Sam's Golf Improvement Strategy

Short Game Targets

Short Game Goal:      To get really confident and aggressive from around the green.  To be less aware of technique and be much more free flowing and reactive.

Short Game targets:    To consistently break par at Par 18 Short Game Test.

Short Game

Good Stan Utley setup. Take the club away by hinging the wrists and rotating the forearms. Left thumb stays on top of the handle. Right elbow works round the body. The body doesn't move that much. Feel the angle in the right wrist increase, but it doesn't hinge straight back, the club works around the body. This moving back of the arms creates the lag. This can't happen if the body turns back as well. The downswing is simply a turn back to the left, the crucial thing is to maintain the lag and the angle in the right wrist. Fat shots are due to this angle collapsing and the club releasing early. It is a little one plane swing in minature. ------------------

Short Game

Neutral short game grip. Left arm fully rotated left. Right elbow to right hip. Finger and thumb off the club. Most of my short game troubles come from swinging the arms rather than swinging the clubhead. Good practice drill is to hit little chips keeping the hands and arms really quiet, hardly moving them at all. When I was a kid I had a fantastic short game. Who was my favourite player? Seve. He had the best short game ever. Low hands and wristy. When I feel the same way my short game is great. When my hands get too high the plane of the club gets too steep, which is a big problem especially out of a tight lie. Lower hands shallows the swing plane and allows the arms to work around rather than up and down. So get the Seve impressions going again. ------------------

Short Game

20/01/07

Short game. Practice chipping and pitching and bunker shots with the impact ball. Get the feeling of rotating the clubhead away from the ball and then rotating it back through the ball in the downswing. This is really important. Remember the feeling of the 'ice hockey puck strike', the feeling of gathering the ball as the clubface is closing.