Entries Tagged as 'Pitching'
How To Learn From Your Golf Scorecard
There is one thing about the game of golf: score cards don’t lie. Ok I will agree with you on one point. I have played a number of rounds in my life where I hit the ball very well, putted great and got nothing out of the round.
On the other hand there have been many rounds where I couldn’t find the golf course. I was lucky no one got hurt. However at the end of the day when I added up the score card I was very pleased with the number.
You have to keep in mind that golf is NOT one round. It is a lifetime experience. The only way you are going to improve is to continue to punch holes in your score card and find out what part of your game needs work. That does not happen in one round of golf.
I know you are wondering where you should start. There are a couple of stats that jump out at me. Start with the driver. You have to track every tee shot. Keep a blank score card in your pocket and after every tee shot record whether you hit the fairway or missed to the left or right.
The next statistic that will help you lower your score is did you short side your approach shot? It doesn’t matter if it is the first, second, third or even fourth shot of the hole. Did you short side yourself? The definition of short siding is when you leave your approach shot in a position where you don’t have any green to work with.
Everytime you prepare to approach a green you have to ask yourself the 10 million dollar question. What side is the short side? The safe side might leave you with a 30 yard pitch shot with nothing but a tiny fringe and then the putting green in front of you. The short side might leave you with a 7 yard LOB shot over a bunker with a 12 foot lip and a slope running straight down hill to the hole. You do the math. It doesn’t take many of those a day to ruin a good round of golf.
Lastly, grade your attitude before you tee off, when you make the turn and when you walk off of the golf course. It is a great stat to keep track of. If you can maintain an upbeat and fun attitude your scores will reflect it. I have gone on record for years as saying that I haven’t found a more enjoyable place to spend four hours than a golf course-when I am playing well and having fun. On the other hand it is the most miserable place to be for four hours when you are struggling and not having fun.
Remember, if you use them correctly, score cards don’t lie.
Tired Of Coming Up Short With Your LOB Wedge?
There are tow huge mistakes that amateur golfers make when they are using their LOB wedge. One of them is always leaving the ball short of your target. The reason is easy to understand and simple to fix.
The main reason you consistently come up short when you use your LOB wedge is because you SLOW in the downswing. For starters let’s admit it, the LOB wedge is weird little head with a ton of loft. Sometimes you think the ball might come up and hit you in the head right after it leaves the clubface. It takes a ton of confidence to not try and scoop the ball in the air.
On the other hand with all of that loft why are we still trying to scoop the ball? What happens in the downswing is you get a little apprehensive and you try and hit a delicate shot. The one thing you have to keep in mind is that you have to really excelerate the clubhead to make it work.
Remember this Bobby-ism-The harder you hit a loft club the HIGHER it goes. The harder you hit a flat faced club the further it goes. When you have a LOB wedge in your hands you have to smoke it most of the time. If you try and hit a delicate little shot or if you slow the clubhead down in the downswing, the golf ball is not going to have enough clubhead speed to get it where you want to go.
Speed up in the downswing-don’t slow down.
Chunked Wedges to the left…INSTANT CURE
If you can not figure out how to stop chunking your wedge shots to the left and you have tried all of the golf pitching tips in the magazines, I have a lesson for you that will work.
When you hit a really fat pitch shot off to the left there are a few things that happened before and during the swing. Today we are going to discuss the things that took place before you even swung the club back. Your problem began with the address position. When you hit a chunked pitch shot the golf club swung too much from outside to inside in the downswing.
One of the main reasons the club swung too much from the outside is because the golf ball was too far forward in your stance at address. When you place the ball too far out in front of you (across from your left foot), the club head has to swing outside the arc to find the ball. When it swings too far outside the arc the angle is too steep and you wind up swinging the club head straight into the ground.
For the next couple of weeks I want you to try something a little different, I want you to address the golf ball further back in your stance. Try moving it back to the center of your stance for starters.
A couple of things are going to happen when you move the ball back. Number one the clubhead is going to begin to find the correct path, secondly you will begin making ball/turf contact. The golf ball will fly higher and towards the target. No more chunks to the left.
DRILL #1…If you hit thin shots to the right…This one is for you.
I know many of you love to use practice drills that will enable you to FEEL the correct way of making a change. I have used this drill not only for my teaching but I have also used it myself over the years.
Keep one thing in mind. When you hit a shot to the right you either hit the ground behind it OR you catch the ball on the upswing and hit it thin or topped. The reason you hit it thin is because the golf club is traveling too far from the INSIDE and is headed OUTSIDE.
