You may recall that earlier this month, Dave Seeman and I taught a three-day school at Odessa National in Townsend, DE. Today's daily is a story from that class and, like all good stories, there's a lesson to be learned that can apply to anyone striving to significantly lower their scores. Plus, I will give you two drills that will help with your chipping technique, so stick with the story!
When I teach the short game portion of a three-day school, I always start with chipping technique before moving back to pitching because the pitching swing builds from the chipping stroke. From there, we move on to bunker play and then putting. One of my students admitted right up front that her short game was terrible, except for her putting. I confirmed this as I worked with her throughout the day. Her chipping setup was poor--the ball position was off and her arm position was bad. That was an easy fix so we moved on to her swing. She had developed a bad habit of breaking her wrists and I watched her hit a series of chunks, thins and skulls before giving her two drills to correct the problem.
In the first drill, I put a tee in the hole at the top of the grip and told her to think of it as the needle in a car's fuel gauge and that her forward arm represented the full tank mark. The key to using the drill effectively is to ensure that the needle (tee) never points away from the full tank mark (forward arm) at any point in the swing. This little mnemonic device helped a bit, but it didn't quite do the trick so I moved on the the second drill. In this one, I replaced the tee with a two foot section of a thin rod I purchased at a home improvement store. Given it's length, the rod extends past the body, occupying the space between the forward arm and the torso. Then if the swing breaks down, the rod gives you a gentle poke in the ribs and reminds you not to break your wrists as you swing.
This drill brought everything together for her and she started chipping quite well, to the point where she said "Gee, I could really get good at this. Maybe I should start using the putting green I have in my back yard to practice my chipping." Well, since I don't live anywhere near a good short game practice facility that's open to the public, I said "Wow! If I had a putting green in my back yard I would be out there all the time. In fact, if it had lights, you would be hard pressed to ever get me off of it." To which she said, "It has lights!"
As we moved on to bunker play and fixed her setup and swing she said "This is great! When I get home, I'll keep practicing from the bunkers I have around my putting green." As you can imagine, I nearly fell over, not a little green with envy!
This brings us to the lesson we can all take away from this story--and it's not that you should all run out and install a putting green at home. Rather, if you want to become a true short game wizard and watch your scoring average drop like a stone, you need to put in substantial time practicing both technique and touch. I can help you with technique, but I can't help you with touch. That's something that you have to develop on your own. Not everyone has the physical ability to hit 250-300 yard drives but everyone has the ability to pitch and chip well. It's the great equalizer and it is one of the reasons that older golfers can often smoke younger opponents who haven't put in the time on their short game. To get really good at your short game you need to be religious about your practice time. If you hit 50 balls with your long irons and woods, then hit 100-150 with your short irons. If you have good technique, I can guarantee you will see results if you put in the time to develop the touch needed to consistently get your ball into 1-putt distance.
Keep it vertical!
The Surge
[Note from Swing Surgeon Marketing: If you need help with chipping, pitching and bunker shot technique, check out Don and DJ's "Situational Shots: Around The Green", available for $19.95 in Surge's Shop.]
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