Golfers know that the key to improving starts around the practice green, rather than the driving range, and yet you rarely see a practice green full of people practicing the art of the short game.
It is considered to be the area of the game where most shots are played, which would imply that it is also the area that if you can improve you can reduce your scores. Many golfers have great technical ability around the green, but they still leave many shots out on the course due to results that are not as good as they should be.
If this is you then you need to learn how to be a better short game player and make the most of the technical ability you have. The short game, especially chipping (rather than pitching) is all about imagination and building a picture of the shot in your minds eye before you decide on the best option.
One thing that you should do if you are looking to improve your chipping is to stop watching the TV and the professionals on tour, yes, they have a great short game, but you need to develop your own methods and ways of playing shots. Basically, you need to potentialize your imagination, not use that of somebody else.
Here is how you do it and become a demon around the green and the envy of your friends.
Head down to the practice green and take a dozen or so balls (the same as you would use on the course) toss them behind you making sure that they are within 3 metres of the fringe. Now you have to be strong willed and avoid the temptation of reaching for your favoured club. Close your eyes and pull out a club, it doesn´t matter which one, you are going to learn to use all of them, and in different ways.
Right, so imagine you have pulled out a 5 iron. You now have to play one ball to each of the holes on the green, until you get 50% of the balls within a radius of 50 centimetres. You will need to use your imagination and possibly alter the loft and lie angle to get the desired results. You need to consider the amount the ball will roll, where you need to land the ball and also how the trajectory of the shot will affect the result. You do this over and over again with all the clubs in the bag (driver and putter excluded)
Once you begin to understand the above, you will be able to envisage a myriad of shots that could be played from any number of given lies and hole locations. Your imagination will see the shot, how it rolls, how it bounces and you will be able to deal with any situation. Something that until now, you haven´t been able to do, because you always played your favoured club.
The short game is fun, it is exciting, especially when you can show off when you are playing your weekend friendly fourball.
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