What would you do to improve your chance of par?

[pond prowler]

Not sure I'd do anything differently than chip with the 56*.  But, I use that club for ~80% of my short game shots.  If you used the club you were most confident in for the shot, I wouldn't worry about it too much- just poor execution.  High/irrational expectations can lead to a lot of undue frustration that carries over to other shots.

FWIW: I have found in the past, that periodically practicing a particular shot with ~5 different clubs can lead to some interesting results.  Sometimes the club you're most confident in is not always the best producer.  You'll also begin to get a feel for the variation in results for each club.  That is, you may be able to chip your SW within a few feet MOST times, but have outliers from skulling it or hitting it fat.  Your putter, 7 iron, etc. may not get it closest to the hole every time, but the deviation in your misses is MUCH smaller.  From there, you might be able to pick a club that's best suited for the shot at hand.  I.e. intense pressure or questionable lie may have you reaching for the putter for consistency to avoid the bad miss.  Just a technique I've used prior to tournaments to take inventory of my game when practice time is up...

[TheGeekGolfer]

Originally Posted by TourSpoon

This is where your problem started. There is nothing easy about golf and to assume so only puts you in a position to be disappointed enough to affect you on the next three holes.  Whenever I think about results, I tend to lose that little bit of concentration needed to pull off that particular shot.  In my case, I cannot afford any mental errors as these are the ones that add strokes to the card quickly.

+1, never tempt the golf gods with a thought like that.  Just focus on the chip and try to get it close or in a good place for a nice uphill putt (depending on pin location, etc).  Besides that, as far as technique go, I use an 8i, 9i, or PW and stand it up a bit so the heel is off the ground and use my normal putting motion.  This takes the pressure off of a 'perfect chip' and I can focus more on the touch to get it close.  Practice this and you'll get better.

[mdl]

Quote:

I'm a big fan of using one club for 90% of all shots around the green. I can use my 56 and hit a low bump and run or I can open up the face and get a soft landing. The only time I don't use it is when I have a high flop with the 60.

Otherwise if you use too many clubs, it's extremely hard to judge distance with all of them. Get good at one or two and that's all you'll need.

This is my approach too.  I understand the rationale behind the advice of biasing towards the hybrid to 8i (depending on who's recommending) for a lower pitch and run shot when that's possible, but I've found that doing that just expands the number of clubs with which I have to have a good feel for exactly where it's going to land and what kind of run out I'm going to get given the lie, the type of pitch/chip I'm hitting, the slope of the green, and how the green reacts to spin and whatnot.  For any shot <90 yards in I use my 60˚, and I've found my short game has improved significantly now that I practice on the chipping green only with that club.

Obviously I'm no scratch player so I'm not putting it inside 5 feet every time in every round or anything, but I've gotten comfortable with the forward press, ball back in stance, putting stroke shot for the low spinny chip, the standard pitch, and the open stance open face flop (my least consistent, distance wise, of the three), and with this approach I've finally gotten to the point where on days when I'm feeling good around the green (and the 4-8 foot putts feel good) I can save a high percentage of pars on holes where I miss the green in a spot where a not too tricky wedge shot is available (ie, not stuck behind a tree/shrub, not terribly short sided, not an awful buried lie, etc.).

And I generally disagree with the always putt if at all possible advice.  Again, I understand the rationale of the worst miss being better.  Obviously you can't blade a putt.  But I've found I'm closer to the pin on average with the little chip than with a putt if I'm lying anything more than maybe a yard of fringe off the green.  It's just so hard to know how the putt's going to roll before it gets to the green, and I've played so many shots where it looks to me like it's going to have a little trouble through the fringe, then putt it 10+ feet past the hole, or where the fringe looks smooth and I play it just a tad faster than regular putting speed and I end up well short of the hole.  Obviously this changes if you're playing a links style course where the grass around the green is more like slightly slower green than rough or fairway.

[imtomtomim]

Well, instead of some technical advice, I'm going to suggest a different outlook at your attitude approach and thoughts.  What were you really feeling or thinking then?  Some people think "this is easy to make a par from here", or something of the sorts.  Stop thinking about par.  You need to be completely committed in that chip shot to put it up against the hole.  The next shot doesn't matter.  What matters is you're going to put that chip on this part of the green, and it's going to roll and stop up against the hole because you see the perfect read.

And even if you don't get it really close, so what?  Remember, you're not THAT good, only people on TV are, and even they aren't as good as that.  Just say, alright, it will have to do.  Then go ahead and restart that whole mindset.  You're going to hit a good shot.  And, if it doesn't work out perfect?  Big whoop, bogey isn't that bad.  You still played a solid hole.

Have you ever played basketball?  Do you make every free throw?  You probably forget you missed by the time you retrieve the ball.  Forget about it, and just keep hitting some good shots.

[WUTiger]

Quote:

... Get a lesson in chipping, too. These are easy shots if you know how to hit them, but from what I see around me when I play, the proper technique isn't self-evident.

I would go the next step and get a short game lesson or two. Took one years ago after two decades of golf, and it shaved three strokes a round off my score. (Those strokes have long since crept back into my score) You're a 15 HDCP, so it might really show you some useful stuff.

Back then I had the opposite problem of you: I hit 80% of shots around green with 8i chip and run, when I needed a PW chip or pitch out of fluffy lies, and a SW on occasion. That pro showed me several things I could do, and I adopted about half of them.

I am getting ready for another short-game lesson since I made a serious change-up in my wedge mix at Christmas.

