Gutted with my short game

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Shortgamedespair

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I am absolutely fed up with my short game. I am fairly solid off the Tee, with my irons and fairway woods etc. I am also reasonable at putting and have broken 90 a few times but pitching and chipping is an absolute mystery to me. If I fail to get on the green with a full approach shot I am in serious trouble, it has got to the point now that I can't even hit a simple chip or pitch shot straight and if I go into a bunker I might as well pick the ball up. I play my mates every week and am often reaching the green or close to it in regulation but its not uncommon for me to take another 2 or 3 shots to actually get onto the putting surface. I can't understand why I can hit my driver, irons etc straight and can't chip the ball straight when i'm only taking the club head back a few feet :o. I have started chipping with my fairway wood in desperation but this is obviously not an option if I have to pitch over a hazard. Has anyone else experienced similar problems?
 
one of those 'it would probably be obvious' if we could see what you are actually doing - but then again it would probably be obvious to you too!

video yourself for starters - and change your forum name as well.......
 
Shortgamedespair said:
I am absolutely fed up with my short game. I am fairly solid off the Tee, with my irons and fairway woods etc. I am also reasonable at putting and have broken 90 a few times but pitching and chipping is an absolute mystery to me. If I fail to get on the green with a full approach shot I am in serious trouble, it has got to the point now that I can't even hit a simple chip or pitch shot straight and if I go into a bunker I might as well pick the ball up. I play my mates every week and am often reaching the green or close to it in regulation but its not uncommon for me to take another 2 or 3 shots to actually get onto the putting surface. I can't understand why I can hit my driver, irons etc straight and can't chip the ball straight when i'm only taking the club head back a few feet :o. I have started chipping with my fairway wood in desperation but this is obviously not an option if I have to pitch over a hazard. Has anyone else experienced similar problems?
Click to expand...

Yes, so I had a lesson. Job done.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no Luke Donald around the green, but I'm NO LONGER SCARED.
As with putting, for me anyway, the short game is 50% mental & 50% technical. Sort out the mental, i.e. gain confidence with a lesson, and the technical becomes less technical and more natural.
I hope that made sense.................it did in my head :whistle:.
Best of luck,

Slime.
 
DarthVega said:
Have you had a lesson on the short game?
Click to expand...

Had a one lesson specifically on my short game and did okay. Think the problem is that when I practise one type of shot I can get in a rhythm but when I need to pull the same shot off during a round I can't rely on my technique and end up messing it up. This has happened so many times now that I believe I'm going to mess it up before I play the shot and inevitably do.
 
My short game woes are well documented on here. I'm getting better slowly thanks in part to a lesson and the v-easy. I am still woefully short of confidence but played a pairs event with Hawkeye today and managed a few important up and downs so there are signs it is gettign better.

What is going wrong. Are you thinning them, fatting them? I would definitely get a bunker lesson as the technique there is a little different to a normal chip. Bob did a video clip on bunkers a few weeks back which is worth checking out
 
HomerJSimpson said:
My short game woes are well documented on here. I'm getting better slowly thanks in part to a lesson and the v-easy. I am still woefully short of confidence but played a pairs event with Hawkeye today and managed a few important up and downs so there are signs it is gettign better.

What is going wrong. Are you thinning them, fatting them? I would definitely get a bunker lesson as the technique there is a little different to a normal chip. Bob did a video clip on bunkers a few weeks back which is worth checking out
Click to expand...

Hi Homer, I'm not exactly sure what the problem is but I suspect that I don't consistently hit down on the ball so that I have a tendancy to blade it and then the ball goes off at strange angles. I sometimes have a practise in the garden and don't have a problem and then I can lose it and can't seem to hit the damn thing at all. The problem is that as a result I have no confidence, I do get so frustrated with it because it has ruined so many rounds for me. Someone suggested videoing it, which I thng is a good idea, at least I should be able to see what the problems are then. How successful was the V-easy for you?
 
Shortgamedespair said:
I sometimes have a practise in the garden and don't have a problem and then I can lose it and can't seem to hit the damn thing at all. The problem is that as a result I have no confidence, I do get so frustrated with it because it has ruined so many rounds for me.
Click to expand...

