tips on improving short game

observer

after a 2 year sabatical from the game i have return to the fairways of golf and through practice and trips to the range my swing and general club hitting has improved to a point where i am very happy with it.

unfortunately i can only get out on a golf course once a week at most and all my work on the range is not paying the dividends due to my terrible short game.

last saturday i played a round where i was accurate and long off the tee, good enough iron play been on the edge or front of greens in 2 but taking 6's or 5's

now i play off 18 due to my inability to play regularly but honestly believe with a better short game i could be a low teens player no problem.

can anyone advise on how to improve this area of my game throughout the week in dublin. (i'm from the country where my club is)

i'd love to see my well hit wedges land where i thought they would! i have no feel for what is right and what is too much etc.

help me please!


thanks

tobinj6

hi observer!
it seems to me that you only have a small problem with your game and small problems are made into big ones when you dont address them, your problem is not with your pitching wedge, sand wedge or putter but rather a problem with your mind. i had the same problem recently and was beginning to doubt my game and ability but from wat i hear in your mail your very capable of making a green in 2 dat who is to say you wont get it in the hole in another two the answer to that in my opinion is the same answer as i was giving your mind and having no confidence so i strongly advise you to read the book by bob rotella called GOLF IS A GAME OF CONFIDENCE it is sold in local book shops such as easons and i would like to hear from you after 4 games and tell me how you get on i guarantee you will improve immensly
best of luck
john

Mister Sifter

The Bob Rotella books are good and all, but the fact remains that you still need to practice. That's what Bob preaches himself in his books. Practice the short game the majority of the time that you practice.

It's a tough time of year to be able to do it, with the fading light. Try to find a course relatively near you that you can maybe nip out to and chip balls for even 20-30 minutes once or twice a week.

When you're out playing, if you are able to, after you hit a pitch into a hole, drop another ball or two and see if you can better it.

That's a great way to sharpen up the game. It's hard to practice chipping at the driving range - the majority aren't really set up for it. If you have a decent-sized back yard you could always get a bucket or soemthing and try chip into it.

Halo

i don't think a book is going to improve your game that much to be honest. it'll just help get into the right frame of mind, pre-shot routine etc... practice is the only way you improve your game, end of! practice makes permanent, no matter what anyone says.

PhilipMarlowe

Don't just suggest that he needs mental confidence.... confidence comes from having the correct technique firstly.
If you are unsure of your technique, you can be certain that you won't trust yourself on the course to hit proper pitch/chip shots. When you know that you have a good technique, then you can focus on your target much more and start believing that you will not only get down in two from the edge, but feel like you can hole a few...

Get a short game lesson or two if you can... if you can't get the time or can't afford to, there are plenty of good video tutorials online... (i like www.shawnclementgolf.com , particularly his youtube video section... simple visualisations etc).
You can practice the technique indoors on a piece of old carpet or something... no need for a ball even. I keep an old wedge in the house for this... a few minutes each evening repeating the swing you have learned will make it easier when you get to practice or play out on the course.
When your short game improves, it actually takes a lot of pressure off your long game because you won't be as fearful about missing greens.

lisbon_lions

Do you have a hallway where you live? Put two coaster cd's down either end and put a few balls up and down to each cd. Get a few plastic indoor balls and put an open clothes basket or something down one end and sand wedge from the other end. It gets you swinging and the feel indoors. Get a few games of pitch n putt in - quite a few courses around Dublin. Get a vacant part of a park or a football pitch and aim for your bag from 20 yards away.

There are loads of things you can do as range fees can get pricey, as i am starting to learn.

observer

cheers for the reply guys

i read his book which i must say was invaluable to my long game! i natural developed a routine as a teenager but this book made me focus quite hard on working to that routine, though in his book as one poster rightly observes he preaches so much about practicing 80% on the short game.

i live in rented accomodation all timber floors. will get a long old piece of carpet next time i'm home and bring it up. that will help alot i think.

i'm not sure parks in dublin will appreciate someone pitching balls 50-60 yards.:(:(

i'd just love to get out one weekend before the winter and shoot a sub 80 round.

Davidth88

Is there a local pitch and putt course?

I know when I started playing pitch and putt I found my short game improved , indeed my whole game improved because I had to excersise more control.

