Short game meltdown

[Meddle]

So yesterday I played nine and started out well, one over through 4. Number 5 is a par 3 over water, and I pushed the ball into some rough next to the green, probably about a 7 yard chip to the pin. I then proceeded to chip the ball over the green, skull the ball to the back of the green, and 3 putt for the triple bogey sledgehammer to my round. Totally lost confidence in my touch around the green. My question is, what kinds of things do you guys do to get that touch back, as far as practice goes?

[andef]

i've always been comfortable with my short game but whenever i make some mistakes in a round I immediately head to the chipping green and practice those shots. i don't get satisfied easily so i sometimes spend three or four hours just on that...hitting the same shot until i hit all of my balls to three feet or less. i think it's just practice but my short game is particular because i enjoy hitting high shots and do it too often so every time i have a bad lie or a difficult shot i feel confident i'll hit it close.
the best advice i can give is to practice on the short game almost the same amount as you do with your irons/woods and you'll immediately see improvements. these improvements will give you the confidence to know that you can hit it close because you've done it before.

[chris0228]

i've always been comfortable with my short game but whenever i make some mistakes in a round I immediately head to the chipping green and practice those shots. i don't get satisfied easily so i sometimes spend three or four hours just on that...hitting the same shot until i hit all of my balls to three feet or less. i think it's just practice but my short game is particular because i enjoy hitting high shots and do it too often so every time i have a bad lie or a difficult shot i feel confident i'll hit it close.

andef gives great advice. Practice, practice, practice. The key to your short game is having the confidence to hit good and consistent less than full "touch" shots. I typically find myself at the end of the range in the thick rough practicing shots from different lies. Besides for the obvious time spent on chipping and wedge shots on the range, go find some different levels of grass, place 20 balls all on different lies an train yourself on how to hit from those lies. Muscle memory is huge for your short game too. If you know that with this crtain grass length and type, all you need to do is ................. from practicing that over and over again, when you get onto the course it will be natural for you to hit the shot. Hope this helps!!

[Dub]

I have bunker days like that.

[OJsakila]

andef gives great advice. Practice, practice, practice. The key to your short game is having the confidence to hit good and consistent less than full "touch" shots. I typically find myself at the end of the range in the thick rough practicing shots from different lies. Besides for the obvious time spent on chipping and wedge shots on the range, go find some different levels of grass, place 20 balls all on different lies an train yourself on how to hit from those lies. Muscle memory is huge for your short game too. If you know that with this crtain grass length and type, all you need to do is ................. from practicing that over and over again, when you get onto the course it will be natural for you to hit the shot. Hope this helps!!

From God's lips to your ears! There is NO OTHER answer.

[ks8829]

No short cuts to practice, but before you practice make sure that you are using the correct set up for your putting, chipping and pitching. Putting, chipping and pitching is easy once you are set up correctly and it work well under pressure. Learn the proper set up and technique before practicing.

What is the correct set up you ask?





Watch the helpful videos below:

[Meddle]

Thanks for the tips guys. Those videos are great, I've never had any short game lessons so that's all really new to me. I actually took notes on those videos and other tips from the replies and plan on hitting the practice green and working with them. Thanks again for helping me out!

[senorchipotle]

the only time you can skull the ball is when your hands aren't ahead of the clubface. square the back of your hand and hit down with your hands ahead at impact.

[WUTiger]

Totally lost confidence in my touch around the green. My question is, what kinds of things do you guys do to get that touch back, as far as practice goes?

Don't sabotage yourself. You have

not lost your touch, you just don't have it yet. This is the pre-season. Give yourself time to get back in the groove. To make you feel better, you hereby have my permission to chip in - at least once - the next time you play.

[ks8829]

If you practice using these basic tips from the above videos for your set up its almost fool proof. The set up help puts you in position for success! start by practicing and finding success and change your mind set from I hope I will not chunk this chip or pitch to I am going to make this or get it close.

for all your short game focus on the following:

1) solid contact
2) distance control
3) direction

On chips around the green I am starting to keep the face square back and square forward and find more success in chipping in or just lipping out near the cup since it keeps the club face square to the target.

make sure that you use a soft grip and keep your wrist quiet and rotate with your shoulders. arm and hand positions are also important to prevent chunking, they should be extended yet relaxed. success sould come fact along with confidence with practice. "The more you practice the luckier you get" Gary Player.

Tip, when I hit my driver, fairway wood or even irons I also use the square to square* technique to hit straight and slight fades. This is huge for a person who normally draws the ball. try it you will like it.

* square to square technique means to keep the club face square through impact without turning over or closing. I must make a slight correction, when I take the club back the face does face perpendicular to the target, so it should be called perpendicular to square technique.

[bunkerputt]

I like to distinguish between confidence and attitude. Confidence is knowing you meet the demands of a shot. This only comes if you trust your skill, AND have performed the shot correctly many times. That is, your trust isn't misplaced. Crappy golfers have no reason to have confidence. But that doesn't mean they can't keep their attitudes in check.

What's the best way to keep your attitude positive? That's easy: THE TRUTH

Example: I'm a good putter. Last year my average was in the low 1.7s. And trust me, I'm not a great ball striker and I don't have a good short game. This year, post 2nd child, I started playing and 3-putt 3 holes in a row. That's enough to drive the confidence out of anyone. And losing confidence in putting is about the worst thing that can happen to your game. But I didn't tell myself I was a bad putter, or I just lost it, or something else like that. I could feel that my stroke was there, it just wasn't quite getting to the hole. The greens were highly overseeded and extremely slow (think shag carpet). I hadn't adjusted well. Plus, I realized that I putt much better on very fast greens. The reason is simple: the stroke is shorter. So I realized I need some practice on very long putts or extremely slow greens where the stroke is large. None of this has anything to do with me as a person or a golfer for that matter. I applied a force to move something from point A to point B and it ended up at C instead because of a miscalculation. Why should that affect my attitude? I got a low average playing on certain kinds of greens, but realize that the average would be much higher if I played on greens that I really don't do too well on. So I know what my practice areas are. I'm going to work on them, and I'll just keep getting better and better until I find the next thing I'm not so good at. That's all there is to that.

Another example: I hit a great fade off the tee to the center stripe of a dogleg right. When I got up to my ball, it was sitting in the back of a divot. I looked at it and thought, "OK. That sucks. But what's the right way to play this shot? I know I want to come in a little steeper so I don't chunk it, but it's going to really be difficult to not blade it. Let me just pick a club that will leave me a little short if I catch it just right, but wont run too long in the likely event that I skull it." I step up and proceed to skull it 3 feet from the pin. The fact that it was close meant nothing to me. I didn't plan for it to get that close. The fact that I bladed it also meant nothing to me. I knew the odds were against me catching it clean. The fact that I recognized all of these factors, made a decision, and accepted the unsurprising consequences meant a whole heck of a lot. That's the way to keep your attitude positive.