The Flop Shot

[TtotheJ]

Hey Everybody!

I am pretty new to golf. I have been playing since May and haven't had more than one day go by without practicing in my yard. With that said I have really been focusing on my short game. I am starting to feel very confident with my chipping and have started focusing on the flop shot.

Honestly the only reason I have been made aware of the flop shot is because I use it a lot in the Tiger Woods video games for the PS3. I have messed around with it in the front yard and have been hitting it correctly about 25% of the time. I am not sure how practical of a shot it is but when I hit it correctly, I get excited.

I just wanted to know how often the average golfer uses this technique. As of right now it is a risky shot as 75% of the time I blade it and it goes 40 yards plus in the wrong direction. I am not even comfortable trying it out near the practice putting grees as I might wound a child, a car or the club house window.

I have been told it's usually hit out of the trap but in some situations I think it would be beneficial to hit instead of a normal chip shot as I tend to get too much roll on the ball and just have it roll off the green.

How comfortable are you with this shot and do you use it often? Thanks for your help.

[golfro]

I'm fairly comfortable with flop shots but I try not to do it if i don't need to. I just need to tell myself to be confident with it because the minute I start doubting and thinking about it too much, I'll blade it straight across the green.

On a typical round, I'll only use a true flopshot maybe twice a round. Example of when I'll use it. A par 3 hole I was on has a the pin tucked in the upper right corner, with a bunker on the right upper side of the green. I pushed the ball to the right side of the bunker which would leave me roughly a 10 yard distance from ball to pin, with bunker in between. Not too much green to work with between pin and bunker and the green slopes down quite a bit to the left of the pin. If i hit it long, ball can slip down the left side, if i hit it short, i'm in the bunker.

In this case, i just need to trust myself and take a flopshot swing and let it plop down soft on the green. Easier said than done.

It's definitely a great technique to have to save yourself in certain situations, but i don't use it too often.

Similar situation happened to me a short while ago but I couldn't use a flop shot. Similar situation as described above, but there was a tree over hanging the bunker and where i was standing. More than likely, if i hit a flopshot, my ball would hit a branch and fall straight into the bunker. In this case I had to punch the ball right over the green and get enough spin to get the ball to take a hop or two and hault. I actually ended up duffing the ball this hole :)

another common situation... appraoch shot lands on green but rolls off a steep hill. The pin is now elevated above you and you don't have much green to land it. you have to hit the ball high enough over the elevation but you don't want to hit it long and have your ball roll away from the pin. A flopshot will let you get the ball up in the air and land softly. dangerous situation though...land it short and your ball can end up rolling right back down to where you're standing.

[out_in_30]

this shot is used when you have very little green to work with and you have to get it high up in the air and travel a very short distance and land softly.. usually when you have to clear a bunker or some other type of hazard but also when you have short sided yourself and like i said have little to no green to work with .. it usually requires a full smooth swing with a very open club face and sometimes a slightly outside to in swing path. it is a great shot to have for these situations but very impractical to use if you are just short of the green and have 30 feet of green between you and the pin. for this reason i use the flop shot when i am in the above mentioned perdicament. otherwise i never use it and i usually bump and run.

[TtotheJ]

Thanks for the quality tips, guys.

I am hitting the range tomorrow to try the flop with a little more room. Then a round on Saturday to see how it works.

Silly question. What is the lowest iron you flop with? I haven't done it with anything but a sand wedge. I read a post of someone saying they hit a flop with a 6 iron. I didn't really think it was done with anything other than a PW,SW, and LW.

[out_in_30]

hitting a flop shot with a 6 iron can be an option if you are lets say in a bunker and need the ball to go like 40 yards after hitting an explosion shot (helps to be on the up slope too).. u can do it with a 3 iron as well from sand the same way u would with a SW. doing explosions from sand with a mid or long iron tho just carries a long way and usually has no spin. useful tho if you need to carry the ball a long way and dont want to try and pick it off the sand with a wedge.

[Joeyvee]

very open club face and sometimes a slightly outside to in swing path. it is a great shot to have for these situations but very impractical to use if you are just short of the green and have 30 feet of green between you and the pin. for this reason i use the flop shot when i am in the above mentioned perdicament. otherwise i never use it and i usually bump and run.

I knew it. Ive been trying to swing more in to out and its hurt my wedge game. I was deadly accurate before now it's a crap shoot. Im going back to my over the top wedge swing. Ufck it. I have to.

As far as the flop I am very comfortable with it and will hit it well 80% of the time with 10-15% decent and 5% blades. A LOT OF IT DEPENDS ON LIE AND BOUNCE. Don't forget to take that into account on the course. That being said if I dont have to hit one I wont. I'll typically walk to my ball with an 8iron, SW and Lob wedge and see how the balls sitting and what I need to do before picking a club. If I can take my 8 iron with a putting stroke and bump and run it to the pin 99% of the time I will. Practice THAT shot. It's 100 times easier. If I have to flop it I know I can get it up and stop it dead with my 62 but the accuracy is tough to judge from course to course and even hole to hole. If youre 15-25 yards away you can hit a great flop and still have a 10 foot putt or longer. And if you DO blade it then you're looking at another chip or pitch and 2 more putts. Ugh. We've all been there.

[out_in_30]

I knew it. Ive been trying to swing more in to out and its hurt my wedge game. I was deadly accurate before now it's a crap shoot. Im going back to my over the top wedge swing. Ufck it. I have to.

well i only meant out to in for the flop shot in order to aid in getting under it.. full wedge shots from fairway should just be played with a regular swing.. but hey, whatever works for you and whatever produces the best results..

