Short Game Tips to Shave Strokes off your Score

As director of the Back to Basics Golf Academy, I see golfers everyday practicing on the driving range. But I rarely see anyone practicing on or around the putting green, even though putting and chipping makes up more than 50 percent of your strokes on the golf course.

There are many things that you can do to improve your golf score. You could buy a new driver trying to improve your confidence. Or you could practice your full swing more, trying to develop more consistency. While there is nothing wrong with either of these options, especially with the help of your PGA Pro, the quickest way to shave strokes off of your golf score is to improve your putting and chipping.

Eliminating three putts
It always amazes me how well the tour players control the distance and direction of their putts. You rarely see them three putt and often they get long, undulating putts very close to the hole resulting in an easy two putt. Why are they so consistent? Because there are no unnecessary movements anywhere in their putting motion, resulting in repeated square and solid contact with the ball.

Controlling the direction of your putts
The putting stroke is a pendulum motion that is initiated by moving the triangle formed by the arms and the shoulders. There is no weight shift and there is no twisting of the hips. Your wrists remain very firm, but grip pressure is light. Your head must also stay steady throughout the entire putting motion. Do not follow the putter back or through with your head. Keeping your head steady will help to keep your body still.

Any breaking of the wrists or turning of the body during the putting motion makes it very difficult to return the putter face to the ball squarely, which makes it almost impossible to control the direction of your putts with any consistency.

Controlling the distance of your putts
Unnecessary movements in the putting motion also lead to off center hits, which makes it difficult to control the distance that the ball rolls because a putt that is struck solidly will roll farther than one that is hit off center. On long putts, distance is often more important than accuracy. Many of the three putts that I see occur when the first putt is left far short of the hole or way past the hole, not too far right or left of the hole.

Controlling the distance that the ball rolls requires feel. Developing feel comes from practice. There is no magical formula that tells you how much swing is needed to produce the desired length putt. But if you make a pendulum stroke with your arms and shoulders only, you will make solid contact with the ball, which will make it much easier to roll your putts the correct distance with consistency.

To make your putting stroke consistent, make the length of your backswing equal to the length of your follow through, and accelerate the putter head smoothly through the ball to the finish position. If you do this, then the length of the backswing will determine the length of the putt. Short putts will require a short backswing, long putts a longer backswing. It is a very simple way to control the distance your putts roll because everything but the length of the backswing remains consistent.

Detecting unnecessary movements in your putting motion
If you are having trouble controlling the distance or direction of your putts, you could be moving your head and body or breaking your wrists during your putting motion without realizing it. Body turn, weight shift, and wrist hinge are required for the full swing. Since you repeat them so often, these movements become natural. Your putting stroke is much shorter than the motion made during the full swing, so any motions made are shorter, making the unnecessary movements difficult to feel and detect. But even though the movements are smaller, they are still damaging to the consistency of your stroke.

The easiest way to check to see if you are making any unnecessary movements during your putting motion is to have someone watch you hit some putts. They will be able to tell if you are moving anything other than your arms and shoulders. Once you are aware that something is moving unnecessarily, it will become easier to control that movement. There are several drills that your PGA professional can show you to help you get the correct feel of the putting motion and stop unwanted movements.

Chipping consistency
The motion used to play a chip shot is similar to the putting stroke. A chip produces a shot that flies low and rolls after it lands. It is used for short shots where you have a lot of green between your ball and the hole. Because the motion is similar to a putt, improving your putting will also improve your chipping.

The address position and motion is the same for all chip shots. The only thing that varies is the club selection. As with putting, the length of the backswing matches the length of the follow through, and the length of the backswing determines the length of the shot. Acceleration through the ball is smooth and consistent for all shots.

Address position
To execute chip shots consistently, your address position must be correct. Stand with your feet approximately 6″ apart and open slightly to the target. Play the ball in the middle of your stance, with 70 – 80 percent of your weight on the front foot. Grip down slightly on the club for control, placing your hands off of the thigh of your front leg.

The chipping motion
From this position, make your normal putting motion, keeping your weight on the front side for the entire swing. Leaving your weight on the front leg promotes a slightly descending angle of attack to the ball, allowing you to get the clubface under the ball without hitting down too much or scooping. Hitting down can cause you to hit too far behind the ball. Scooping will usually cause you to hit the shot thin.

The key to executing chip shots consistently is evaluating the situation and selecting the correct club for the shot you decide to play. Since the address position and motion for all chips is the same, club selection is the critical factor. Keep the ball low whenever you can, since low shots are easier to control. If you need to play a higher shot, use a club with more loft and let the loft of the club get the ball in the air. Many poor chips are caused by trying to hit down on the ball too much or trying to scoop the ball in the air.

Conclusion
Hitting more fairways and greens can help you improve your golf score, but it does not guarantee it. We have all had holes where we hit a great drive, a great second shot on the green, but then three putted to make a bogey. On the other hand, we have also had the holes where we hit a poor drive or a bad shoot to the green, but made up for it with a great chip shot or a long putt. If you focus more time on practicing your putting and chipping, you will see a big improvement in the consistency of your shots, and start to shave more strokes off of your score.

Chris Henderson is the director of the Back to Basics Golf Academy at Falcon’s Fire Golf Club in Kissimmee, Florida. For more information on the Academy, visit www.backtobasics golf.com, or e-mail Chris at chris@backtobasicsgolf.com.