Short game is coming around

Shot a 76 yesterday. Played a course on Coronado called Sea & Air. My driving wasn't at it's best and I seemed to be hitting my irons a tad short all day (mostly due to the foggy, damp weather) but managed to get up and down most of the time. Some of the round highlights of my short game prowess included:

A 60-yard wedge shot to 4 feet, drained the putt.

On the 2nd hole, 15 yards from green, pitched the shot to 8 feet. Drained putt.

13th hole, Par 3, hit iron into bunker. I walk up and see that it's buried. I'm good at this shot. Smash it out of the bunker to tap in range (no joke).

14th hole. Missed the green. Chip to 2 feet.

18th hole: Good drive but into some gnarly second cut rough. Hit my wedge 10 yards short. Took out my sand wedge, hit my shot and it bounced once on the green and then sunk into the cup on the bounce. 3 points beeeyyaaaaach!!! and a birdie.

I've been using the Odyssey DFX 2 ball putter. I think it's the best feeling of the two ball line.

That is all.

This past Saturday morning, short game go to poo. Course right on the Chesapeake Bay. Temps in 40's. Wind swirling and gusting in the 10-20 range. Course got one inch of rain between midmight and 6 a.m. We went off at 9 a.m. Cart path only. Most of the standing water was in the fairways. Hit driver well finding most of the fairways. That was good news. Bad news was what was a 260 poke last Sunday on a dry track with dry air was 210 max. And what was a 115 yard PW last weekend went about 75-85 and I couldn't get it together enough to pull longer sticks. Of course the greens were way slow and had been aerated and sanded so I couldn't make a putt to save my life. My chips and pitches all came up short. I hate golf. I hate all my clubs. I hate every different brand of golf ball in my bag and house. I'm never gonna play again. Except I just checked the weather and this Saturday looks dry and the course the club's playing at is up in Pennsylvania a long way from the water. Can't f*ckin' wait.

Nice work, FD. My short game is usually pretty solid, but it stunk this past week. I hit the first 4 GIR, then missed short left on 5. I had about 8 feet of fairway to go through, then about 25 more feet to the hole. I putted it, poorly. Most people are not, but I am better off chipping when I've got any considerable fairway to go through.
#6 is 460 yards and was playing into a crazy wind. I absolutely crushed a drive and had 185 left. Everyone else had well over 200. I hit a nice shot that came up 5 yards short of the green, with the pin in the back. I blade the simple pitch over the green and make 6.
I fatted a chip on #8.
Tried a failed BnR on 13 than rolled back off the green, then I didn't get the second attempt up and down.
A couple of other nice recovery shots weren't rewarded with 1 putts. I am working too much and not playing enough golf.

It's interesting how a 'thinned' iron shot will often end up quite well yet a thinned chip or pitch is almost always disastrous.

For example, yesterday on the 1st hole I had 140 yards to the pin and I hit an 8 iron. I thinned it a bit but it was headed right at the hole. It hit about 3 feet from the hole, bounced once and stopped on a dime.

Some of the most heart-sinking rounds of golf have been on Par 5s. I hit a perfect drive, perfect layup to 80 yards and then I skull the shot over the green. Many times it has resulted in double bogey because of what is behind the green - O.B., water, paved roads, etc.

Skulled shots out of the bunker are also deadly.

Interesting, but rarely do I ever skull a chip shot.

FamousDavis wrote:Shot a 76 yesterday. Played a course on Coronado called Sea & Air. My driving wasn't at it's best and I seemed to be hitting my irons a tad short all day (mostly due to the foggy, damp weather) but managed to get up and down most of the time. Some of the round highlights of my short game prowess included:

A 60-yard wedge shot to 4 feet, drained the putt.

On the 2nd hole, 15 yards from green, pitched the shot to 8 feet. Drained putt.

13th hole, Par 3, hit iron into bunker. I walk up and see that it's buried. I'm good at this shot. Smash it out of the bunker to tap in range (no joke).

14th hole. Missed the green. Chip to 2 feet.

18th hole: Good drive but into some gnarly second cut rough. Hit my wedge 10 yards short. Took out my sand wedge, hit my shot and it bounced once on the green and then sunk into the cup on the bounce. 3 points beeeyyaaaaach!!! and a birdie.

I've been using the Odyssey DFX 2 ball putter. I think it's the best feeling of the two ball line.

That is all.

