I keep seeing articles about your setup on short shots and chip shots, but for some reason, no one mentions that alignment and setup for each shot is slightly different. The length of the shot and how high or low you want the ball to fly is determined by your setup and alignment.
Align the Shoulders
While ball position and lower body
alignment may vary, the one constant is shoulder alignment. Your shoulders should always be parallel to
your target line on any shot whether you are hitting a driver or a putter. NOT pointed at the target, but parallel to
it.
The Lower Body
The lower body – meaning the feet,
legs, and hips - will be open or pointing left of the target in order to get
yourself out of your own way. The club
needs to travel down the target line as long as possible and a square stance
makes it much more difficult to accomplish that.
Do NOT Shift Your Weight
The single most important factor in
developing a good short game is that you absolutely must learn to contact the
ground in the same spot in your swing every time. To accomplish this you simply need to
stabilize your weight. The low point in
your swing arc is where ever your weight (or center of gravity) is. If you shift your weight the bottom of your
arc moves constantly with your weight.
The odds of winning the lottery are better than the odds of getting your
weight in the same spot every time if it is shifting.
One point that needs to be made at
this time is watching and reading about how tour players do it is a waste of
time unless you are already that good.
Tour players have extraordinary hand-eye coordination, touch, and feel
so they can do things in their swing that would be problematic for the average
golfer.
It is easier to just place the weight
on the left side or left foot and keep it there throughout the swing.
Keep the Club Head Low
Keep the club low to the ground as
long as possible on the back swing and the follow through. Never make any attempt to lift the club or
cock the wrists unless hitting out of deep grass. Keep the hands quiet. Over active hands will result in fat and thin
or skulled shots.
Another very important factor is to
be able to have your hands in the same position at impact that you did at
address. The club head must never pass
the hands until well after impact. The
chipping or pitching swing is made primarily with the arms and shoulders – not
the hands.
How long the shot is determines how wide or narrow the stance and how open your body is. For a chip shot your right foot is very close to your left foot and your lower body is very open.
For a pitch shot it is less
pronounced. The hands will generally be
more forward on a chip, but the height of the ball flight will be determined by
the loft of the club and the forward lean of the shaft.
Grip Down On The Club
One final point that needs to be
addressed is gripping down or “choking up” on the club. The shorter the shot the more you choke
up. It is perfectly fine to grip all the
way down to the bottom of the grip. This
enable you to be firmer and more aggressive because the shorter you make the
club the shorter distance you will hit the ball.
Hubert Green who had 19 PGA Tour wins
including 2 majors used to choke the sand wedge all the way down onto the steel
and open the face so he could be firm and aggressive.
Never let the golf club slow down prior to
impact. Taking it back too far and
slowing down prior to impact will cause the club head to pass the hands with
the absolute certainty of a bad shot.
Practice with slightly different
alignments until you find what is most comfortable for you. I suggest practicing extensively with a sand
wedge which is about 56 degrees. By
adjusting the shaft lean forward and backward and opening and closing the face you can learn to hit a variety of
shots. I am not a fan of using the lob
wedge to chip or pitch with. I agree
with Barney Adams, the founder of Adams Golf, when his club designer told him
they were going to design a 60 degree lob wedge he told them to stamp a skull
and cross bone on it.
As you go from a full swing to a less
than full swing to a chip the right foot gets closer and closer to the left and
the hips open more and more. Shoulders stay parallel to the line.
Once you have learned to develop a
solid short game simply start taking a bigger and faster swing and gradually
square your body alignment and you will have an excellent full swing as
demonstrated by the video below.
Love your work Sam.
ReplyDeleteVery succinct and simple explanations.