ShriekingSheet

Licksy wrote: »

confidence comes from having the correct technique firstly.

Forget Rotella. Every acclaimed sports psychologist hammers home the point that great athletes choose to be confident - their level of confidence is not dictated to them by whether their technique is in the slot or not that day, their previous performances, or anything else.

The idea that you can control this, that you don't have to worry about X part of your game being slightly off recently, that you can make a firm decision to be confident without having to wait for a few putts to fall in, is an extremely hard idea to grasp. But if it was easy, we'd all be winners.

And when you add pressure, this is amplified. It's not a technique that holds up under pressure - the person does, or doesn't.

Rory Mac missing a short putt or Harrington missing 25 yards left with an 8 iron is not due to poor technique or lack of practice.

At our amateur level, we've all had days where we've realised potential we daren't believe we had - despite our relatively poxy techniques and low levels of practice.

I have a decent understanding without being anywhere near being able to put into practice this idea of controling confidence. But it's taught by all the top guys including Rotella, to all the top performers from Kilkenny hurlers to F1 drivers.

It doesn't mean a 5 h'cap can improve confidence and go on tour tomorrow but I believe it's an ingredient, along with practice, that can help any level of player realise their potential more frequently, whatever that potential is.

My personal example is shooting some of my best scores ever this year with a swing that was an over the top fishing-type manouever, chunky divots pointing way left and an average enough short game.

PhilipMarlowe

IMO, being greenside in 2 and coming off with a 6 is a sign of poor technique with chipping... I know, I've suffered enough with it. When you are unsure of your technique, you will have no confidence in your own ability and will duff them or blade them etc... You get so anxious over the shot, it's like having the yips. Your head comes up to see what you've done this time and obviously the shot is pants.

When you get someone to show you good technique for chipping and pitching, you will purely be focused on getting your clubface through towards the target with a nice soft right hand (if you are a right handed player), knowing that the shot is going to be ok at worst, and you will have a good chance of making the putt, taking 6 out of the equation.
With bad technique or setup, you are making the shot harder than is necessary too...
Like if you use a 9 iron to chip from just over the fringe... If you stand more upright so the club is more on it's toe and you basically use a stroke similar to a putting stroke, you are minimising the chances of the club catching heavy and the ball going nowhere.

I am not a technical player at all, I don't know or care what my left knee is doing etc... but I think for the short game you need guidance on the correct methods so that they can become second nature to you... then your mind is off the method and onto the result which is where it should be.

ShriekingSheet

Licksy wrote: »

IMO, being greenside in 2 and coming off with a 6 is a sign of poor technique with chipping... I know, I've suffered enough with it. When you are unsure of your technique, you will have no confidence in your own ability and will duff them or blade them etc... You get so anxious over the shot, it's like having the yips. Your head comes up to see what you've done this time and obviously the shot is pants.

When you get someone to show you good technique for chipping and pitching, you will purely be focused on getting your clubface through towards the target with a nice soft right hand (if you are a right handed player), knowing that the shot is going to be ok at worst, and you will have a good chance of making the putt, taking 6 out of the equation.
With bad technique or setup, you are making the shot harder than is necessary too...
Like if you use a 9 iron to chip from just over the fringe... If you stand more upright so the club is more on it's toe and you basically use a stroke similar to a putting stroke, you are minimising the chances of the club catching heavy and the ball going nowhere.

I am not a technical player at all, I don't know or care what my left knee is doing etc... but I think for the short game you need guidance on the correct methods so that they can become second nature to you... then your mind is off the method and onto the result which is where it should be.

No, I know you're not an over-technically minded player. I'm not saying the problem is only confidence, as I said, confidence is an ingredient, along with practice/technique.

My main point was you saying you need the correct technique to be confident. So many good players constantly refer to getting the ball in the hole. This essentially is a reference to the fact that your technique will never be on the button from putting to driver. But the game isn't about technique - it's about getting the ball in the hole. Put simply, when their technique is off, they're still confident.

As I said, hard to grasp but maybe that's why we're on boards and not on tour

PhilipMarlowe

Sheet, I'm really saying that correct technique is much more important on the short game than on the long game. If your weight is on the wrong side or something so obviously wrong then your chance of getting a decent result is dramatically reduced, regardless how confident you tell yourself you are