What Is The One Shot You Wish You Could Copy From A PGA Player

[atxpkrgolf]

Short game for me, no contest. When around the green and in bunker those guys seem to hit it within 6 feet at most every time and usually it's a tap in. I either hit it good like that or run it by 15-20 feet. chipping, chipping, chipping

[liquor box]

I would be happy to be on the green for 2 on par 5's

[Boyder]

Steve Stricker's putting  ,,,,

[JoeyDonatelli]

I would love to have Mickelson's flop shot!!

[phan52]

Fairway bumkers. I suck out of fairway bunkers. I am delighted when I just don't hit the lip. It is amazing how those guys not only hit greens, they hit them close to the pin.

[mmoan2]

Fairway bumkers. I suck out of fairway bunkers. I am delighted when I just don't hit the lip. It is amazing how those guys not only hit greens, they hit them close to the pin.

It's funny, about a year ago I would've said the same thing. I either hit them fat, which meant another shot from the bunker, or hit the lip, which would result in any number of following shots. Here's my advice:

Think about how many times you have actually PRACTICED fairway bunker shots. Probably not a lot, unless you were on a high school or college team or work on it. They don;t generally have them at driving ranges. I played alone once, and hit about 100 shots out of fairway bunkers on different holes. I had about 15 balls in my bag and hit all of them from every bunker. One was around 150 away. Another 200. etc. It allowed me to get comfortable with which clubs would produce acceptable results.

Honestly, you probably have a mental block against them m ore than anything. Striking down on them with club-first contact and one or two clubs longer than you would hit from the grass at that length should be good enough for starters. If you have a low ball flight naturally, the lip may be a problem, yes, because you really need to get them airborne, and while slightly thin in the fairway isn;t tragic, it is in the bunker. I agree that pros make them look pretty easy, but they make a lot of things pretty easy.

[phan52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by phan52

Fairway bumkers. I suck out of fairway bunkers. I am delighted when I just don't hit the lip. It is amazing how those guys not only hit greens, they hit them close to the pin.

Originally Posted by mmoan2

It's funny, about a year ago I would've said the same thing. I either hit them fat, which meant another shot from the bunker, or hit the lip, which would result in any number of following shots. Here's my advice:

Think about how many times you have actually PRACTICED fairway bunker shots. Probably not a lot, unless you were on a high school or college team or work on it. They don;t generally have them at driving ranges. I played alone once, and hit about 100 shots out of fairway bunkers on different holes. I had about 15 balls in my bag and hit all of them from every bunker. One was around 150 away. Another 200. etc. It allowed me to get comfortable with which clubs would produce acceptable results.

Honestly, you probably have a mental block against them m ore than anything. Striking down on them with club-first contact and one or two clubs longer than you would hit from the grass at that length should be good enough for starters. If you have a low ball flight naturally, the lip may be a problem, yes, because you really need to get them airborne, and while slightly thin in the fairway isn;t tragic, it is in the bunker. I agree that pros make them look pretty easy, but they make a lot of things pretty easy.

I agree that is the goal, but the longer club means a lower ball flight and that is when I hit the lip a lot. Lately, I have a tendency to just wedge out to an acceptable distance from the green and try to get up and down from there instead of going for the green.

As you say, practice is usually the cure for anything in golf, but that particular shot is probably the only one that I have never practiced. It doesn't exist on our range, or any range I have access to.

[GangGreen]

For where my game is today, it'd have to be the long drive in the fairway. Heck, it wouldn't even have to be particularly long by pro standards, I would gladly take a consistent 250-260 yarder in the short grass any day of the week.

[mmoan2]

I agree that is the goal, but the longer club means a lower ball flight and that is when I hit the lip a lot. Lately, I have a tendency to just wedge out to an acceptable distance from the green and try to get up and down from there instead of going for the green.

As you say, practice is usually the cure for anything in golf, but that particular shot is probably the only one that I have never practiced. It doesn't exist on our range, or any range I have access to.

I hear you about the practice thing. That's why I say if you have time when you could play a "practice round" as a solo during an off-peak time like a weekday afternoon, you could putz around out of fairway bunkers and no one would care. I had never practiced a single fairway bunker shot and one day I was buried in one and thought "Gee, it sure would be nice to practice these once in a while." The next week I did and now I'm fairly consistent out of those bunkers. With an 8.4 HDCP, I'm sure it must kill you to have to basically eat a shot every time you're in a fairway bunker by hitting wedge. If you're consistent with wedge, you should be able to strike an 8 or 7 darn well and turn 100 yards from the green on the next shot into a chip. Good luck!

[Chanceman]

I'll take the 180 yard 7 iron to 4 feet.

[virtuaframax]

Short game... that's in my mind what really separates a low double digit from a solidt mid single digit: around the green and putting is what makes a 77 instead of an 81-82 or worse. The missed green becoming a chip and a putt is what I am missing as well as a consistent putting stroke that doesn't miss 3-4 footers for birdie or save par.

[Albatross1]

Tiger's stinger, no question.  It probably won't decrease my score as much as a flawless wedge shot, but dammit it looks cool.

[tiger1242]

Quote:

I'll take the 180 yard 7 iron to 4 feet.

This, pick a tour pro, give me his iron swing. If I have the iron swing of a tour pro than I won't need to short game of a tour pro. Since if those guys played the courses I play they would basically hit every green in regulation.

[PuttsLefty]

High long iron draw like Ben Hogan was known to hit...although he usually played a fade.

[PaneraiMan]

DJ drive. Tigers 5 wood shot. Phil's 100 and in shots. Short game is easier to learn for me and I am decent putter already.