Recently in Short Game Category

I don't want to startle you but golf season is less than two months away!  It won't be long until handicap computers start accepting scores, and the trees will start to bloom.  What have you done to make your golf more fun in 2012?

The time to get better is now.  Any athlete playing a seasonal sport understands that the time to refine, improve or make wholesale changes to the motions they rely on is NOT during their season.  If you want to make 2012 the best year of your golf career, do not wait until late March to get a tune up.  Start today to make significant and lasting improvements to your golf swing and putting stroke.

Over the winter you can really get into making changes.  You can get your golf swing analyzed via video or 3-D Motion.  We can diagnose your putting stroke using a computer analysis.  You can find out if your body has the mobility and stability to perform the golf swing you are trying to make.  Once you have a clear understanding of what you are doing, we can get a plan in place to address these issues.

The key is to do it now.  In the winter you have an opportunity to work on these changes without the interruption of your normal weekly game. 

Don't hope that this year is a better one.  Take action to make sure it is.

I only saw a few minutes of yesterday's Tour Championship. The little I did see baffled me.

Two players had downhill putts on the same hole.  Both were about 15 feet away.  Player A rolls his ball down and thought it would slide a little bit right as it came down the hill.  It didn't budge and the ball slid past the left side of the hole.

Player B's ball was a good three to four feet to the right of the Player A but a similar distance the the hole.  Player B started his ball directly at the hole and the ball curved pretty hard to the right.

What astounded me was the commentators reaction.  "Wow, that one broke way to the right!  How could the first putt have been so straight and that one moved at least a foot?"

To think that this guy gets paid to comment on golf is the most shocking part.  Please understand this, if a ball rolls straight down a slope, another ball rolling down the same slope from a different angle cannot roll straight.  Further, if the second ball is to the right of the straight one, it MUST move to the right.  MUST.

Well the big storm has passed.  I am fortunate to live in an area of Connecticut that was only slightly affected by the wind and rain. 

So while we were all shut in by the storm this past Sunday, I worked on my golf game, did you?  Indoor training is something I stress to all of my students.  During the golf season, working indoors allows you to work on specific pieces of the motion without the distraction of the ball flight.  This is a faster way to change habits.  Once winter hits, all we have is indoor practice.  This is not a negative.  It is an opportunity to quickly and permanently correct a motion or a position.

So while I was watching the rain and the wind this past Sunday, I improved my putting stroke.  With a few of my favorite putting aids, the "Balls of Steel" and the "Kure" I was able to work on my putter alignment and a good transfer of energy into the ball. 

The great thing about both of these training aids is that they can be used anywhere.  Indoors, outdoors, with electricity or without.  Curious?  Let me know.  I love to talk or email golfers about ways to improve

Last week I wrote about the need to practice variety in the short game.  Chipping a pile of balls from point A to point B will do little to improve your touch around the greens.

Coming up next week is one of my favorite spectator events of the year.  The Open Championship will be contested on Royal St. George's in Scotland.  "Links golf" as it is called is quite different from the golf played here in the States.  This is due in part to the windy conditions so common in Scotland but in most part to the ground conditions.  Links style golf courses are built on very sandy soil will after these hundreds of years produce extremely firm surfaces.  Trying to play high shots into the greens will often result in the wind taking the ball wherever it likes, followed by the ball rolling out of control to places unknown.

As a result, those that watch the Open will have the opportunity to see the great players use their imagination!  Rather than simply throwing a shot up in the air and having it settle close to where it lands, players will be playing many low, running shots.  "Bump and Runs", chips, knockdown shots...you will see them all.  You may see three players elect to play almost an identical shot three different ways.

Take a lesson from this.  Every short shot around the green is slightly different.  Understanding this, hit as many different shots as you can think of while you are practicing.  In doing this, you are expanding your imagination and will have a chance to figure out a way to get it close next time you are on the course.

I love for my students to practice the short game. Two-thirds of the shots you play in a round of golf will be less than a full swing. Based on this, if lowering your score is a goal, you should be splitting your practice time accordingly. If you were to average a small sample of rounds, you will find that 40% of your shots are with the putter, 33% are full swings and the remaining 27% would be made up of chips, pitches, bunker shots, etc.

When you are practicing chipping, please keep this in mind. You should break your practice into two categories. The first would be mechanics. When you are working on mechanics you should not be chipping to a target. Just make sure you are hitting it solid and crisp.

The second phase of practice should be working on touch and feel. This is where I see people practicing poorly. If you are standing along side the green with a pile of balls and chip ball after ball to the same target, you are doing nothing to work on your feel. This would be the equivalent of a hitter in baseball only taking batting practice from a tee instead of live pitching.

When you are practicing to improve feel, be sure never to hit the same chip shot twice in a row. Chip to different targets, chip from different lies, use different clubs. When you play golf your chips shots will always be unique. 

Practice like you play. Dedicate the proper amount of time to putting and chipping. When working on the short game, don't fool yourself into thinking you have great touch because you can dial in feel after hitting the same chip a few times.