Of all the skills around the green, one of the hardest to perfect is the art of getting up and down. While it might be hard to get the hang of, perfecting this can be one of the easiest ways to save strokes during your round. I mean, if you think about it, going from three shots around the green to only two is an extra stroke on your scorecard every time you get up and down. And you know we’re all about saving strokes here at The Golf Academy! So we’re here today to talk about some of the different ways to practice the art of getting up and down.
Tag: golf Page 7 of 10
If you’re like me, most of the time you spend playing golf is just for the love of the game. I’ll go out on a Sunday afternoon with my dad or my brother and we’ll just play eighteen. I don’t make them re-tee their drive if their ball slips out of bounds, we’re very loose with our interpretation of ground under repair, and we generally let the small stuff slid by without too much of a fuss (except when my brother kicks the ball out from underneath a tree). This not only helps us keep our pace of play up, but it also helps us enjoy the game and each other more because we don’t have to worry about playing the game “the right way” in terms of the rules.
All of this goes out the window once you’re in a tournament though, where one small slip up on some of the rules I said above could result in penalties or even disqualification; something nobody wants to see! So what are some of the small nuances in the game of golf that some of us “Sunday golfers” pass over regularly?
We’ve all been in this spot on the golf course. A place that’s close enough to the green you don’t want to chip the ball, but where the rough is still too high or thick to simply putt the ball on. It’s one of the more dangerous places to be around the green, especially if the pin is close by. Often times the chance of catching the ball poorly and flying it over the green, or chunking it short, are better than the chances of you hitting a good chip, and that puts golfers like you and me in a tough position when it comes to decision making.
But are we really doomed to skulling balls across the green for the rest of our rounds? Or is there a different technique that can help us consistently get up and down from this tricky spot around the green? That’s why we’re here today. We’re here to learn about the hybrid chip.
Over the past few days, I’ve been searching through golf blogs and eventually I came across ptpgolf.com (which has a lot of great information on it) and something I saw on this website again reminded me of my childhood lessons. Under the “Moeisms” part of the way down the page, there’s a brief quote from Moe Norman who is considered to be one of the best ball strikers ever. He says “Why am I the greatest ball-striker? Because I have the least moving parts. I keep it simple.” and that resonated with me. Keeping your game simple is something that golfers can lose as they search for some of the newest advice and equipment.
But it’s easy to get caught up with all of the latest and greatest gadgets and techniques. You can scour Youtube, Google, and Golf Digest but often times, there’s too much information at these places to help you at all. You can’t go through a round thinking about the hundreds of different mechanics you’ve read lately. You can practice your swing, but trying to incorporate everything you learn is only going to confuse you as a golfer and hurt your scores.
This might seem like a no-brainer. Go to the range, buy a bucket of balls, and whack away. And while this might be what you see other people on the range doing, putting some thought into the clubs you focus on and just how you practice at the range might help you improve your game.
So what should you be doing at the range? Well I think of it like this: ideally, you want to get a consistent shot that you can use while you’re on the course. So, if you’re looking to replicate your range shots out on the links, it only makes sense that you should practice like you’re on the course. Yes, this is going to slow you down, so if you’re trying to hit 200 balls in a couple hours you might not reach your goal, but practicing on the range (like almost everything in golf) is about quality over quantity.
How exactly do you do that?