Short Game Thoughts

[rulie]

Good players have a very short memory.

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

More rubbish today. On Tuesday I went down to the club and did a good 30+ minutes chipping practice, seemed to be finding something that was working. Back on the course this morning, and when it counts my brain just takes over and does something completely different.

Yippy knife through the back on the second hole. Decent chip on the third. On the sixth I had a grassy lie and swiped completely under the ball with 60 - switched to 50 and knifed it miles beyond the hole. Seventh hole I fat a 50 yard pitch short of the green. On the tenth I clipped a nice one but it flew a bit too far. Eleventh, a glorious up and down pitching from the rough on the left. Thirteenth, another duffed pitch. On the seventeenth I hit a superb chip off a slightly downslope, landing it in the perfect spot to release just past the flag, leaving me a nice uphill 5-footer I made for par.

A proper mixed bag, but every time I mess one up my confidence goes back in the bin and I feel like I'm going to yip the next one. Don't think it's any coincidence that the best shot came at the end when there was no remaining chance of a good score so no pressure on. How do you make yourself forget all the bad ones when you need to produce something??

First point is whilst you did a good 30+ minutes overall that’s not enough to bed in all the changes and build your confidence, it’s a good start but it’s just that a start. You need to continue to do that week on week for it to become second nature and not having to actually think about the shot.

Secondly winter golf isn’t the be all and end all, you need to allow yourself to accept there’s gonna be some crap and that sometimes bad shots happen. After a crap shot take a quick positive practice swing of what you meant to do to reinforce the correct feels and move on.

Thirdly as Rulie says above someone with a good short game has a short memory. Put the club in the bag and focus on the next shot, that last one really doesn’t matter it’s in the past. The more you beat yourself up the more bad shots you will hit as you’re literally talking yourself into it.

Lastly that’s gonna be £60 for the lesson

 

[Orikoru]

First point is whilst you did a good 30+ minutes overall that’s not enough to bed in all the changes and build your confidence, it’s a good start but it’s just that a start. You need to continue to do that week on week for it to become second nature and not having to actually think about the shot.

Secondly winter golf isn’t the be all and end all, you need to allow yourself to accept there’s gonna be some crap and that sometimes bad shots happen. After a crap shot take a quick positive practice swing of what you meant to do to reinforce the correct feels and move on.

Thirdly as Rulie says above someone with a good short game has a short memory. Put the club in the bag and focus on the next shot, that last one really doesn’t matter it’s in the past. The more you beat yourself up the more bad shots you will hit as you’re literally talking yourself into it.

Lastly that’s gonna be £60 for the lesson

Yeah I will be looking to do that every Tuesday when the weather is decent enough. But I intended to highlight the difference in mental state - I often find that in practicing my chipping and putting are pretty decent anyway, they just crash and burn in the real round as soon as there's the slightest bit of jeopardy.

Yeah, I'm trying to write off the bad lies, but again it's difficult mentally when you get to the next bad lie and you're expecting the duff to happen again so you can't swing with any confidence. Obviously just hoping I'll be getting towards a better place with it by the time the weather gets better.

 

[Burnsey]

I've always nipped the ball off the ground around the green to reasonable success, but at a recent wedge fitting it was suggested to 'attack' the ball more and take a divot (of sorts). Against every delicate thought in my head, after a bad start, I think I have got it and the difference has been how much closer to the hole it am getting.

Nothing ground breaking, not even a lesson, just a tip, but it really is working - pace of swing is key and it felt waaaaaaay too heavy/quick at forst, but the best way I can describe it, is I'm letting the loft do its job.