Wouldn’t you like to break 80 consistently? Breaking 80 can help you chop strokes off your golf handicap and increase your match play wins. But it’s not easy breaking 80 consistently. Take it from someone who has conducted hundreds of golf instruction sessions, you’d have to really hone your skills to do it. But many weekend golfers don’t have the time to sharpen their skills as much as they’d like.
Nevertheless, you can lower your scores and increase match play wins by mastering the art of getting up and down. Players who do this can save a ton of strokes. Learning to get up and down is especially critical for weak iron players. They tend to miss more than their fair share of approach shots, which often spells trouble.
Below are golf tips on playing four key short game shots. They can help you get up and down successfully. Perfecting them will take time, but it’s time well spent. Mastering them will take your short game to new heights.
The Flop Shot
You’ll probably never hit this shot as well as Phil Mickelson, but that doesn’t mean you can’t master it. One key to hitting this shot well is to open your clubface at address and keep it there. An open clubface helps you pop the ball up. You also need to hit down on the ball. That’s not easy when you have an open clubface. Keeping your weight on your front side helps.
Lag Putting
We work on a lot in our golf lessons. Improving your lag putting will increase you pars and birdies. Putting speed and distance control are the keys to good lag putting. One drill that helps improve speed and control is to hit practice putts and see if you can tell how far they’ve travelled toward the target before looking up. If you don’t like this drill, there are plenty more out there that can help you hone this valuable skill.
Deep-Rough Chip
The key to this shot is sliding the clubface under the ball. That’s hard to do when the ball is sitting way down in deep rough. So play it like a bunker shot: Set up with the clubface open, the ball forward, and the shaft angled behind the ball. Then, pick up the club and drop it down right behind the ball—all while keeping the clubface open. These adjustments will slide the clubface under the ball and pop it up.
Quick-Stop Sand Shot
This shot can ruin a hole. In its classic form it appears as a short-sided situation with the pin close to your lie. The secret to hitting this shot successfully is getting airborne quickly. To do this, open the clubface, lean forward at address, and hinge your wrists as much as you can when taking the club back. Doing this creates a steep angle of attack, which helps you get airborne quickly.
Practice these four shots when you can. Keep our golf tips in mind when you do. But let’s face it short game practice is boring. There’s no two ways about it. So try and make it fun. Set up a competition with your friends. Or, play golf games with them. When practicing alone, set goals. Do things that will make practicing fun and challenging.
Every golfer would like to break 80 consistently. But it’s not easy to do if you hit bad approach shots. Mastering the art of getting up and down can help. It can also help you chop strokes off your golf handicap and rack up match play wins.
really good stuff thanks wr