short game woes

[JT77]

Alright folks,

Having an absolute mare from around 50 yards and in. I am unable to hit anything, it is getting me down a lot, i felt like walking in today after hitting so many bad pitches. 3 shorter par 4's today I hit fantastic tee shots, leaving short approaches, and the best I got was a bogey, and that was because I holed a long one!
Example.... hit 3 wood on our 13th to leave around 50 yards in, fatted it 10 yards, then thinned it through the back duffed it to 20 feet, and holed the putt! I am putting immense strain on the rest of my game, and am not really enjoying it!

There is no pattern, I am hitting them thin, fat even had a double hit today its that bad! I know my head is comin up early, but I just have no confidence at all, I feel like I am going to fall apart every time I stand over the ball inside 50 yards! any tips?

Cheers

 

[brendy]

Were you trying to spin them at the hole or bump and runs James?

 

[JT77]

Either mate, I cant seem to hit anything inside 50 yards, i fall apart. I tend to be skulling the bump runs and fatting the lob shots.

 

[John_Findlay]

I feel your pain. I've been doing this for 7 years. If I knew the answer I'd tell you.

 

[LIG]

I know I shouldn't give advice.......cos I'm rubbish, but..

Just check that your hands and weight are well ahead of the ball before you swing and then keep your weight forward through the shot.

This seems to work for me when I've fatted my third chip.

 

[bobmac]

Hi James, sorry to hear you're having problems.
I see you're off 10 so the rest of the game must be pretty good.
Your problem as I see it is you dont know what to practice to fix what your doing wrong and your confidence is non existent.
Am I close?

Firstly can I say if your long game is good, you won't have any problem improving your short game as technically, the long game is harder to master.

The technique is fairly straightforward.
You need a good solid contact going in the right direction.
I assume off 10, you know how to aim so it's the contact that's giving you the problems.

What I'd suggest you do is go out on the course and film some of your attempts at pitching onto a green.
I'm fairly sure you'll see the fault yourself but just in case you don't, here's a few things to watch out for.

How long is your backswing?
How long is your follow through?
Is your backswing longer than your follow through?
Where is your ball positioned?
Do you slow down into the ball?

Try this...
Stand with your feet 3 inches apart, ball in the middle of your feet, hold the club half way down the grip with your weight mainly on your front foot and keep it there throughout the shot.
Using your PW or GW, swing back to the point where your left arm (if you're right handed)is parallel with the ground. At this point, the shaft should be pointing straight up at the sky so you have a full wrist cock at this point. Then punch through the ball to a point where your RIGHT arm is parallel with the ground and again with the shaft pointing at the sky. (A mirror image of your backswing)
As long as you hit down on the ball and take a small divot after the ball, the ball should sail up into the sky and land softly on the green 40-50 yards away.
If the flag is closer, shange to a SW or LW OR shorten the backswing.

THE MAIN CAUSE OF THE DUFFED PITCH IS THE GOLFER DECELERATES INTO THE BALL.

Keep your backswing short and fizz through the ball with a bit of attitude and you will improve your contact. DO NOT QUIT ON IT.....FOLLOW THROUGH.
Practice will improve your technique which in turn will improve your confidence.
Once you improve and you can play this shot well, you'll wonder why you had all the trouble with it in the first place.

Good luck and keep us posted

 

[Smiffy]

THE MAIN CAUSE OF THE DUFFED PITCH IS THE GOLFER DECELERATES INTO THE BALL.

Correct.
I did this twice on Wednesday to my cost. Had hit really good drives down the 1st and 10th at Copthorne. Both greens have water hazards in front of them. I was left with no more than little "flicks" with my wedges, about 70 yards or so, shots I normally love.
Both times I decelerated into the ball and ended up fatting them into the drink.
As I say, I normally love these type of "feel" shots and usually feel fairly confident over playing them. But I made the dreaded mistake that Bob points out above.
I should know better

 

[ScienceBoy]

THE MAIN CAUSE OF THE DUFFED PITCH IS THE GOLFER DECELERATES INTO THE BALL.

I have been doing the exact thing as the OP

If I could pitch and chip my last round of 84 might have been closer to a 79.

I realise I am doing the above statement, it is so clear to me now! I was doing the exact thing with my putter, long fast backswing and slow short followthrough. Now I will focus on not quitting on it!

Thanks again Bob and thanks James (OP) for bringing this up!