When you swing the golf club on an arc it travels from INSIDE to SQUARE (at impact) back to the INSIDE on the follow through. The other thing you have to keep in mind is the flatter the club face the less divot you will have. When you hit a thin 4 iron (it hurts) you will never see a divot unless you hit the ground behind the ball.
Now, on to the drill. Grab a 7 iron and lay two straight edges on the ground, (one for the target and one for your body line). Lay a towel on the ground about 12 inches behind the ball. When you swing the club back make sure you miss the towel in the backswing and in the downswing.
Another way to think of it is the golf club has to swing UP in the backswing and DOWN in the downswing. When you hit it thin you swing to much UP in the downswing. Start with a 9 iron and progress through your set of clubs.
Topping Your LOB Wedge To The Right…Fix It Now
To many golfers the LOB wedge is not what it is all cracked up to be. They tell me that all they see is disaster. Well, I have to right up front with you. My story behind the LOB wedge is pretty funny. I will cut to the chase. I used my LOB wedge for one year before I competed with it in my bag. I practiced with it, I used it to putt and chip with. I used it EVERY chance I could whether I needed it or not.
Do you get it? It looked more like a CLUB than a GOLF CLUB. As a matter of fact, I bought four of them the first year until I found the one I liked, and I still have it. Now, let me share something with you that will stop you from topping it to the right. It is pretty easy to understand.
If the club head is swinging UP at impact you will top the ball to the right forever. The easiest way to make sure you are going to hit DOWN on it is to address the golf ball FORWARD in your stance (across from your left foot) and put 75% of your weight on your left leg (LEAVE THE WEIGHT THERE FOR THE ENTIRE SWING).
DO NOT TRANSFER YOUR WEIGHT IN THE BACKSWING. Finally, follow through LOWWWWW!!!!
STOP PUSHING YOUR PITCH SHOTS…thin, topped, sculled
How many times have you hit your approach shot in front of the green only to walk up and blade it over the back of the green? Every time you hit a pitch shot that winds up on the right side of the pin you have swung the golf club too much from the inside to the outside. When you PUSH your wedge shots you are walking a very thin line.
If you continue to swing the golf club too much from in-to-out you are going to eventually start topping, sculling, shanking or hitting the wedge shots very thin, without any BACKSPIN. The great news is you can stop that mistake immediatley. There are three steps to ending this devastating mistake.
#1. The ball position is critical. It has to be in the center or slightly forward of center in your stance.
#2. You must have 70% of your weight on your left foot at address and LEAVE IT THERE DURING THE BACKSWING.
#3. Swing the golf club UP in the backswing and DOWN in the downswing. Down means to make sure you swing the leading edge of the club in the ground. (no scooooooping)…Make sure you CHOP the ground in the downswing.
#4. Make sure you turn through. The reason you PUSH your pitch shots is the golf club swings too much to the right. When you turn through the golf club is swinging around you on an arc the golf ball will fly STRAIGHT and not to the right.
Stop Double Hitting Your Wedge Shots
YOU WILL NEVER DOUBLE HIT YOUR WEDGE SHOTS AGAIN…
It happens when you least expect it. You can have an open pitch into the green and bam, it happens. THE DREADED DOUBLE HIT. For those of you that don’t know what we are talking about I suggest you stop reading this blog and come back tomorrow when I give a lesson on HOW TO MAKE MORE THREE FOOT PUTTS.
If you want to stick around I have to explain to you what a double hit wedge shot is. After you make contact with the golf ball you hit it again while it is in the air.
I am going to explain exactly what happens, why and how to fix it.
The reason you double hit a wedge shot is because the club head slides to shallow along the ground underneath the golf ball. While the club head is sliding underneath the golf ball there is a second problem going on. The club head is moving to slow. Upon impact the golf ball rolls across the face of the golf club and the club head continues to glide along the ground (slowly). At this exact moment the golf ball leaves the clubface (slowly) and begins to arc in the air. Unfortunately at this instant the club head catches up with the golf ball and strikes the golf ball again.
The main reason you double hit your wedge shots is the angle of the swing is too shallow at impact. The club head has to enter into the back of the golf ball on more vertical angle. When it arrives at the bottom of the golf ball on a steep angle the golf ball jumps off club face. The jumping versus sliding propels the golf ball away from the face. The clubface cannot catch up with the ball at this moment and you will never double hit the ball.
The combination of the shallow angle and the clubface moving too slowly is setting you up for a double hit every time. I am going to give you your lesson right now and you will never ever, ever, double hit another wedge shot.
