-up to the ball, I quickly recognized the | | | | sessions. Because your wrists set the club's lie angle, |
| problem. He was committing one of the most | | | | they must be in the correct position to hit a ball |
| common short game mistakes made by weekend | | | | correctly. A good way to check this is to look at |
| golfers. His lie angle (the angle at which the sole of | | | | your glove. If the palm is wearing down, you're not |
| the club rests on the ground) was off. It was too | | | | holding the club enough in your fingers. Holding the |
| flat, causing the club's toe to dig down. When the | | | | club too much in your palm sets the wrong lie angle, |
| toe digs down, the heel comes up. Thus, he was | | | | causing toe hits. Obviously, you need to hold the cub |
| hitting everything off the club's toe, wearing away | | | | more in your fingers. But check your grips as well. If |
| that area of his wedge. Simply put, you can tell a lot | | | | they are too thick or too then, you'll be more inclined |
| about how you're hitting a club by looking at wear | | | | to hold the club in your palm. Two Good Short Game |
| marks. | | | | Drills Having resolved the student's initial problem, I |
| A Valuable Lesson The real problem here was that | | | | also gave him two drills to improve his short game. |
| the club wasn't part of the original set off irons. The | | | | The first teaches you to hit chips on line. The second |
| clubs in that set were fitted to my student. The | | | | shows you how to make sure your pitches travel |
| wedge he bought off the rack. Unfortunately, it | | | | the right distance. |
| wasn't fitted properly. And it was costing him | | | | * Place two clubs parallel to each other about eight |
| strokes. But the problem taught her a valuable lesson. | | | | inches apart. Make sure the track they create points |
| While lie angle was the problem here, it's not always | | | | directly at the target. Practice your chipping stroke. |
| the problem in every case. Usually, mis-hits stem | | | | Keeping the club inside the track. To hit chips on line, |
| from one of three root causes: lie angle, posture, or | | | | the clubface must be square and the path of the |
| grip. | | | | clubhead must be toward the target. |
| To fix the problem, you have to either change | | | | * The key to pitching shots accurately is landing |
| wedges or have it bent so that it's more upright. If | | | | them in the right shot. Place a range bucket, pail, |
| you suspect your club is too flat (or too upright), | | | | small trash can, or box about 20 feet away. Try to |
| check it out by using a "lie board" to determine | | | | hit your shots so that they hit or just clear the |
| where the club is bottoming out. All club companies | | | | obstacle you have created. Vary the distances-- |
| and club fitters have one. Fortunately for my | | | | moving it closer for some shots and farther away |
| student, wedges are somewhat forgiving. So her | | | | for others. |
| mis-hits weren't too bad. But with longer clubs this | | | | Faulty swings are the only cause of mis-hits in your |
| might not be the case. Having determined the | | | | short game. The wrong lie angle, bad posture, or a |
| problem, we set about correct it. | | | | faulty grip also causes them. Once you eliminate the |
| Two Other Causes Bad posture is another cause of | | | | mis-hits, use practice drills to help you develop |
| mis-hits. Whenever I gave a student a golf lesson, I | | | | accuracy. Practice the drills and you'll resuscitate your |
| start by checking her posture. First, I check her | | | | short game and chop strokes off your golf handicap. |