 

[JT77]

Thanks Bob, I have some time today to head to the course so i will give it a go, You were spot on with your assessment.
I think the fact that I have no confidence means I am looking for the ball to see how i contacted it, which is making it worse, and the decel is there, i can feel my swing doing it but for some reason cant trust it enough atm to stop.
If my long game and putting leave me, i am knackered lol

I used to be very good from this distance, so it is really affecting me, I hope that this helps to put it right.

Thanks again.

 

[bobmac]

Take a checklist with you so you dont forget.

Narrow stance
ball middle of your feet
weight forward
Middle/bottom of the grip
swing back half way
accelerate through
take a divot
follow through a mirror of back swing

 

[pokerjoke]

Take a checklist with you so you dont forget.

Narrow stance
ball middle of your feet
weight forward
Middle/bottom of the grip
swing back half way
accelerate through
take a divot
follow through a mirror of back swing

Bob great advice as usual and so easy to understand.
I myself like others have been working extremely hard on my short game recently and i seem to be doing all the things above so thats good news.Just a quick question regarding the left arm on the backswing,i try and keep it straight is this correct.

 

[JT77]

Thanks again bob, I am just back, managed to get a bit of practice too, found it strange to get used to, but becoming more comfortable and went to practice area also, we have a short game area at the gc.
I think it will take some good practice to get it ingrained, but I am going to try and stick with it, the ball was coming off the club much better, distances were a biot of a prob, experimenting with diff clubs to see what went where etc.
Will take a checklist next time.
Cheers.
JT

 

[G_Mulligan]

Take a checklist with you so you dont forget.

swing back half way

follow through a mirror of back swing

Would these two points not lead to deceleration of the club head? If you can see the ball is going to go too far will your brain not force you to compensate the follow through and slow down mid stroke?

I think all the other advice is sound but I would never have this in my mind when I am playing a short shot.

 

[bobmac]

Take a checklist with you so you dont forget.

swing back half way

follow through a mirror of back swing

Would these two points not lead to deceleration of the club head? If you can see the ball is going to go too far will your brain not force you to compensate the follow through and slow down mid stroke?

I think all the other advice is sound but I would never have this in my mind when I am playing a short shot.

If you read my post again you'll see that I explained how to vary the length of shot by changing clubs or changing the length of swing.

"If the flag is closer, shange to a SW or LW OR shorten the backswing."

 

[G_Mulligan]

yeah I can see that now but it was not mentioned on your check list to take to the course I am not having a go bob I just thought it should be pointed out that those two points can lead to deceleration of the club head.

 

[bobmac]

yeah I can see that now but it was not mentioned on your check list to take to the course I am not having a go bob I just thought it should be pointed out that those two points can lead to deceleration of the club head.

Not if you follow no 6 on the checklist.

Feel free to make your own list.

From the original op

Having an absolute mare from around 50 yards and in.

My reply

the ball should sail up into the sky and land softly on the green 40-50 yards away.
If the flag is closer, change to a SW or LW OR shorten the backswing.

Clear enough I thought.

 

[Oddsocks]

James in a recent short Game lesson I was given a couple of tips

1 always have a longer follow through than bag swing this forces you to accelerate through the ball - no duffs

2 always weight the leading foot (left if your right handed) this stops thins

I couldn't get used to weighting the foot so as a drill either do it one one leg so all your weight it on the left foot or place a ball under your right foot. As soon as you shift your weight to your right foot your lose your stability

 

[bobmac]

Dont agree with your point 1.
If your follow through is longer than your backswing, you will lose control of the distance the ball goes.

 

[G_Mulligan]

[/QUOTE]

My reply

the ball should sail up into the sky and land softly on the green 40-50 yards away.
If the flag is closer, change to a SW or LW OR shorten the backswing.

Clear enough I thought.

[/QUOTE]

Yes you say that and like I said I read it in the post but I just don't see the need to say same lengnth backswing or mirror image at all it is contradictory to the acceleration through the ball tip.

You can tell yourself to accelerate all you want but with that mirror image in mind your subconscious will slow down your hands to avoid flying the green.

If all he ever had to perform was a 50 yard or 30 yard chip then yes mirror image with a diffirent wedge would do the job but that will never be the case so I just did not think it was a helpfull image to put into his head when chipping/pitching.

 

[TheClaw]

Leave yourself 100 yards instead of 50.