Short Game In Golf

Practicing the short game in golf is the most neglected aspect in golf. Players don't seem to realize that 50% of their shots, or more, are of the shorter variety, namely chipping, pitching, and putting. These shots in golf are known as "the scoring shots".
In chipping, the ball will roll farther on the ground than it travels in the air. Pitching, the ball will fly in the air farther than it rolls. Of course in putting, the ball should never be off the ground.
One of best instructors ever, in golf, once told me "there is not a green that you can't reach in regulation, but, you might not hit it. So you need to practice your short game". Most players, when it comes to practice, are more concerned how far they can hit the golf ball, not how straight. As a consequence, the clubs they choose to practice with are of the longer variety, which are the most difficult to hit accurately. The result would be a lot of short game shots to complete the hole.
There are two aspects of ball striking that must be achieved any time the ball is on the ground.

• You must have most of your weight on the forward leg, and 
• your hands must be ahead of the club.

To really learn these two principles it is easier to use short swings as opposed to a longer swing. Understanding these two principles is a must, not only in the short game, but the full swing as well.

There is a misconception that you must hit down on the golf ball. This concept will generally cause players to force their arms, hands, shoulders and the club toward the ground. In reality the golf swing is a circle, or arc around a fixed point (the breast bone or a point equal distance between your shoulders). The lowest point of the circle is directly below that fixed center point. So if the ball is placed just before that center point the golf club head will make a contact with the ball, in a descending path before reaching the ground. Thus, no conscious effort is needed on your part to "hit down" on it. So maintain that center point, and then utilize the two principles in the previous paragraph.

In the short game, chipping requires very little wrist cock  (just enough to keep your hands ahead of the club head), and hardly any weight transfer (start the chip with more weight on the forward leg and leave it there). The pitch shot in golf will require more of both of these functions. Progressively, as the swing gets longer, it will require even more utilization of them, along with rotation of the shoulders and the hips.

So why is the short game in golf so important? It is the basis for performing the elements of the longer, full swing. Learn the basics of the short game and apply them to your full swing. Click the links below to find more information of putting, chipping, and pitching techniques to help you score better.

Short Game In Golf/Chipping

Some of the least practiced aspects of the golf game are the scoring shots utilized in the short game. These shots namely: putting, chipping, and pitching consist of more than half the strokes taken in and average 18 hole round of golf. In this post we will review proper techniques for chipping.

A chip is a golf shot where the ball rolls considerably farther than it travels in the air. It is generally used when the players ball is relatively close to the green and needs to clear undesirable ground conditions before landing on the green and rolling. To perform the chip shot, two variables must me achieved to be consistent. They are the golf club face must be descending toward the ball and striking it before it makes contact with the ground. To this adequately, your weight must be toward the forward leg, and the hands must be ahead of the club head. The hand position is preset ahead of the ball and the club head at address. To execute the chip shot, very seldom will the hands need to go past the back leg on the back swing, and no wrist-cock other than the preset at address.

In the video below, Paul Wilson of Revolution Golf will illustrate, very efficiently, how a proper chip is performed.

 "Consistent Chipping Strategy" Paul Wilson of Revolution Golf

We will discuss putting, and pitching in later posts. As for now, you have the tools to chip correctly. All that is left is practice.