Need advice on Chipping/Pitching from 100 yards in

[albertomw1]

I have been playing golf for a little over a year now, and recently was given some advice on how to better position my club and grip.

The advice was awesome because I am hitting between 30-50 yards or more on occasion than I used to, however I my scores are getting worse because now I dont know what to do once I am close to the green.

I used to have do the following:

LW; 35-50 yards out

SW 50-75 yards out

DW 75-100 yards out

PW 100-110 yards out

and so forth, however now I am hitting as follows:

LW 100-110

SW 110-125

DW 125-135

PW 135-150

the bottom line is that I am very happy with the distance that has been added and am now just about the longest hitter compared to most others I play with.

MY PROBLEM is I would rather have lower scores than longer distance, however with the way I was shown how to" LAG" the club and create "CLUB HEAD SPEED"....I am now no good within 100 yards and it eats my good drives and am headed to double boggies, etc... when before I was shooting bogey golf (which I was happy but not thrilled with).

I have tried using the 8 from out the green, however since I never used it before it is really hard for me to calculate distance.

The obvious answer is PRACTICE....however I need advice on what would be the most appropriate practice drill in your opinions.

Thanks and look forward to learning more!!

[Jhwarren]

What's the typical miss? Fat shots? Thin Shots?

[albertomw1]

Usually I hit fat shots, but when coming near the green I usually mess up with fat shot or hit the ball at the equator and it goes over the green and .......LONG DAY.

[joekelly]

Albert, what's that avatar? My eyes cannot focus well enough to see the action correctly.

[mdl]

I mean, at this point I think it's just practice.  You're a 25 HC who's only been playing for a year and only recently made a huge swing change that added something like 30-50 yards to your short irons.  Totally unsurprising that you're struggling inside 100 yards, cause with your very short distances before you could just take a full or almost full swing down to really close to the pin.

Take a bag of balls to the practice area or park or whatever and do the 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 swing thing with all your wedges.  Come up with what feels like an easy, smooth, but still firm enough to be controlled level of swing and stick with it.  I hit a full 54˚ ~105 yards.  I have a stock 1/4 swing with that club that comes in fairly low and hot but tends to check up nicely around 40-45 yards, and I can hit little green side style chips with almost no wrists with it that easily carry 15-20 yards and roll out a decent bit.  That's just an example, but with 4 wedges if you get to know what the ball does when you hit with your stock 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 swings with each of the 4, you should easily be able to cover ever 5 yard interval between your 1/4 LW swing and your full LW swing, and shorter then that it's just little chips and pitches green side.

[albertomw1]

good looking babes!

[albertomw1]

that is great advice....thank you!!!

I will soon update on progress.

[Jhwarren]

Good advice there from mdl. I know it's not what you want to hear, but you just need to practice at this point. It does sound like the low point of your swing is occurring before the ball. I would check your ball position. Make sure it is in the middle of your stance (maybe even back of center). Next make sure that you set your weight on your left side. And you want to have the handle of the club ahead of the ball. [VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rNWubbHTD4[/VIDEO]

[Tom Shanks]

I know it's really hard not to pull out your driver on the range......but go there and aim for the 50yd marker or 100yd.  Unfortunately for not so great golfers like you and myself, 100yd and in shots are going to come up in a round way more times than we'd like.  For some reason I was obsessed with short game when I started golfing again and I would hit 2 buckets of balls a day at 100, 75, and 50 at the range and that really helped.  You just have to get comfortable with it.

Phil Mickelson is pretty cocky in his DVD, but there's some great tips in there that should help you.  most of it is on YouTube.

[Tom Shanks]

And as far as irons from around the green(this will differ from person to person depending on chipping style) you need to practice and determine some general roll-out ratios

Mine are:

LW 1 to 1

PW 2 to 1

9i 2.75 to 1

8i 3.5 to 1

Meaning if I chip and carry 10ft with my LW, it's gonna roll 10ft after it lands assuming you're on a flat green that's of normal speed.  PW will roll 20ft, 8i 35ft, etc.

[albertomw1]

Just want to thank all of you that took the time to lend some great advice....it will take some practice, but the advice given here has been excellent. Getting on this forum was definitely the right thing to do.

[04v8s4]

If I could give you one piece of advice for wedge play, it would be to never take full / hard swings with your wedges.

It's ok to go to the range and hit lob wedges as hard as you can...and it seems like you have found some really good distance in your irons.  This means you are compressing the ball well and generating good spin.  However, you will soon find that you can be much more successful with 1/2 or 3/4 swings with your wedges.  The flight and spin will be much more predictable and consistent.

Best of luck...

[spkgolfer]

well as far the wedges are concerned its all about practice and the best thing with wedges is that their definetly will be an improvement which is not the same case with practicing your putting or driver or long irons.. i am a  6 handicapper and it happens quite often to me that i hit hundred of balls on the range with the drive and long irons and end up worse than before but short game practice always gives a positive result and the trick is to keep your body stable as much as possibel