Which Chips and Pitches?

[g-funk13]

Hey guys. . . I am looking forward to 2008 golf and planning what I am going to practice. I need to work on my short game, and thanks to many posts on http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8462 I have some dynomite putting drills.

Question: if you had a student, and he had time to perfect 3 chips and 3 pitches, which would you choose (what club, distance, and trajectory). . . and why? Please include shots from sand traps if you feel they are top-three material.

Inquiring minds would also like to know if you have specific ways to practice said shots, but I would be thrilled with just a list alone!

[Ben]

This is going to be a little more vague than you like, but... Since you'll have your putting down, try to hit all your reasonably hard-ish shots to within ten feet. ie, bunker shots, 20 yard pitches, short sided chips. When your putting is at full confidence, a ten foot putt will look like a tap-in. And if you try to get yourself to ten feet, you'll find that more often than not you'll get even closer. This is more practice for your mind/confidence. I'll continue with some techincal stuff, but I truly think trying to get yourself merely inside ten feet is the best thing you can do for your short game.

Short game shot I use the most is the bump and run. There is no magic to playing it. The magic comes from developing your feel for distance. That comes with simple practice. There are a few technical aspects I like to see in a bump and run. Narrow, comfortable stance; ball played back in the stance; forward press; no flippy wrists; don't look up. Club PW or 58*

I rarely use the flop shot, and I mean rarely. It's just too unpredictable to use in real play. I just dick around and play with it from time to time, but I don't think I've ever used it in tournament play. But it is a fun to shot have. Flop shots require an extremely open club face, and even more open stance, and a fast cut across the ball down the line of your stance. A really neat key I learned about hitting flops is 1) Try not to hit the leading edge of your wedge. Try and get the tail end of it to hit the ground. 2) Don't hit the center of the club, try and make contact high on the toe. Club: 58*

Bunker shots: this is a good thread that just came up recently on the subject. The thread author has the right idea of how to hit a bunker shot http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9101 I learned how to play bunker shots by reading the chapter from Ben Hogan's Power Golf. The chapter is called, Bunker Shots are Easy. After reading that, I hit the pin on my first shot, holed the second shot, and burned the lip on my third attempt. Bunker shots really are easy, especially when explained by Ben Hogan. Club 58*

[lamebums]

I'm not sure how many shots this would qualify as, but I would get a student to work on making as many shots as possible around the green with one club - the pitching wedge. I'd teach the guy how to hit everything between a bump and run and a high lob shot with the pitching wedge. Hey, if one wedge was good enough for Seve, and he was the best ever, then it's good enough for the average guy.

The second would be the typical sand shot - I'm not a fan of the sand wedge because you need to open the clubface and your stance. I personally use the 60 and set up much more square to it, which takes "open-ness" in your stance out of the equation.

The third would be a lob shot that stops. Immediately. I can't tell you how many times I'd have a delicate pitch over a sand trap to a pin right in front of it. And in that case, you can't leave it short - but if you hit it long and it releases, that's three putt territory. I'm assuming this would also be with the 60, since the ball would land softly.

[Steaksauce]

Once you get the swing right, you can just use the same motion with a different club that will give you a slightly different ball flight and distance.

I would teach a greenside chip, bump and run, and a 7:30, 9:00 (1/2) pitch shot.

I thing that helped me most with my short game was The Short Game Bible by Dave Pelz
After reading that I started chipping in constantly and my pitch shot consistancy became much better.

[cwo2lt]

I thing that helped me most with my short game was

I got the same results from reading Stan Utely's "Art of the Short Game".