Tips for my approach shot?

[whitetiger94]

hey just wondering if anybody could give me tips on my approach. this shot was taken from about 40-50 yards out and it was steep uphill. i was using my 56* wedge in long rough. it landed on the center of the green and rolled to the other side. what i would really like to know is how to control my shot so that the ball does not roll too much when it lands. any help is appreciated. thanks.

p.s. the video is available in high quality if you are willing to change the setting.

[ks8829]

Nice swing, athletic and with a nice tempo, of course hitting out of the rough it would be difficult to control the spin since the grass will come between the grooves and the ball and not allow any back spin.

Do you have the same issue on the fairway?  The only thing that I notice was that your back foot remained on the ground, usually the rear foot after the completed golf swing, the toe is pointing to the ground, haven said that you are flexible enough to complete the turn.

I would watch videos of the pros hitting shots within 110 yards and keep on playing and practicing, you have a nice golf swing.

[Harmonious]

As ks8829 said, you probably hit a bit of a flyer out of the rough (little spin).  Also, hitting to an uphill green will cause the ball to roll a little more.  Conversely, hitting to a downhill green will stop the ball quicker.

[whitetiger94]

Originally Posted by ks8829

Nice swing, athletic and with a nice tempo, of course hitting out of the rough it would be difficult to control the spin since the grass will come between the grooves and the ball and not allow any back spin.

Do you have the same issue on the fairway?  The only thing that I notice was that your back foot remained on the ground, usually the rear foot after the completed golf swing, the toe is pointing to the ground, haven said that you are flexible enough to complete the turn.

I would watch videos of the pros hitting shots within 110 yards and keep on playing and practicing, you have a nice golf swing.

thank you. i will take that into account when i practice. and i do not have the same issue from the fairway. its just that the rough was unusually long;most likely because it was recently finished being ground under repair. i know this because i also work at that course doing maintenance. and i usually do not turn my back foot on short approach shots to keep control of the ball and to have less momentum. its just one of those things that makes me comfortable on these shots. i will try and change it though. again thank you.

[goblue107501]

It is hard for me to tell from the video, but here is my thought. It looks like you are using a full swing (can't tell if grip is choked up or not), and slowing down the tempo through the ball to get the reduced distance. I would probably have the same approach as you for this shot (SW instead of LW unless the lie was really clean), but I would swing it a bit differently. First off, a SW is probalby too much club for the yardage so I would choke down about 1.5 to 2 inches, that eliminates the distance. Secondly, from out of the rough, I want to be able to hit the ball hard to 1) make sure I catch the ball as clean as possible and 2) put the most spin I can get on the ball. To do this, what I would do would be reduce the length of the backswing. It looks like you hands go back to about 11-12 o'clock in the swing. If you were to shorten that to 9-10 o'clock but really get after it on the downswing it allows you to hit the ball hard, without putting extra distace on the shot. One thing you can't do from out of the rough with much success is to swing easy. Just about any shot I have out of the rough I will club up and choke down. Then by reducing the backswing, the club up ends up being the right club for the distance, but I able to make an agressive downswing to make the best contact I can without the club getting hung up in the grass. How aggresive the swing is usually determined by the lie in the rough.

[whitetiger94]

Originally Posted by goblue107501

It is hard for me to tell from the video, but here is my thought. It looks like you are using a full swing (can't tell if grip is choked up or not), and slowing down the tempo through the ball to get the reduced distance. I would probably have the same approach as you for this shot (SW instead of LW unless the lie was really clean), but I would swing it a bit differently.

First off, a SW is probalby too much club for the yardage so I would choke down about 1.5 to 2 inches, that eliminates the distance. Secondly, from out of the rough, I want to be able to hit the ball hard to 1) make sure I catch the ball as clean as possible and 2) put the most spin I can get on the ball. To do this, what I would do would be reduce the length of the backswing. It looks like you hands go back to about 11-12 o'clock in the swing. If you were to shorten that to 9-10 o'clock but really get after it on the downswing it allows you to hit the ball hard, without putting extra distace on the shot. One thing you can't do from out of the rough with much success is to swing easy.

Just about any shot I have out of the rough I will club up and choke down. Then by reducing the backswing, the club up ends up being the right club for the distance, but I able to make an agressive downswing to make the best contact I can without the club getting hung up in the grass. How aggresive the swing is usually determined by the lie in the rough.

i was choking up on the club. sorry i did not put that in the note. thank you.