Sounds like fun. I too had a great short game round this weekend. I went out two over with 12 putts, 1 chip in, and 3 gir's. The back side I played like a biatch and came in at 80. The back 9 was extremely slow. We make the turn in just over 2 hours and came in right at 5 hours. I think that's one reason I played poorly on the back. I lost my desire to play and was bored of sitting around. Courses should have to give you money back for every minute over 4.5 hours. Not a marshal to be seen on the course...

FamousDavis wrote:Shot a 76 yesterday. Played a course on Coronado called Sea & Air. My driving wasn't at it's best and I seemed to be hitting my irons a tad short all day (mostly due to the foggy, damp weather) but managed to get up and down most of the time. Some of the round highlights of my short game prowess included:

A 60-yard wedge shot to 4 feet, drained the putt.

On the 2nd hole, 15 yards from green, pitched the shot to 8 feet. Drained putt.

13th hole, Par 3, hit iron into bunker. I walk up and see that it's buried. I'm good at this shot. Smash it out of the bunker to tap in range (no joke).

14th hole. Missed the green. Chip to 2 feet.

18th hole: Good drive but into some gnarly second cut rough. Hit my wedge 10 yards short. Took out my sand wedge, hit my shot and it bounced once on the green and then sunk into the cup on the bounce. 3 points beeeyyaaaaach!!! and a birdie.

I've been using the Odyssey DFX 2 ball putter. I think it's the best feeling of the two ball line.

That is all.

I assume you missed the putt on 14 since you told us you drained all the others.

My short game is sucking at the moment. 5th hole par 5, bomb a long drive with wind assistance, green reachable. Last time I was in this situation I blocked a rescue into the trees and made double so I decide to go for the 'certain/easy' par instead. Lay up with a sweetly struck 5 iron to about 60m pin at the back. Play a sweet pitch that I hit just a fraction too hard and it rolls up to and past the flag over the back. Flub the chip and make double on a par 5 after a great drive.

Many other poor chips over the round. I need to spend some time around the chipping green cos it can make or break your score.

I got 2 new wedges giveortake a month ago.

havent had a 2-3 hours session with them on the practise greens yet...

They have noticable sharper leading edges.... They offer very little forgives on short chip shots.... On wet grass they KILL one's score digging far to much. There is no one I can trust with the grinding of the edges so I will start standing up a little more straighter to get the club sweeping into the ball alot more... Found that holding the club uprigth on shorts chips helped remarkeable with contact.

I have been working hard on this over the winter.
I have found that keeping the right elbow more tucked in, pressed against the body, with the same setup as a normal shot, accelerating through the ball works great.
I was practicing yesterday and dropped 5 ball around a flat green, about 10 yards off the green, hit 4 of them stone dead inside 2 ft and the other was over hit and was about 6 ft away.
Hope this can help

Fluffy wrote:I got 2 new wedges giveortake a month ago.

havent had a 2-3 hours session with them on the practise greens yet...

They have noticable sharper leading edges.... They offer very little forgives on short chip shots.... On wet grass they KILL one's score digging far to much. There is no one I can trust with the grinding of the edges so I will start standing up a little more straighter to get the club sweeping into the ball alot more... Found that holding the club uprigth on shorts chips helped remarkeable with contact.

You may want to get the lie angles checked on those wedges. I had two of mine bent a couple of degrees flat and that helped with contact and direction immensely. No more pulls which are especially annoying if the shot is a 20 foot chip or 30 yard pitch.

Mongrel wrote:

Fluffy wrote:I got 2 new wedges giveortake a month ago.

havent had a 2-3 hours session with them on the practise greens yet...

They have noticable sharper leading edges.... They offer very little forgives on short chip shots.... On wet grass they KILL one's score digging far to much. There is no one I can trust with the grinding of the edges so I will start standing up a little more straighter to get the club sweeping into the ball alot more... Found that holding the club uprigth on shorts chips helped remarkeable with contact.

You may want to get the lie angles checked on those wedges. I had two of mine bent a couple of degrees flat and that helped with contact and direction immensely. No more pulls which are especially annoying if the shot is a 20 foot chip or 30 yard pitch.

One thing I've learned after spending lot of range sessions : my grips probable make the most impact on the results of my ball striking, i.e. strong grips for most clubs, when it comes to chipping, neutral grips works best for me.... accidentally, Tom Watson taught the same thing in one of the golf magazines

I believe there are three causes of a bad short game, at least ones that are obvious to me:

1. Using the wrong club. I see lots of guys who approach a basic chip with a sand wedge or lob wedge and then take a long backswing and try to loft it up to the hole. It's a low percentage shot and much harder than a simple chip with a 8 iron or 9 iron. It's OK to use a sand wedge if you need to get the ball up in the air and stop it quickly.

