Golf Technology Far East

How do I improve my Short Game?

90 per cent of golf is played from the shoulders up.
(Arnold Palmer's father - Deacon Palmer)

Just why is the short game so important?

Every club has an 'Old Fred'. He is the golfer in his seventies who despite not being able to hit the ball a country mile still manages to regularly win the monthly medals and staplefords. He plays to a handicap of somewhere between 15 and 20 with monotonous regularity.

So just how does he do it

The answer is that he has learned to live with a restricted shot length and realises that his game is now all about getting up and down around the green in three or less shots. He makes it his goal never to take more than two putts and never to leave shots to the green, more than an easy two putt distance away from the flag.

While the young bucks are on the driving range trying to add another 10 yards to their drive he is in his back garden chipping balls into a bucket. While others are on the practice ground madly hitting 3 and 4 irons, he is the one next to the practice green playing shots from the fringe, rough or bunker.
It's been said many times before, but it is as true as ever - a wayward tee shot or approach shot can be recovered but one dropped around the green is normally lost forever.

Although putting itself will be covered in a separate section, the first club to think about from off the green is the putter. The longer the ball stays in contact with the ground (providing the ground is reasonably even) then the greater the chance of accuracy. Where the approach to the green has no height obstacles to clear and is reasonably short and even, then putting is the percentage shot. The main problem with putting from off the green generally lies not in getting the direction right but judging the speed and distance to the pin. This is normally due to the fact that the shot is being played across varying depths of grass. The golfer has to be able to judge how to give the shot enough strength to get through the longer fringe grass. This has to be balanced against sending it speeding through the back of the green because it is too fast when it arrives at the shorter grass found on the green's surface. The only real way to conquer this technique is practice it continually from different angles and over different approach surfaces.

When the ball is further away from the hole then we need to use a club that will give a bit more impact to the ball. The same principle applies, in that if there is no real height obstacle then we still want to try and keep the ball on the ground for as long as possible. Using a 3, 4 or 5 iron will give us the impact we need and the ball will only be airborne for a small amount of the overall distance. Most of the shot will be running along the ground towards the hole. As we encounter lips and ridges around the green then we need to get the ball up in the air. If we are close to the height obstacle and a long way from the pin then we can use something like a 6, 7 or 8 iron to chip the ball over the obstacle and make it run towards the hole. The nearer we are to the hole then the sooner we need to get the ball up in the air to clear the obstacle and the less we want it to run when it lands. In this case we would be looking to use possibly a 9, wedge or sand iron.

The chipping and running of the ball involves a real feel for the shot. It needs imagination and consistency of strike. This can only be gained by spending time in practicing these shots with each club so that you know exactly the ratio of ground to air each one will give.