I think you know what one of your main problems is......confidence. I think the main thing when chipping is to see the shot and just play it. It think is reasonably easy to play shots around the green with some success by practising a good technique, but you need to get the confidence that you can do it. If you choose the wrong shot or get the weight wrong then so be it. When some of those tour pros play these big old risky flop shots, they think about nothing more than playing the shot, they do not think about "what if". The moment you think about it you are likely to chunk the club into the ground, or lift your head to see if the shot worked before you have hit it, making you thin it.

It took me about 10 years of playing golf to get my head around playing chip shots, because I just never played them with any confidence. So I would chuck shots away by cocking them up.

Be confident and believe you can play them. When you take your tee shot you probably just choose the shot, get your club and hit it, without thinking about it. Do the same around the greens.
 
This may be more to do with pitching than chipping, but I read this about a month ago and it's changed my perception of how to chip/pitch.

Given the choice, I would take Bob's advice over mine all day long, but take a look and see what you think.

They're basically saying there are two ways to hit these shots, and if you have one dominant arm/hand, doing it the wrong way will not be pretty.

I'm now hitting these shots with a lot more confidence because I've switched from one to the other.

http://www.butchharmonfloridian.com...your-short-game-the-five-minute-wonder-wedge/
 
Shortgamedespair said:
Hi Homer, I'm not exactly sure what the problem is but I suspect that I don't consistently hit down on the ball so that I have a tendancy to blade it and then the ball goes off at strange angles. I sometimes have a practise in the garden and don't have a problem and then I can lose it and can't seem to hit the damn thing at all. The problem is that as a result I have no confidence, I do get so frustrated with it because it has ruined so many rounds for me. Someone suggested videoing it, which I thng is a good idea, at least I should be able to see what the problems are then. How successful was the V-easy for you?
Click to expand...

The V-easy has been a great help. Not suited for anything other than shortish chips but it takes the wrist out of the stroke and gets a great feeling of connectivity. 15 minutes per day, alternating between a few shots with the v-easy and then a few without reallt made a difference. Like you alot of it was between my ears. I had a chipping lesson recently. The pro said "do you think about the technique when you are chucking a ball to your mate?" Of course you don't. You just do it and the brain works out the strength and technique.

If you can get a stroke that is simple and repeats then the brain will do a lot of the feel for you. The more you get hung up on the how, the less you can focus on the do and everything becomes chipping by numbers, stiff, wristy and out of sorts. I'm much better now at trusting my stroke and focussing more on where I want the ball to land and believing I can put it there
 
HomerJSimpson said:
The V-easy has been a great help. Not suited for anything other than shortish chips but it takes the wrist out of the stroke and gets a great feeling of connectivity. 15 minutes per day, alternating between a few shots with the v-easy and then a few without reallt made a difference. Like you alot of it was between my ears. I had a chipping lesson recently. The pro said "do you think about the technique when you are chucking a ball to your mate?" Of course you don't. You just do it and the brain works out the strength and technique.

If you can get a stroke that is simple and repeats then the brain will do a lot of the feel for you. The more you get hung up on the how, the less you can focus on the do and everything becomes chipping by numbers, stiff, wristy and out of sorts. I'm much better now at trusting my stroke and focussing more on where I want the ball to land and believing I can put it there
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, its definitely work in progress and by far the weakest part of my game. Having said that 12 months ago I couldnt hit my driver now I feel so confident with it and am really consistent. I played yesterday and did 102, including 5 shots in one bunker and 2 in another, plus at least a dozen stuffed up short (in some cases very short) pitches. The rest of my game stands up fairly well so I will stick with it and keep practicising.
 
The three biggest things that helped my short game:

1. Buying a V-Easy and learning to chip with lower lofted clubs such as an 8 or 9 iron. In doing so I found those could still fly high and check, this is because you start using the full loft of the club, not delofting it and putting the ball in the back of your stance like other chips.

2. Putting with a V-Easy every night to a 5p coin from 5 feet. I did this for 10 mins a night, 5 mins with a V-Easy and 5 without. I would see how many in a row I could get to roll over the 5p and stop before the skirting board (record is something like 11 IIRC).

3. Learning the distance for half and 3/4 shots with all clubs of 8 iron and below. This means that from 100 yards and in I always have a shot I have practised and trust. Into the wind a 3/4 8 iron from 100 yards can be deadly!
 
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