Please help a newbie get the handicap down!

[Davie81]

I took up this wonderful game around a year and a half ago and recently bought myself a Vokey 60 degree wedge which I had custom fitted. Currently playing off 26 aswell.

Been trying to learn how to hit a flop shot and although I've managed it a few times I'm having a really poor flop to shank/thin ratio and I'm wondering if I should just forget about this shot and work on normal chipping etc. I've heard that this is one of the hardest shots to master and it's only really popular due to Mickelson having this impressive shot in his locker. Also this might sound crazy but what are the chances of me damaging/altering the lie angle already by hitting this shot a lot of driving range mats?

Any help or advice is gratefully received.

 

[Chrisb83]

Bought mickelsons DVD found it pretty intense but worth a watch, try lookin on you tube for advice below's one I found

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7zkwMox2X4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Davie81]

Bought mickelsons DVD found it pretty intense but worth a watch, try lookin on you tube for advice below's one I found

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7zkwMox2X4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Hi

I've tried whats in this video but I keep shanking or thinning it. What about hitting it off the mats? Damage to the lie angle?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Not sure you'll ever do it off a mat as the club has to slide under the ball and it simply skids off the mat and hits the ball on the equator

 

[Davie81]

Not sure you'll ever do it off a mat as the club has to slide under the ball and it simply skids off the mat and hits the ball on the equator

Ah ok, I was taking a full shot aswell tonight and hit the mat first. I was worried I'd maybe damaged the club somehow.

 

[Foxholer]

Flop shot is a notoriously difficult shot to get right even for a really low 'capper! But oh so much fun when it works!

Benefits for a high capper to practice this shot on mats are marginal at best imo. And even pretty dodgy to consider using out on the course, though I know several high-cappers whose 'best' shots have been with their 64*!

Better, imo, to use the range for consistency of strike with other clubs and of distance with PW/AW/GW. Remember that playing off mats is often like playing off bare lies in the rough!

And yes, it's possible that specs have altered - more so for forged clubs, but Vokeys are 'soft cast'. It's not any change to the specs that is causing the thins though!

If you want to get your handicap down, there are much better areas of the game to concentrate on than the flop shot!

 

[Davie81]

Flop shot is a notoriously difficult shot to get right even for a really low 'capper! But oh so much fun when it works!

Benefits for a high capper to practice this shot on mats are marginal at best imo. And even pretty dodgy to consider using out on the course, though I know several high-cappers whose 'best' shots have been with their 64*!

Better, imo, to use the range for consistency of strike with other clubs and of distance with PW/AW/GW. Remember that playing off mats is often like playing off bare lies in the rough!

And yes, it's possible that specs have altered - more so for forged clubs, but Vokeys are 'soft cast'. It's not any change to the specs that is causing the thins though!

I wish it was the specs that were causing thins! lol. I'm hoping I've not changed the specs over the course of 4 or 5 trips to the range. What do you mean by soft cast?

 

[Foxholer]

I wish it was the specs that were causing thins! lol. I'm hoping I've not changed the specs over the course of 4 or 5 trips to the range. What do you mean by soft cast?

Clubs formed by the Forging process - heating a 'billet' of metal then 'hammering' it into shape - have slightly different attributes to those formed by the Casting process - pouring molten metal into a mould - (both descriptions being a simplification of the commercial process). Forged clubs tend to bend more easily while cast clubs don't. As the particular flavour of metal used also has an effect on attributes, some castings are deemed 'soft' - and Vokey apparently use one of these. There is probably at least as much variation in Stainless Steel specs as there is in Golf Club manufacture! There's nothing particularly magic about Scotty Cameron et al using 303 Stainless for putters - it's merely the easiest to mill!

So the 'Soft cast' is merely a spec of metal that, after casting and finishing, feels (relatively) 'soft' rather than 'hard'.

Here's a link to the Vokey site that might help https://www.vokey.com/vokes-notebook/Faqs.aspx

And the finish can also affect the feel of the club too - though muich of that is marketing imo!

 

[G1BB0]

I dont hit any wedge type shots off mats (apart from full and 3/4 pw's). I use the range for the longer game and working on set up etc

Practice is the key for lob shots, I used to be not too bad with my old 60 deg, recently I stopped doing them at all and opt for little bump and runs or bump and thins as they were on sunday lol. I may have to go back and start using it again as short game was ace, long game was crap, now the long game is getting there my wedge play is shocking (we wont even mention putting!!)

The hinge and hold does work but practice, practice and more practice is the order of the day.

 

[Region3]

I think you have more chance of altering the angles of a club bouncing it off the mat with a normal full shot if you're hitting down on the ball correctly as a flop shot should only be a lazy soft swing.

The biggest thing for me with a flop is to keep my legs as still as I can. With a full shot you hit the ball before the bottom of the swing, but with a flop you hit the ball AT the bottom of the swing so any raising of your height through leg movement and there's your thin shot.

What a mat WON'T help you with is that the club will bounce off it and still produce a half decent shot where the same swing on the course will be an almighty fat shot.

Agree with the others above who said there are plenty better ways to lower a 26hc than to master a flop shot.