Struggling with short shots into the green

[rossvanwyk]

Hey Guys

So there's a part of my game that is seriously week at the moment, and that is the short shots to the green. I would say pretty much anything that is inside a full SW shot gives me trouble. It's pretty much hit and hope.

Now, my SW is good for 100m pretty much on the head for me. That's about 110y?

Anything inside of that I have to shorten the backswing and try gauge what I'm doing and hoping I get it right.

I am begging for some tips on how to get consistent from close to the green because it's really killing my game.

The wedges I carry in my bag are my PW, SW and 60* wedge. PW is my 120m club, SW 100m and the 60* I pretty much only use from around the green. I use it for almost all chips and little chip and runs and everything. If I use it from 20m to 60m from the green I tend to either teeth it or land well short of the green.

So what kind of wedge should I be looking to add into my bag? To be frank, I don't even know the degree of my SW. I play Callaway X-18's.

But I definitely think the major problem is my ability to gauge these distances and make the shots when they aren't a full club.

On sat I was coming down the 18th at my home course. A short par4. Killed my 3W and was about 50m from the green. Hit what I thought was half a SW, I had choked down, shortened backswing, the works. I proceeded to knock it over the green and OOB. Nearly brought tears to my eyes it did. I feel like I should be painting flag sticks from this distance yet I'm terrified of these shots because the result can literally be anything.

I understand I should use better course management and leave myself 100m or 120m into the green because those are my preferred distances. But I feel that would be avoiding a very fixable problem if I could just learn to play these shots properly.

How do I go about getting better control and judgement from these distances and what kind of wedge should I look at potentially adding to my setup to aid me in doing this?

Cheers guys

Ross

[rossvanwyk]

Edit : Spelliing *weak* It's early morning...

[rossvanwyk]

Second Edit : Spelling *Spelling* sigh...back on topic :)

[Gerald]

It is about a fairytale when people will tell you it is easier to hit a full shot from 100 meter close to the hole than they can shot a 50 meter shot close to the hole...... of course there is no adjustment or judgement or develop feel for a partial shot and of course a 90 or 80 meter shot might be difficult to hit precisely, but for me it is just the same swing, but at a slightly lower speed.

My full wedge is about 100 meter, and when I take it easy it is about 75-80 meters , same with the 9i which is about 112 meter and when I take it easy about 85-90 meter.

I am not a big fan of Dave Pelz, but if you have trouble judging distances, you might start practicing partial swings, with backswings to several vast points to where you take the left arm back in the backswing ,,,,, imagine a clock and 6:00 is the ball, making 4 backswings to let's say 4:30 / 3:00 / 1:30 and full backswing with all your wedges to let you know what you hit with several backswing/club combinations and you will soon learn your distances.

Personally it is not my system, I mostly use my 7i, 9i and GW (52*) and pick a landing spot and play by feel, rather than with science, but the Dave Pelz method works great for many golfers.......

I also prefer to use a lower flight option when inside 50 meter, bc. it is way easier to control distance and besides that if you go for a partial high pitch and you thin the ball by only a little it will fly way over the green.

Personally I prefer Chipping over Pitching and by using some larger gaps between the irons I am using for this, I can play a variety of different shots, picking a landingspot and how to roll the ball to the hole.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by rossvanwyk

I feel like I should be painting flag sticks from this distance yet I'm terrified of these shots because the result can literally be anything.

One thing is to have reasonable expectations. Sure, you shouldn't be skulling longer pitches OB over the back, but you also shouldn't be setting up thinking anything more than six feet away is a crap shot. The average distance to the cup on the PGA Tour on shots from 50 - 125 yards out is 18 feet 11 inches. And the pros make less than one in five putts from between 15 and 20 feet. So if the best players in the world don't get up and down from there on a consistent basis, maybe you can give yourself a little break playing off a 9?

