Short flop shots are outright sucking!!!!!!!

[kafka01]

I have a theory that each year older you get makes that shot harder (Ha ha.) The longer you have played, the more you know about the myriad results of a missed flop. But I still love 'em.

LOL - i play a lot with older guys (+50) but still with very respectable hcps. I cant remember seeing these guys play a flop - ever....

[misty_mountainhop]

The shot that continues to erk me are the short flops.

Sorry to sound like I might be preaching but do you know how hard it is to execute this kind of shot correctly? This is

not an easy shot. Practice it on the range, a lot, before using it regularly on the course. Mickleson, Singh etc make them look easy but I bet they've practised them a Hell of a lot. Assuming you make a good strike, judging the power for a given distance is not easy either. Don't be fearful of taking a long swing, you should be pretty much full and then make a nice sweep under the ball; full follow through. Not sure about others but I try and minimise wrist action through the ball and keep the face open. You're right about trust though, given the long swing a skull is going miles instead of a few yards. "Making contact with the big ball before the little ball" ... I like that phrase! I'm going to file it away for future use .

[runwme]

You guys got me interested in trying them.

Took a 55 gallon drum with top cut out, a box of 100 shag balls and sharpened grooves on my 60degree wedge.

I was trying to see how close to drum I could get and flop one up and in. The sizzle of the ball spinning in bottom of drum is pretty rewarding.

I had to be on defensive, because when thinned it and the ball ricocheted off the side of drum but when it went in..... nice

[Dub]

LOL - i play a lot with older guys (+50) but still with very respectable hcps. I cant remember seeing these guys play a flop - ever....

My father is in his early 60's and he executes this shot beautifully. I've tried to get him to teach me in the past....but he just smiles and says it's a finesse thing that I have to be ready for. I'm gonna hold him up prior to our next round while we are warming up on the range and see if I can't coax the "secrets" out of him.

Either Golf Magazine or Golf Digest put a very timely article by Phil concerning this very shot. I just got my copies of both yesterday and perused them. This morning I was able to squeeze in nine holes early. On the first green I held back and dropped a several balls out and practiced this a few times. Keep the hands ahead of the club and hands moving through the shot really helped me get much better results. The good thing is that with a decent mat I can practice this shot a great deal in the backyard.

[Prodigy]

the flop shot should be your last resort. The reason I say this is because it is not good when you play a shot that has little to no margin of error along with the risk of a "skull" that will almost always put you in a spot that was worse than your last. My advice is to read the utley book on short game it helped me a great deal. And as far as a flop shot goes technique wise open the face along with your stance. The one swing thought i think of when i hit one is "Long and Lazy". This helps keep your tempo consistant witch is one of the most important things when it comes to pitching and "floping"/

Hope this helps, Chris

[ks8829]

Part of playing golf is making the right decisions whether you are off the fairway and in the trees and need an exit or between a bunker and the green, you always have choice A , B & C .

A is the easy route to settle for a harder par but no more than boogie.
B is the bit risky shot that may allow a par but there is a possiblity for double boogie.
C is the riskiest shot where you can make par but triple boogie enter the picture.

When you choose the flop shot and unless you practice it enough to pull it off under pressure you choosen C .

[Chas]

It's probably a sign of the state of my game but I find myself considering the flop shot more often than most others do - bunker in front of a shortish pin, steeply elevated green, etc (too many poor approach shots). If you practice the flop shot enough to be reasonably confident, and you're picky about your lie, and you use a smoooooth, accelerating swing, you will almost never skull the blasted thing. For me, the issue is more that I often don't get the distance right, but at least the roll on hard greens is minimized. Nothing worse than pitching clear through a green from fairly close ....

[soloredd]

I love playing flop shots. I've become pretty confident with it and use it pretty often because the greens where I play are pretty damn hard. Especially with the weather still being frosty in the mornings here. Plus, I just like getting the ball really high.

It's a fun shot, why the hell not.

[Fourputt]

I love playing flop shots. I've become pretty confident with it and use it pretty often because the greens where I play are pretty damn hard. Especially with the weather still being frosty in the mornings here. Plus, I just like getting the ball really high.

The simple answer.... because it isn't always the best choice. You might consider that your handicap might drop faster if you

didn't use it as often. Fun for me is shooting the lowest score I can, and that often precludes taking a shot at something just because it's "fun". I save that for the practice area.

[Gnohymmas]

First of all, flops shots are usually unnecessary, but if you insist of flopping it (like i usually do), then the most imporatant things to do are to make sure you use your chest to rotate the arms, and then cock, and then maintain the angle when you are hitting the ball, instead of flipping it. If you use ur chest rotation, it should help alot from skuling it.

[st0wgolf08]

First of all, flops shots are usually unnecessary, but if you insist of flopping it (like i usually do), then the most imporatant things to do are to make sure you use your chest to rotate the arms, and then cock, and then maintain the angle when you are hitting the ball, instead of flipping it. If you use ur chest rotation, it should help alot from skuling it.

If your a 36 handicap like your profile says, then flop shots are totally unncessary, however for tour pros and scratch to better golfers, they are sometimes useful.

In a tourny we were playing a z hole, and there was a tree between the fairway and the green, I was 60 out, open my 60s face till it was pretty much flat, full swing, to 12 feet. Not bad. They are very useful.

[iacas]

If your a 36 handicap like your profile says, then flop shots are totally unncessary

36 is the default value provided by the forum. People giving advice based on the assumption that the person they're talking to is a 36 handicap, well, you know what they say about assuming...

[Chas]

LOL - and very true. In my case however, my advice is far far better than my handicap would indicate ....... trust me in this.

I would add to my earlier post that one thing I've learned is not to attempt the flop shot if the pin is closer than a certain distance. Why? Because that really is an oustandingly difficult shot, since you have to make a positive, accelerating swing yet hit it softly. I find this very very difficult and bad things can happen if you bail out of the shot in the slightest way. It's not like a conventional pitch or chip shot in this respect. Whereas the full or almost full flop shot, from the proper distance and from the right lie, is not such a difficult shot to pull off if you practice it enough and yes, it's very gratifying. Not to mention the psychological effect on your opponent. Trouble is, if you follow it with a 3-putt the effect doesn't last too long.

[Power_fade]

The most helpful thing to remember with flop shots is to aim for the ground directly below the ball to keep from skulling it. But always remember the hierchy of the short game.

1. If you can putt, putt.
2. If you can't putt, do a low chip shot.
3. If you can't do a low chip shot, pitch it high.

[Dub]

The most helpful thing to remember with flop shots is to aim for the ground directly below the ball to keep from skulling it. But always remember the hierchy of the short game.

Interesting...I generally do putt quite a bit from fringe and off-green locations.

I do best when keeping the ball as low to the ground as the situation will allow.....it's just that sometime this shot is needed on well bunkered greens. I have no fears with full or even 80% lob wedge shots....hit 'em like a standard wedge shot. It's just the short distance monsters that drive me insane. Gonna improve through practice, though.

[purple monkey dishwasher]

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