2. Scooping the ball. I even see good players do this. They hit up on the ball during a chip or short pitch shot. It's the opposite of what you should do. Hands should be ahead of the ball with an open stance at address. The hands should still be ahead of the ball at impact with very little wrist movement...for a chip.

3. Using only the hands and arms. I believe this is the biggest cause of a bad short game. A chip is actually a very short version of a full swing. You still should be turning your shoulders and hips and then turning through the shot on the downswing. Watch Tiger Woods...when he hits a chip shot he really turns his shoulders through it on the follow through. He's the best chipper I've ever seen.

If you only use your hands and arms it results in a slapping motion with no athleticism. Also, there should be no lagging motion with a chip like there should should be with a full swing.

FamousDavis wrote:I believe there are three causes of a bad short game, at least ones that are obvious to me:

1. Using the wrong club. I see lots of guys who approach a basic chip with a sand wedge or lob wedge and then take a long backswing and try to loft it up to the hole. It's a low percentage shot and much harder than a simple chip with a 8 iron or 9 iron. It's OK to use a sand wedge if you need to get the ball up in the air and stop it quickly.

2. Scooping the ball. I even see good players do this. They hit up on the ball during a chip or short pitch shot. It's the opposite of what you should do. Hands should be ahead of the ball with an open stance at address. The hands should still be ahead of the ball at impact with very little wrist movement...for a chip.

3. Using only the hands and arms. I believe this is the biggest cause of a bad short game. A chip is actually a very short version of a full swing. You still should be turning your shoulders and hips and then turning through the shot on the downswing. Watch Tiger Woods...when he hits a chip shot he really turns his shoulders through it on the follow through. He's the best chipper I've ever seen.

If you only use your hands and arms it results in a slapping motion with no athleticism. Also, there should be no lagging motion with a chip like there should should be with a full swing.

when around greens and need not jumping over a bunker , I ALWAYS use 8i... deadly

Went to practise yesterday. Hit about 200 chips.... Only tried to keep my takeaway lower getting a sweeping action with my wedges..... My normal action is usually a digging action hitting down on the ball.


Standing closer to the ball lifting the heel up slightly also helped and generated ALOT of extra spin.

MY rpoblem for the above being sharp leading edges with not enough bounce.

Open the face of the wedge a bit. Increases the bounce automatically unless the wedge has some funky grind.

Check out this vid on chipping:

hey check out this video:

Is that Lairy?

Anyhoo.....my short game is much improved so far this year. Only time it gets bad is when I have an amazing drive that lands yards from the green and all I have to do is chip it up for a bird or better. I always wind up chunking it! Seems I psych myself out somehow.

Today is round 2 of our company league and I will try to put that stuff out of my head. Red course at Bethpage

FamousDavis wrote:hey check out this video:

You know I already know everything he says in that video but it's amazing how you can get away from the basics. After watching that simple instructional clip I had one of my best chipping rounds in ages yesterday. Thanks FD!

Can you now post a good pitching video?

Glad I watched that vid yesterday because it worked great for me today. I was chipping like a mad man. Bouncing it on the fringe and putting from inside 2 feet.
Better conditions today, sunny and 59*. I was able to make a full turn, the weather warmed up nicely. That certainly helps. Cold damp weather is only for the young!

FD - how about a pitching video from really tight lies. The grass hasn't really started to grow and the fairways are like cart paths!

jmtbkr wrote:Glad I watched that vid yesterday because it worked great for me today. I was chipping like a mad man. Bouncing it on the fringe and putting from inside 2 feet.
Better conditions today, sunny and 59*. I was able to make a full turn, the weather warmed up nicely. That certainly helps. Cold damp weather is only for the young!

FD - how about a pitching video from really tight lies. The grass hasn't really started to grow and the fairways are like cart paths!

How about you find your own friggin' videos? Just kidding. Actually, the things he suggests in the chipping video are all of the things that I focus on when chipping -- weight on the left side and staying on the left side, wrists never breaking down and leading the clubhead and ball a little back of middle of my stance. However, I don't like the ball to be too far back in my stance.

That's exactly how I chip. The only thing I wished he mentioned is that on the follow through your hips should turn toward the target and your right knee should brush up against your left. It's a slight follow thru.

