Blowing approach shots after a great drive.

[Wingover718]

Yesterday, I played in the cold wind in New York City. After over a month of coming up and out with the driver I trained myself back into some nice solid driving. However, I missed the green numerous times from 50 to 100 yards. My misses were mostly right or worse yet short right having made some hozel contact. I'm sure part of it is mechanical, but I can't help feeling that I choked finding myself in the scoring zone after a solid drive. Inside of 100 I am typically hitting three quarter wedges the distance; e.g. 3/4 56 degree to 55 yards. I was uncomfortable and anxious just standing over the ball, and my outcome was equally poor. I found myself laughing out loud instead of angered because of my low expectations of the shot in an uncomfortable set up. What do I do if I feel uncomfortable over the ball, reset, and then get the same feeling over the ball again? It's hard to be positive when it just doesn't feel right. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[mdl]

One swing thought my new teacher gave me that really helps me is the following.  With wedges, first, don't only pick a target line and general landing area, but literally pick an exact spot where you want the ball the land and focus on that spot when you look up from your stance before swinging.  Then, swing your club imagining you're literally tossing a ball side arm to land on the spot you chose.  Think about it like you're throwing the ball with your club head, rather than hitting the ball.  That swing thought's actually helped me quite a bit with my 54˚.  Obviously this is a mental thought, and not a mechanical recommendation for adjusting your swing to look more like a throw!

[Beachcomber]

Wing... I was hitting shots off the hosel with my short irons too...

Get a my swing thread up and let the community take a look.  I received some advice and made some subtle changes and it really helped me reduce these type of mishits.

[Domenic]

The title of this thread is the story of my golfing life.

[moparman426]

Originally Posted by mdl

One swing thought my new teacher gave me that really helps me is the following.  With wedges, first, don't only pick a target line and general landing area, but literally pick an exact spot where you want the ball the land and focus on that spot when you look up from your stance before swinging.  Then, swing your club imagining you're literally tossing a ball side arm to land on the spot you chose.  Think about it like you're throwing the ball with your club head, rather than hitting the ball.  That swing thought's actually helped me quite a bit with my 54˚.  Obviously this is a mental thought, and not a mechanical recommendation for adjusting your swing to look more like a throw!

This works, I learned how to use my 60 with this method.  I had read this tip before, so I started using a 5 gallon pail in my back yard as a target.  Toss the ball in the bucket with the club.

[Motley01]

This is too funny. I do the same exact thing, hit great drives all day, and can't hit an iron for my life.

Or the oposite happens: I can't hit a drive for anything, but my irons are just pure as the driven snow!

[bradsul]

I had this problem back when I finally started hitting fairways with my drives.  I would get so excited about being in the fairway that I'd get myself way too psyched up about not blowing the next shot.   I'd put so much pressure on myself to make a good second shot to 'not waste the drive' that I'd be assured of blowing it.  I started calling it 'second shot syndrome'.  I think I got past it when I realized that this shot was no more or less important than the one before it or the one that would come after.  In my mind this took all the pressure off so I could relax and swing freely again.

[Tomboys]

Originally Posted by Wingover718

Yesterday, I played in the cold wind in New York City. After over a month of coming up and out with the driver I trained myself back into some nice solid driving. However, I missed the green numerous times from 50 to 100 yards.

My misses were mostly right or worse yet short right having made some hozel contact. I'm sure part of it is mechanical, but I can't help feeling that I choked finding myself in the scoring zone after a solid drive. Inside of 100 I am typically hitting three quarter wedges the distance; e.g. 3/4 56 degree to 55 yards. I was uncomfortable and anxious just standing over the ball, and my outcome was equally poor. I found myself laughing out loud instead of angered because of my low expectations of the shot in an uncomfortable set up. What do I do if I feel uncomfortable over the ball, reset, and then get the same feeling over the ball again? It's hard to be positive when it just doesn't feel right.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

When this happens to me, it's usually because I've stopped my hip slide too soon--or maybe I fail to engage any at all.  From there, I get this chain reaction where I cast the club resulting in the clubhead being "thrown" at the ball.  I end up with either this high weak shot to the right or a shank off the hosel.  To combat this, I take a couple of practice swings where the length of my backswing is shorter (half, 3/4, whatever), but I swing to a full finish.  This seems to ensure that I sufficiently engage the lower half of my body into the swing.  From there, the results are usually acceptable.