As much as we all enjoy finding the green with an approach shot, there are times when it doesn’t quite go to plan. Missing the green is common for many players, even professionals but it is not the fact you have missed the green which is always the problem, it is what you do next.
Too many players think they need to make up for the ‘mistake’ of missing the green by trying to do something overly ambitious when chipping and pitching.
Trying to make up for missing the green by pulling a miracle shot out of the bag is only going to cause further problems most of the time. Your best bet in this situation is to make sure you think about getting the ball on the green and make this your number one priority.
Play short game shots you are confident of performing and you will begin to see how easy it can be to avoid hitting big numbers which destroy your card. If you are a mid or high handicap golfer, a bogey is essentially a par, so keep that in mind when playing short game shots.
To help with this, a great piece of advice is to try and get very good with one of your wedges. It is nice to have a selection of wedges in your bag but if you can use all of them without feeling very confident with any of them, what is the point?
There is a difference between knowing how and when you to use a club and feeling very confident of making a good shot with a club.
You know which wedge you are most comfortable using so why not take the time to practice using only that wedge and get very good with it? When you next miss the green on approach, you can pull the wedge out of your bag knowing you have a great chance of making a good shot and leaving the ball nicely on the green.
If you tend to leave the ball short of the hole when playing short game shots, try aiming a few feet past the hole when playing the shot. Do not be afraid to play a forceful shot and trust in the spin on the ball from the wedge to stop it before it races away to the other side of the green.
Again, practice using one wedge and you will find your get very good at judging the speed and stopping distance of the ball.
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