#1. Place the golf ball in the center of your stance.
#2. Place 75% of your weight on your left foot.
#3. Make sure the grip of the golf club is across from your belt buckle.
#4. When you swing the club back: DO NOT SLIDE YOUR WEIGHT BACK TO THE RIGHT.
#5. Keep 75% of your weight on your left side during the entire swing.
#6. Swing the leading edge of the golf club into the ground. CHOP in the downswing.
#7. The number one pitching secret in golf: FOLLOW THROUGH LOW…CHOP IN THE DOWNSWING.
As a side note if you double hit a shot you have to count one stroke for the first hit, one stroke for the second hit and yet another stroke for hitting a moving ball. One shot equals three strokes. You don’t have to worry about that anymore.
Come back tomorrow for a lesson on you can start making more THREE FOOT PUTTS…
Don’t hesitate to contact me by hitting the CONTACT BOBBY tab above.
Golfingly yours,
Bobby
Backspin
Secrets to Backspin
Secret #9
Today I am going to spend some time on course management and how that relates to backspin. The pin placement plays a huge roll in whether or not you want to hit a spinning shot or not.
You have to be sure there is plenty of room in front of the pin as well as behind the pin. If you are attempting a spinning shot that takes two hops stops and either stops or backs up 10 feet, you have to make sure you have room on both sides of the pin for error.
If you a shot that you think is spinning and it doesn’t, you can wind up over the back of the green in a bunker, water or poor lie. On the other hand if you hit a spinner and it spins too much you can wind up in a pond in front of the green. Some of the greens today have false fronts and it does not take much for a ball to back up and roll all the way off of the front of the green.
Another thing to keep in mind is how you stand in the match you are playing. Maybe you don’t have to risk a spinning shot. A shot that lands in the center of the green softly and rolls a few feet might get the job done. You can take a high risk backspin shot out of the equation.
I want to touch on one more idea. How you are hitting the ball on that particular day is paramount. If you are making solid contact, then go for it. See if you can pull it off. However if you are not making solid contact the backspin shot becomes a very risky shot.
These are a couple of things to think about when you are trying to decide if you want to hit a shot that has some backspin on it. As you know by now there are some other factors that come into play from time to time when you are trying to decide what shot to hit. Make sure you consider the ones in today’s blog.
Feel free to join my tomorrow for a lesson on how to stop double hitting your wedge shots. If you want to contact me just hit the Contact Bobby tab above.
Golfingly yours,
Bobby
Backspin
Secrets to Backspin
Secret #4-#5
The next two secrets pertain to the conditions you are faced with. Although they go hand in hand I want to keep them separate for the time being. Not all greens are flat. Not in Kansas, West Texas or Arizona. Some have more slopes than others and there is one thing you have to keep in mind. MOST greens are designed with drainage in mind and most greens drain towards the front of the green.
The nature of our sport is that greens have to accept shots that are hit to it. In other words our game would be much more difficult if the greens were built high in the front and they sloped away from you (low in the back). Ninety-five percent of all greens are low in the front and high in the back.
That in itself is one of the 16 reasons you see shots on TV back up on the green. With that being said you have to remember this: the entire green isn’t always low in the front and high in the back. Some greens have areas where they are designed to fall towards the back part of the green. Sometimes you will see one ball land and stop and the very next shot will land three feet away from the first shot and back up off of the green.
Some putting surfaces have so much undulation in them that two inches can make the difference between a shot that takes one hop and spins back off of the green or one hop and jumps over the back part of the green. Most of the time were happy when our ball ends up anywhere on the green. The tour professionals play at such a high level they have the ability to land a ball within a two or three foot area.
Let’s move on to the next secret, the speed of the greens. This one is not rocket science. If a golf ball lands on a green that is mowed really low 7-8.5 on the Stimpmeter, the golf ball is going to spin backwards more than if it lands on a green that is 4.5 on the Stimpmeter. (The Stimpmeter is a device used to measure the speed of golf course putting surfaces. During the U.S. Open the greens can run 10.5 on the meter. I don’t care if Seve, Lee Trevino or Tiger hit a shot into a green that 4.5 it is NOT going to spin backwards.
We have a long way to go for you to wrap your arms around the whole spin picture but at least you can start figuring out what happens when you hit a shot and it doesn’t spin backwards 20 feet. Five down and 11 to go.
Come back tomorrow and I will have a lesson on why you hit thin BUNKER shots.
Golfingly yours,
Bobby