Practically speaking, you have all the wedges you need in your bag already. Your options include: Practicing a full swing with your 60 degree lob wedge, which should give you an approximately 75m shot based on your other distances. Learning a bump-and-run shot with a 7 or 8 iron (very easy under pressure -- short backswing with no wrist hinge, punch through, keep club head below hands on follow through). Or, best of all, make a commitment to learning to pitch the ball properly and go practice until you get the necessary feel for how to match the basic technique to the distance you face. A couple of videos below that may be helpful, but you really do have to go work on these types of shots a lot to develop the confidence that you can play them out on the course.

[rossvanwyk]

Thanks for the reply guys.

Stretch I totally hear what you're saying. I am in no way expecting to be putting them all over the stick from that distance, I was just using a figure of speech. I am more than happy to just aim for the middle of the green and stick it somewhere close to that. 2 putts for par and I'm happy as can be.

It just seems crazy that i have so much trouble with these tiny little shots. The thing is, it's really killing my game. Everything else is feeling great at the moment. My irons especially. It seems backwards that I can crunch long irons 200m+ with no fear but I stand over a little 50m shot and I'm begging the gods that I can get on the dancefloor.

The answer of course is practice. The only problem is I don't really have a facility I can practice these kinds of shots. At my local range the furthest I can get from the green is probably 30m which will still help I guess. The only other alternative is trying to play on the course when it's quiet and practice a few shots from that range as many times as I can.

I will view these videos and take note and get out and practice these types of shots.

Cheers for the help.

[Gerald]

maybe you can hit those 50 meter shots in a public park or soccer flield in the morning or evening......

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by rossvanwyk

To be frank, I don't even know the degree of my SW. I play Callaway X-18's.

Game improvement irons are notoriously bad for hitting the type of partial shots you need here. If you want to get better at hitting a certain spot on the green (or in front of the green) you need to practice of course, but you need to use something not meant to compensate for poor contact.

[rossvanwyk]

Hey Sean

Really? These Callaway's I have now were hand me downs from my old man many years ago. Thing is, my iron play is very strong in general. The strongest part of my game and I feel like I hit these irons really well. But I have been looking into others as I've read more and more about different irons.

Unfortuantely I'm not into the market right now for new irons but maybe someday soon. I was looking at/reviewing the Mizuno JPX 800 pro's and they look incredible. I had no idea a club could make that much of a difference to be honest with you. These clubs I've had for many years and are pretty much the first set I've had since I've taken to the game at all seriously.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by rossvanwyk

Hey Sean

Really? These Callaway's I have now were hand me downs from my old man many years ago. Thing is, my iron play is very strong in general. The strongest part of my game and I feel like I hit these irons really well. But I have been looking into others as I've read more and more about different irons.

Unfortuantely I'm not into the market right now for new irons but maybe someday soon. I was looking at/reviewing the Mizuno JPX 800 pro's and they look incredible. I had no idea a club could make that much of a difference to be honest with you. These clubs I've had for many years and are pretty much the first set I've had since I've taken to the game at all seriously.

Grab a used blade type SW (54, 56, whatever) and practice with that. You might like the results and you might not, but I don't seem to have much luck with a cast perimeter weighted iron for partial shots. I've used plenty of both and prefer the blades (as long as the grind is familiar - there are some really weird wedge designs out there).

[WUTiger]

I am not a big fan of Dave Pelz, but if you have trouble judging distances, you might start practicing partial swings, with backswings to several vast points to where you take the left arm back in the backswing ,,,,, .