[jamo]

I use it when I need to get up a hill or over something. It is a shot that I practice a lot and one that I am very good at and very confident with.

The only tip I could give someone trying to learn it is to make sure you flip your hands. It might be a death sentence with the full swing but it is key for the flop shot (and many short game shots).

The flop shot can be done many different ways. With a lot of wrist action (think Sergio's transition), with little wrist action, with a slow swing (think Fred Couples tempo), or with a more quick, methodical tempo.

[TtotheJ]

I have been doing it hard with very little wrist action. If I slow down I tend to not execute. I will try the wrist action with the sloe delivery and report back.

[max power]

I use it when I need to get up a hill or over something. It is a shot that I practice a lot and one that I am very good at and very confident with.

This is good advice. The flop is wristy. It's a fun shot, one I probably practice more than necessary, because it's fun-but it is low-percentage. I use it on the course when I need to, but as someone else said, that's probably once, maybe twice a round.

[ohiolefty]

I try to do it as little as possible. It's one of the only shots I'd ever allow myself to think: "Okay, what's my score in the round so far? Do I need this so bad that I'm willing to blow it and make a big number OR Am I playing well enough that I can afford to risk a big number"

If I'm playing well, I have that conversation with myself once or twice a round. When playing poorly, obviously, I have it more often.

[zeg]

For me, the flop is an emergency shot only. The only time I've hit one recently was when I was stuck behind trees in such a way that chipping out was not a good option and I had to get up over them in a hurry. I wasn't aiming to land on the green (unless I got really lucky), which was far enough off that even a blade that happened to get through the trees would be ok. In any case, it wouldn't be any worse than trying to chip through. It turned out well, easily clearing the trees, but coming up short as expected.

I'm actually pretty good with the flop and like to practice it because I agree with those above who say it's just fun. However, the relatively high percentage of good results is tempered by a low percentage of dismal, dismal failures, so on balance it's just too dangerous. Better to chip or pitch past a tight pin, even if it means a long putt back.

[adamgoodman]

The flop shot is my absolute bread and butter shot that I use whenever it is practical to as my first option.

First of all, it is a lot easier to execute with blade wedges as opposed to the the forged and cavity that come in a lot of iron sets and some individual... For example my entire set is full-cavity Nike VR's but the 60* wedge I used for those short flops shots is a Tom Watson blade style.

The best piece of advice I can give about the flop shot that hasn't already been mentioned is not to try and help the ball into the air by changing into something more of a scoop. Simply open the club face and stance and use the proper technique (wrist, quick, slow, etc.) and contact the ball as if it wasn't something out of the ordinary, and the ball will do what it is supposed to.

[TtotheJ]

I practiced for about another hour tonight after work. I would say my percentage went up from about 25% to 35% just from the tips you guys said. It funny I mess up and realize what I did wrong and once I see that I go to hit it again with supreme confidence.

In my yard I have really been working on chipping, pitching and flopping. I can honestly say that focusing on this has really just given me more of a confident approach when knowing what I need to do. In a perfect world I won't need to flop on my upcoming round on Saturday. However, should the opportunity present itself, I would be lying if I said I'm not excited to attempt it.

My last round i shot 119 and I really didn't know the technique for chipping. I am confident that my practice will shave atleast 5-10 strokes off this next round. So I am going to gamble if I am able to.

[Meddle]

Way to practice your short game, I'd be willing to bet with your dedication you will improve quickly.

As far as the flop shot goes, I personally think there are better uses of your practice time than working on it. I've used it maybe 5 times in 30 rounds so far this year. I do practice it when I'm messing around on the range but have found that on the course, the risk/reward scenario almost never balances out for me. I'll hit it well 75% of the time in practice, but have trouble controlling distance and the 25% that I don't hit it well usually ends up disastrous.

By the way, I'm not concluding that no one should ever hit or practice the flop shot, just that in my experience as a golfer it has not been helpful.

[Grndslmhttr3]

Honestly, I would focus more on normal chip shots and such. This is only my personal experience, but I rarely need to use a flop shot, since I'm able to do a regular chip instead. That's not to say the flop isn't useful, as it's certainly a nice thing to have in your repertoire, but you probably won't need to use it as much as you think. It's also harder to execute than a regular chip shot, and miss-hits are going to be a lot more penalizing.

I'll admit, though, that when playing with friends I'll use it to screw around a bit.

[Harmonious]

At some point in one's golfing career, a well executed flop shot is a valuable weapon to a tight pin, but only with the correct lie. Unless it is well executed, it can be really ugly. Short game practice is great, but until you can hit your basic pitches and chips around the green to inside 5 feet or so every time, I wouldn't spend too much time on flops. Sure, they are fun to try, but I wouldn't spend much practice time on it.

[TtotheJ]

You're all correct when you say that the risk greatly outweighs the reward. However, being new to golf it really is fun to mess around.

My last few rounds have been spent enjoying teeing off and dreading everything until i have to putt. Putting has come semi easy as I am good for usually two putting everything. However, I do have the occasional train wreck four putt.

My dedication to the short game has been crazy. I have been watching instructional after instructional and went to the putting green Monday and chipped for 3 hours until I felt comfortable. Chipping and pitching has been a hard chore. I didn't like the practice I did but if I was going to continue golfing I needed really dedicate myself to doing it.

The flop shot has been a savior to making this short game practice fun. I know it's not likely I will use it a lot. But when it works there is nothing like swinging with a good pace and watching it pop straight up and flop down with no spin.

My hopes are high Saturday. If I can get under 110 I will be so incredibly pleased. if I shoot 105 I may party like I just won a major.