My next lesson will be on putting.

No, the guy in the video is not Larry. You see, the guy in the video actually plays golf.

jmtbkr wrote:Glad I watched that vid yesterday because it worked great for me today. I was chipping like a mad man. Bouncing it on the fringe and putting from inside 2 feet.
Better conditions today, sunny and 59*. I was able to make a full turn, the weather warmed up nicely. That certainly helps. Cold damp weather is only for the young!

FD - how about a pitching video from really tight lies. The grass hasn't really started to grow and the fairways are like cart paths!

Same here. All the grass died off in a long hot summer and drought conditions. Now we are getting rain and many shots are played off mud lies. Pretty tough and effed up pitch shots are costing me shots every round.

FamousDavis wrote:

jmtbkr wrote:Glad I watched that vid yesterday because it worked great for me today. I was chipping like a mad man. Bouncing it on the fringe and putting from inside 2 feet.
Better conditions today, sunny and 59*. I was able to make a full turn, the weather warmed up nicely. That certainly helps. Cold damp weather is only for the young!

FD - how about a pitching video from really tight lies. The grass hasn't really started to grow and the fairways are like cart paths!

How about you find your own friggin' videos? Just kidding. Actually, the things he suggests in the chipping video are all of the things that I focus on when chipping -- weight on the left side and staying on the left side, wrists never breaking down and leading the clubhead and ball a little back of middle of my stance. However, I don't like the ball to be too far back in my stance.

That's exactly how I chip. The only thing I wished he mentioned is that on the follow through your hips should turn toward the target and your right knee should brush up against your left. It's a slight follow thru.

My next lesson will be on putting.

No, the guy in the video is not Larry. You see, the guy in the video actually plays golf.

Hey,you guys are the experts here....I'm still a noob to this game. There are soooo many damn vids out there and soooo many different opinions......

I agree about the hip follow thru. I have been doing exactly that plus making sure my weight is on the front foot.
I'm happy with my play.

I thought it was Larray as he has that same ghey hat on.

jmtbkr wrote:

FamousDavis wrote:

jmtbkr wrote:Glad I watched that vid yesterday because it worked great for me today. I was chipping like a mad man. Bouncing it on the fringe and putting from inside 2 feet.
Better conditions today, sunny and 59*. I was able to make a full turn, the weather warmed up nicely. That certainly helps. Cold damp weather is only for the young!

FD - how about a pitching video from really tight lies. The grass hasn't really started to grow and the fairways are like cart paths!

How about you find your own friggin' videos? Just kidding. Actually, the things he suggests in the chipping video are all of the things that I focus on when chipping -- weight on the left side and staying on the left side, wrists never breaking down and leading the clubhead and ball a little back of middle of my stance. However, I don't like the ball to be too far back in my stance.

That's exactly how I chip. The only thing I wished he mentioned is that on the follow through your hips should turn toward the target and your right knee should brush up against your left. It's a slight follow thru.

My next lesson will be on putting.

No, the guy in the video is not Larry. You see, the guy in the video actually plays golf.

Hey,you guys are the experts here....I'm still a noob to this game. There are soooo many damn vids out there and soooo many different opinions......

I agree about the hip follow thru. I have been doing exactly that plus making sure my weight is on the front foot.
I'm happy with my play.

I thought it was Larray as he has that same ghey hat on.

You should check out our old site if you want to see more of old Larry. He and Alan are continuing their age old feud over there along with Larry posting videos of his latest drills and moves that will have him hitting all the greens.

Yeah, I hit the old site up once a week. It's ridiculous!. Larry keeps posting like nothing ever changed and Alan keeps pointing out the truths of his idiocy!

Oh...and all the spammers having a free for all. Yeah, thanks Francois for fixing the site! Jackass!

RE: short game... Before this past Saturday's club competition, I decided to shake things up a bit in the bag and decided to pull my Vokey 52/8 that has served as my gap wedge above the MX 20 46* PW. I'd been bagging the Vokey for over a year. The only 50* wedge I have is the Mizuno MP 14 PW so I pulled the five-times soft-stepped regular flex GS 95 in the Vokey and stuck it in the
MP 14. It worked real well on pitches and chips and resulted in six or seven one-putts to save pars or bogeys and allowed me to finish in the top five despite a shite day with driver and approach shots save for two or three. And the Rife 2 Bar Mallet was dead-eye after I closed up my stance a couple of degrees and one-putted four straight greens.