Last season I went to the Pelz method. If you use it, you need to have a concentrated short-game practice about once a week. It takes a little effort to keep it "in tune." If you carry three or four wedges and want to try Pelz, you probably need to go to the range on a quiet day and "calibrate" your wedges. You do this by hitting six one-quarter, half, and three-quarter shots with each wedge. You then take the average of how far the shots went for you distance for, say, half SW shot. (If you airmail a shot, or chump it, don't include it in the average). You then make a laminated grid card to hang on your golf bag. If you do this, calibrate the wedges with the balls you play on the course. Range balls often don't go quite as far as play balls. First time I used the grid, I was about 10 yds. long early half and three-quarter shots; increased my yardage estimates a bit, and had better wedges later in round. This method hasn't put me on the PGA tour yet, but it has cut down drastically on partial wedge shots which land short of or over the green. sean_miller said... [QUOTE]Game improvement irons are notoriously bad for hitting the type of partial shots you need here. ... [/QUOTE] Yyou might be having trouble with the wedges themselves. Two years ago I got X20 irons + PW, which was fine. But, I added an X20 AW (GW) with high bounce, and my yardage was all over the place. I hit the AW anywhere from 70 to 110 yds. on full shots. I soon dumped it in favor of a CG14 50.08 GW, and it worked much, much better. For what it's worth: some players like Callaway X-series stock wedges, others don't.

[Cossackred]

I am in no way an expert, but I'll second the public park. I got a ripped up putting mat used to practice putting at home and cut off a couple of feet. Then I head out to a local soccer field with a two buckets and about 20 balls. Lay down the mat to hit off of since soccer field grass is a bit high sometimes and set one bucket at whatever distance I want to work at. Good free practice if you have a nearby park..

[KGab11]

One thing that really helped me is to choke down on the club for more feel. I stand with my feet close together and slightly open, and I place the ball on my back foot. I practiced these shots by getting a 5 gallon bucket and placing it about 10 yards away to start and gradually move back. You don't neccessarily need to get it in the bucket but just try to hit it or get around it. Then when i get out on the course I imagine I'm trying to hit it to a bucket up on the green. This has really helped me out a ton. Good Luck!

[inthecup]

Originally Posted by rossvanwyk

Hey Sean

Really? These Callaway's I have now were hand me downs from my old man many years ago. Thing is, my iron play is very strong in general. The strongest part of my game and I feel like I hit these irons really well. But I have been looking into others as I've read more and more about different irons.

Unfortuantely I'm not into the market right now for new irons but maybe someday soon. I was looking at/reviewing the Mizuno JPX 800 pro's and they look incredible. I had no idea a club could make that much of a difference to be honest with you. These clubs I've had for many years and are pretty much the first set I've had since I've taken to the game at all seriously.

I play with X-18's and I used a X-18 sand wedge and gap (AW) for a while.  They I got some Vokey spin milled wedges.  It is a totally different club, should should try one.  Any wedge is a little over $100.  Treat yourself.

[zeg]

If money's tight, you can usually find not-very-used wedges pretty cheaply, or the Adams wedges for < $70 new.  I personally use an Adams Tom Watson 56° sand wedge (bought new) for most shots in the 30-75 yard range and a Callaway 60° lob wedge (bought used) for shorter stuff.  I didn't pay more than about $60 for either of them.

[LankyLefty]

I use a pair of oversized game improvement wedges and while they are not great they get the job done if you get a feel for them

I like to practice this on the course.

Ill hit 3 or 4 approach shots on each hole, Ill play my first 1 but over 18 holes that's probably 50-70 extra approach shots in real situations at real greens eventually you just get a feel for it.

Of course this requires a rather quiet course without people behind you but I find its a great way to practice.

[Paradox]

I don't think theres any substitute for specialty wedges when it comes to feel shots.  You have so much more flexibility buying specialty wedges than just using ones from the set.  The PW will be fine but I wouldn't use anything above that from the set.  The blade type gives you some more options like being able to open the face comfortably, more feel etc..etc.  The Adams Tom Watson wedges are a very good value and will do just fine.  I have a 54.

[Cut68]

1.) find a wedge that feels right. I have been through a lot of wedges to get to the ones I have in my bag now, and they all have a purpose for me. there's one that I can use for pretty much any shot, though.

2.) No matter what club you want to use, practice it to death, it doesn't matter where you do it. We've all heard the stories of Seve' playing sand shots with a 3 iron. I got comfortable with my Sand wedge as a kid hitting acorns into the bed of my pick-up truck. The shots you are struggling with are all feel, and you gotta have the comfort level to pull them off