If your chipping is inconsistent, the fix could be as simple as standing closer to the ball. This will encourage you to swing the club more straight-back, straight-through instead of on a rounded arc. A mental image that works great is to think about swinging the clubhead as if it were a Ferris wheel, straight up and down.

When you stand too far from the ball, the club starts at a flatter angle, which causes it to move quickly to the inside. An inside swing arc can be desirable on full swings, but there’s no need for it on a simple chip. With such a short swing, attacking the ball from the inside makes it difficult to hit with a descending blow, so it promotes that bad instinct of scooping the ball. How close should you stand? The first time, get close enough so it feels a little uncomfortable, like you’re crowding the ball. Then you know you’re doing it about right.

Source Golf Digest

From shafts that anchor into your belly to wild-looking mallet heads to unorthodox grips, putting is the one part of the game where you can really tap into your creative side. Your goal is simply to roll the ball in the hole, and there are many ways to do it effectively.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter which method you use, as long your wrists stay still during the stroke. You can see the variety of ways that tour pros have had success gripping their putters in recent years. As long as your grip makes it easy to minimize wrist action, then use it.

The most consistent way to roll the ball on line is with a torso-driven stroke–your upper body moves back and through like a pendulum. Your hands move the handle, but the wrists stay still for the most part. A hinging or unhinging of the wrists often alters the face angle and makes it difficult to roll the ball where you want. Because putters have so little loft these days, the position of the face at impact–not the path of the stroke–is almost completely responsible for the direction of the ball.

My advice is to try several different grips until you find one that helps you keep those wrists nice and steady.

Source Golf Digest

Every golfer has probably heard the terms “chip” and “pitch” before but sometimes the distinction about what differentiates those shots can be tough to figure out. Typically the answer relates to what happens with the ball during these shots, most notably whether it stays on the ground for the most part (chip) or flies through the air (pitch). What is similar about both shots, however, is that they are key to having a strong short game and often times both require short swings, something many golfers don’t practice enough.

Through my experience as an instructor, I have watched countless students have difficulty executing short swings on the course when they are called for, and the lack of understanding of how to execute such swings when it comes to the short game, especially as it relates to distance, leads to too many wasted shots. Here is a good, simple tool to use on distance control for your short game that we call the three-ball drill. Continue Reading→

Just like a doctor prescribes medication, a good golf instructor intends certain tips only for certain students. The following is strictly for golfers who struggle to get pitches in the air because they don’t effectively use the bounce of the wedge. Is this you? If your ball flight is low, your divots are deep and your club tends to catch in the turf, then all symptoms point to yes.

Your hands are probably too far forward at impact, excessively activating the leading edge of the club. This creates an unforgiving situation in which you must make perfect contact. Even so, the height to your shots will be limited. You must learn to employ the club’s bounce, or to strike the ground with at least a bit of the trailing edge. This is often a better player’s problem, as the instinct of most beginners is to scoop the ball with the shaft leaning too far back through impact.

Try this: Put your left hand in your pocket, and swing the wedge with your right arm only. Feel the clubhead pass your hand as it bottoms out. Now, pretend you’re on a putting green and hit the pitch. It would be a sin to take a divot, and the only way to avoid doing so is to properly use the bounce.

Practice this on a patch of closely mowed turf on your range, not on a green. I don’t want to get an angry letter from your course’s superintendent.

Source Kevin Hinton

SAM PuttLab – The Ultimate Putting Training System

2 Ball worst ball Challenge

Set up a 9 hole course.  The shots should be from various lies, lengths and utilise a range of clubs.  At each station hit 2 balls (you can change clubs), once you have hit the two balls pick the worst shot and finish out the hole.  Keep your score and complete the course 2 times.  See if you can improve the second time around.

Repeat at training to challenge yourself, your imagination, and creativity and improve your skills with a range of clubs.

Hit 2 balls.

Set up 2 golf balls side by side and then walk in to your putting set up with the putter head behind both balls as if you are going to hit them both at the same time.  Pick a distance it can be long or short and create a putting stroke relative to that distance.  Your goal is to hit both balls at once and see if the balls travel a similar distance.  Watch what happens.  Does one travel further than the other, if so which one.  If the ball that was closest to the heel of your putter face travelled further then your putter face was open at impact imparting side spin and backspin on the ball.  If the ball closest to the toe of your putter face travelled further then your putter face was slightly closed at impact.  This would be the preferred outcome.  It indicates that you are creating side and top spin on the ball which will keep the ball on line and rolling more smoothly.

Ideally the balls would roll a similar distance for long and short putts confirming that your putter face is neutral to the path.

Try this drill for a variety of length putts; the outcome could be different from one length to another.

This is a variation of the game that Eben Dennis talks about in his Power Feel Golf Book. The game was invented by the late Ted Ball and is called “Cuts and Scrapes”. Try it and it will definitely help your mental game and lower your scores.

The game is designed to credit anything positive about your shots and your routine, so that becomes the focus. The more positive thoughts you have, the more you will suppress the negatives which is what we need to do for better performance. It is designed to teach you to focus on the process of hitting the shot at hand and to get you to stay in the present, instead of thinking about your total score.

There are two versions of the game:

Tom Watson Golf Digest

A good swing starts with a good grip. A bad swing starts with a bad grip. Because most amateurs fail to put their hands on the club properly, they’ll never be able to play as well as they should.

I use the Vardon overlapping grip. I feel it unifies the hands and promotes better wrist hinging. My left hand goes on first, and I turn it to see two knuckles. My left thumb rests just right of center on the shaft.

I like those molded practice grips for learning how to hold the club. The grooves will put your hands in the correct positions. Even though it makes the clubhead feel too light, I suggest you get one and hit balls with it to improve your grip.

The mistake I see most is a grip that’s too weak. People put their thumbs straight down the shaft, and the result is usually an open clubface at impact–and a shot that peels off to the right.

A grip that’s too strong, where you see too many knuckles, will likely cause the clubface to be closed at impact. It’s a power grip, especially if you’re a slicer. Still, I’d rather see your grip too strong than too weak.

How do you handle lies in such deep rough? First you need to understand why the clubface closes so dramatically. It’s because the tall blades of grass wrap around the club’s hosel, stopping the heel of the club from moving, but the toe keeps turning over. The result: a closed clubface. Tiger was quoted after his round that the grass was so tall on his first shot that it wrapped around the actual shaft, not just the hosel. That’s deep rough, for sure!

Lee Trevino always said the worse the lie, the tighter you should hold the club. He said to start with the clubface open, “then hold on real tight, as tight as you can.”

So here are your basics in deep rough:

Continue Reading→