Short game practice and tricks

[ioz]

Thought it would be good to have a thread where we can collect all kinds of short game stuff.

Tips, tricks drills etc...

[ioz]

Alexander Noren, from Sweden, went to OSU and has two european wins under his belt. Likes to do super steep flop shots and long irons out of bunkers.

[Richie3Jack]

This is something I haven't quite focused on mainly because my chief concern is with my swing and ballstriking because that's where most of the strokes are gained or lost in a round of golf. However, part of this is due to having yet to explore the short game from a statistical perspective.

As far as order of importance goes on the PGA Tour, I find it to be this way:

1) Danger Zone play
2) Putting
3) Driving
4) Short Game (from 0-20 yards)

I'll have to see what things like bunker play mean in the grand scheme of things. I have some ideas.

I do practice the Rule of 12 because I find it to be a very effective system for chipping, but it does take a little getting used to it. And with putting I basically try to work on getting the speed of the greens down and some AimPoint stuff.







3JACK

[ioz]

I'd be interested in reading your findings as always.

Would you agree that for the higher handicappers short game is more important (relatively) because less greens are hit in regulation?

[Richie3Jack]

No.

If a higher handicapper hits their driver better or hits their long approaches better they'll save even more strokes than if they improve their short game the equal amount. Higher handicappers tend to lose a ton of strokes on longer par-3's. If I had to, I'd take a 3-putt over a driver that goes O.B. or into the hazard.

With higher handicappers, I think the Short Game distance is extended to more like 40 yards from the green...mainly because they will miss the green by a greater distance.

People get fooled into thinking that short game is of greater importance to higher handicappers because it's the easiest to improve of the bunch.






3JACK

[ioz]

Makes sense, but then again 'higher handicappers' perhaps is too broad a category to begin with.

I was thinking more of beginners who often lose it near the greens. They are often able to keep their shots out of trouble off the tee (albeit short) but still mess up because they don't know how to chip.

Getting your long game up to par is (like you say) more difficult and more time consuming than learning to chip and the rule of 12.

For them I think there's no excuse for not practicing it because if you do you'll end up scoring better while your full swing develops over time.

[Richie3Jack]

Let's say we assign a 'grade' to a golfer's skill.

Let's say a 16 handicapper, we'll give a grade of a 'D' in both ballstriking and putting/short game

Let's say for the month of August the golfer goes from a 'D' in ballstriking to a 'C+'. Meanwhile, they continue to be a 'D' in putting/short game.

Then in September they change their game. This time they go from a 'D' in putting/short game to a C+. But, their ballstriking reverts back to a grade of 'D.'

They will cut more strokes off their game by improving their ballstriking in August than when they improved their short game/putting in September.

The difference is that it's easier for a for a golfer to go from a D to a C+ in putting/short game than it is with ballstriking.

I believe that's what screws a lot of people up. They practice the wrong things because the perception is so far different from the reality.

It's like Danger Zone play. I think a big reason why golfers don't practice it is because they don't understand it's importance. If a golfer carries a 3-iron, they may practice with that 3-iron once in a blue moon. Why? Because they think that since they only may hit the 3-iron about once a round, they don't really need it. But the reality is that 1 shot with the 3-iron can cost them 1, 2 or 3 strokes. And if you have 4 attempts from the Danger Zone, that can cost a golfer easily 4 strokes...even professional golfers.

And what often happens is that a golfer will hit the green from 190 yards, but leave themselves with a 50 foot putt that has a lot of break to it. Then they will 3-putt and blame their putting. But had their ballstriking been better, they probably don't 3-putt it. That's what tends to happen in the Danger Zone...golfers blame their short game when they can't 2-putt from an extremely difficult spot on the green or they blame their short game when they can't make that impossible up and down. Avoid the bad position on the approach to the green and suddenly your short game and putting ain't so bad.

I think where short game practice can help is not only is it the easiest to get better at, but a lot of the mechanics of a 1/2 swing can be applied to the full swing and for the beginner, that's important to understand if they want to get better.








3JACK

[gmbtempe]

It's like Danger Zone play. I think a big reason why golfers don't practice it is because they don't understand it's importance. If a golfer carries a 3-iron, they may practice with that 3-iron once in a blue moon. Why? Because they think that since they only may hit the 3-iron about once a round, they don't really need it. But the reality is that 1 shot with the 3-iron can cost them 1, 2 or 3 strokes. And if you have 4 attempts from the Danger Zone, that can cost a golfer easily 4 strokes...even professional golfers.

Really good paragraph there. My buddy Joel told me to stop thinking I don't hit my irons good enough because its not costing me that much compared to wayward tee shots, that when in position to hit a good iron shot I usually find the green but its not happening enough. So a poor iron shot might cost me a stroke but poor tee shots were costing me "strokes" on a hole.

I think its perception as well, we expect to miss drivers, chip it close and make short putts, hit good iron shots with a 9 iron. That perception might skew your real issues with your game.

[Richie3Jack]

The one thing I notice now about my game compared to 2010 and 2009 is that I can now shoot under par when only hitting 10 greens in regulation.

Obviously, I'd prefer not do it that way, but before I would need to hit 14 or maybe 15 greens just to get under par. If I do that today, I have a good chance of shooting 68 or lower.

Some of that has to do with adding power. Makes the par-5's easier. But, if I'm playing Eastwood, where 3 of the 4 par-5's can be unreachable...then the power is less of a factor.

Instead, it's more about not pissing away strokes on Danger Zone approaches. It actually took me awhile to constantly remember in the Danger Zone 'just hit it solid and just find the middle of the green....don't worry about making birdie.'

This all really hit me one day when I was playing Eastwood...I think it was in February. I was something like +4 thru 12 holes and was having one of those 'I feel like I'm playing pretty well, but my score isn't that good' type of days. Felt like I was striking the ball well, putting pretty decent, chipping pretty decent. But, there I was, +4 thru 12.

Then I went back and looked and found that the weaker shots I did hit also happened to be on Danger Zone shots and I lost strokes right there. I couldn't get up and down because I had almost impossible up and downs from where I was from.

I really think people need to get out of the 'drive for show and putt for dough' mentality. Putting is undoubtedly important, but it's priority is often times placed entirely too high.




3JACK