Make the Short Game Less Frustrating
Why is it that nearly 70% of the game is played from inside 100 yards and yet very few people truly practice their short games? I think golfers don’t like to practice the short game because it’s frustrating. At least with a full swing you somewhat know what to expect. You pick a club and you hit it as hard as you can and, if we do it correctly, we’re on the green. But how often do you do it correctly?
If we haven’t succeeded
the ball must be somewhere around the green. So now what? Here is where most golfers are lost. The aver- age golfer does not have a clear vision of the shot they should hit. They just pick a lofted club (because that’s what they were told) and try to hit it on the green. They take a big arms swing and either decelerate on the downswing or fall back on their back foot and try to
help the ball in the air by flipping the wrist and let- ting the clubhead pass their hands through impact. They stay flat-footed and have no body rotation. This causes inconsistent contact with the ball making it frustrat- ing. We’ve all heard it over and over: open your stance, place the ball back in your stance, open the clubface, weight forward and the list goes on and on. I’m not say- ing these things are wrong
By Dave Parks,
Poppy Ridge Golf Course Assistant PGA Golf Professional
One of the most important aspects of golf is one of the most under-practiced— the SHORT GAME.
(in certain situations), but I believe we can make it simpler. I tell all my students to
visualize the shot they want to hit and commit to it. I don’t care if you hit the wrong shot, as long as you hit the wrong shot cor- rectly. At least then you can file that shot away in the memory bank for the next time you are in a similar situation. I like students to practice the short shots with
Practice the short game using a variety of clubs
Let your body turn through the shot
The butt end of the club should point just to the left of the belly button forming a lower case “y”
E-mail Dave at
dparks@poppyridgegolf.com 62 / NCGA.ORG / FALL 2010
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