[Cut68]

Really no secrets........you gotta practice. I could tell you how I'd play that shot, but if you haven't hit 10,000 of them, it probably wouldn't work out for you. Find a green and a bag of balls (the ones you play, not range balls) and go to work.  Hit everything you've ever seen or heard of people using to chip and find what works for you. There's only one key thing I can tell you

There's no shortcuts in this game. None.

[cody west]

Originally Posted by Pope33

I'm a big fan of using one club for 90% of all shots around the green. I can use my 56 and hit a low bump and run or I can open up the face and get a soft landing. The only time I don't use it is when I have a high flop with the 60.

Otherwise if you use too many clubs, it's extremely hard to judge distance with all of them. Get good at one or two and that's all you'll need.

I'm a lot like this. I use my 56 unless I need to get the ball up quick or stop it on a dime from around the green.  I would say other than putting it, which is what golf digest says to do if your looking to just get up and down rather than birdie, using a putting style stroke so you can get as close to the same trajectory as possible. Also know your green and don't try to spin it unless you have the swing and lie for it...way too many people try to play with spin when they don't know how to well enough for it to be more beneficial rather than hurtful.

[mdl]

One other thing that really helped me.  Regardless of what club or shot type you decide to use/practice, aim for where you want to LAND the ball, not where you want it to end.  It sounds dumb, but I used to aim it like a putt, picking a spot left or right and in front of or behind the hole given the slope of the green, and aiming there and relying on feel to coax the ball to end there.  It works MUCH better to pick a spot to land the ball, and you can learn on the chipping green how to pick that spot given how the shot you've chosen to hit releases given the green characteristics and your lie.

[goblue107501]

First of all, use the club that you are most comfortable with.  There isn't a right or wrong way to hit that shot.  If you're not comfortable with an 8-iron in that situation, don't use it.  I would have done the exact same thing.  Secondly, and to answer the question, simply hit the ball closer to the hole.  There really wouldn't have been an easier way to save par other than just hitting the ball closer to the hole.  With the shot you described, I would be kicking myself if I wasn't inside of 5-6 feet.  Lastly, if you're not truly trying to make it, leave yourself in the best possible position.  Try and get the ball as close as you can, but make sure you stay below the hole and have and easy uphill, straight putt.  Don't leave yourself in the spot that gives you the downhill bender.

[trickymicky69]

Practice putting with a hybrid when on the fringe

[MiniBlueDragon]

Originally Posted by trickymicky69

Practice putting with a hybrid when on the fringe

I think to be fair it depends on the amount of roll you need and how much fringe you need to skip over. A hybrid is a much longer club physically and will naturally travel faster than an iron, even choked-down. The tendency then would be that the ball over-shoots the fringe and skids past the hole unless it's practiced a lot and done very gently indeed. By opting for a mid iron like a 6i or 7i you're lessening the learning curve for bump and run shots as the club shouldn't ever go too much past when using a putting stroke (unless you blade it)

[dbuck]

I can't argue with any of the advice given above; it is all good even though there are two different schools of thought around the green as to one club or many. Both are viable. Try both and decide which best fits YOU, then PRACTICE until you have a good idea of what to expect in a given situation. I am basically a one club man, but will switch rarely if conditions dictate.

As Jamo et al mentioned, putting is usually the best bet if at all possible. Most of the time your worst putt will be as good or better than your best chip. It depends on the lie and what you have to go over to get to the green. If you were on a closely mown collar and then the fringe and relatively flat putt, 3 yards off would  be a viable putting option, probably the outside limit for me, but a probable go.

Also important is the 'head game" advice given. Devote your attention to the shot at hand, but after it is played, forget it, it is only one shot.

[NEOHMark]

Originally Posted by ghalfaire

........But I personally use a 5 hybrid with my putting grip for shots like this.

I do this too.  Very consistent results, and requires very little *extra* practice or extra-special technique, if you approach it with a putting stroke.  I snuggled one up real close to the pin on a par 3  I missed the green on yesterday by doing exactly this.  Made for an easy par putt.

[Stretch]

I just find that the ball comes off the face of most hybrids a bit hot. This is obviously good when you want to fly it around 200 yards but not so great when you want to roll it precisely 20 feet. Maybe just my feel, or lack thereof.

[billk86]

I love the idea of using one club for most chipping situations.  Phil uses a 60 (according to his video) but I find that the 56 works better for me.  I will pull out the 60 for a lob but I think it is more of a psychological thing because I know I can make the shot with the 56.

[ohiolefty]

I won't add a theory...

I will, however, tell you that Harvey Penick had pretty sage advice on the subject. It's this.Get a chipping club, a putter, and one golf ball and practice getting up and down.

Practice from different lies. Develop feel. Develop confidence. Learn the different way the ball comes out from different lies and different kinds of contact. And - learn how to bail yourself out with the putter and make the putts you should make, or need to make, to get up and down. You can take a hundred lessons and learn dozens of different methods, but it's really all about feel, confidence, and (I would argue, most importantly) repetition. You've got to develop a memory bank of shots and situations - positive and negative, so that you can make the shots and choices you need to make.

One ball. Two clubs. Time. Time. Time. Reps, baby. Reps.

[WesTyler]

I'd get a pencil with an eraser.

[soloredd]

You said you screwed up the next 3 holes. I'd start there. Your attitude is highly important. I try to take the approach that Tiger does: take 10 steps off the green and forget about what just happened.

Nothing wrong with bogey for a hole. Something's wrong when 4 holes go bad.