How To Become A Scoring Machine
Every golfer misses greens. If you can’t get the ball near the hole (or in it) in this situation, your scores will skyrocket. However, if you can get up and down, you’ll keep those bogeys and double bogeys at bay. It’s called scoring. And the key to scoring is assessing the lie, selecting the right shot, and deciding how hard to hit the ball.
Scoring is what separates players with low golf handicaps from those with high golf handicaps. It’s also what separates Tiger, Phil, and Vijay from the rest of the players on the PGA tour. If you’re serious about improving your game, becoming a scorer is the best—and fastest—way of doing so. Mastering three basic chip shots—the high floater, the mid-trickler, and the low runner—turns you into a scoring machine.
Three Questions
Every chip shot you face causes you to ask the same three questions:
-What type of shot do I hit?
-How hard should I hit it?
-What club do I use?
The answers to these questions depend on several factors—your distance from the pin, your lie, and your confidence in your chipping.
You can chip with any club from a 5-iron to the sand wedge. Just make sure you don’t lob the ball in the air and put backspin on it. A well-stuck chip shot carries for a short distance, hits the ground, and then runs, as I tell students who take my golf lessons. Muscle memory developed from practice and taking practice swings to test the resistance of the grass tells you how hard to hit the shot. The type of shot depends on the lie and the distance from the hole.
The High Softie
The High Softie works well on a green cut close to the pin, as I’ve mentioned in my golf tips. Use it when you are in the rough but near the pin and there’s little room between you and the flag. The ball lands softly on the green, rolls a bit, and then stops. However, if the lie is tight, use your putter. The High Softie is a challenge to hit, so you need to practice it a lot, even with the right golf instruction.
The key to hitting the High Softie is tilting your front shoulder higher than your back shoulder. This adds loft to the club and helps the shot fly higher than normal. Position the ball forward in your stance, allowing you to make maximum use of your wedge’s bounce. It also lessens the chance of mis-hitting. Don’t lean the shaft away from the target. Instead, keep it perpendicular to the ground. And don’t try to lift the ball. Hit down and through, like you always do.
The Mid-Trickler
The Mid-Trickler is a low-risk shot. It’s best used when there’s not much room to the pin, about 20-25 feet, and there’s nothing between you and the hole. It requires a reasonable lie, a lie where there’s some grass under the ball. (Beware of tight lies and hardpan with this shot.) It also requires practice to catch the ball just right. Effectively played, the shot hops once, checks, and then trickles toward the hole.
The key to this shot is distance control. Pick a spot where you want the ball to land, then aim for it. Leave enough room to let the ball run. It’s crucial you don’t add or subtract loft from the club, which reduces or increases distance, respectively. A slight forward lean of the shaft and level shoulders at address allows you to maintain the club’s true loft. Set up with the ball positioned toward the center of your stance.
The Low Runner
The low runner is the shot of choice when there’s more than 25 feet between you and the pin. You can play this shot with almost any lie, including a tight one, when there’s not much grass under the ball. A low-risk shot, you can expect the ball to skid, checkup, and then run toward the hole. Remember, it’s easier to control distance when the ball’s on the ground than in the air, as I’ve written in my golf tips.
The key to the low runner is the tilt of the front shoulder. Position the front shoulder lower than your back shoulder and the ball back in your stance, ensuring forward shaft lean. It reduces the loft on your club and helps you use the leading edge to “pinch” the ball crisply, creating a shallow impact and preventing the ball from climbing up the club. Tilting your shoulder also creates a forward displacement of weight, which aids your technique.
Practice these three shots until you master them. They’ll help you recover for missed greens. They’ll also help you turn yourself into a scoring machine—the key to quickly reducing your golf handicap and achieving your full potential as a golfer.
Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 And Shoot Like The Pros.” He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately. He has a free weekly newsletter with the latest golf tips, golf lessons and golf instruction.
August 4th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
[…] Become A Putting Machine. Description The Most Imaginative And Informative Instructional Book To Be Written In A Narrative Voice Since Michael Murphy Wrote The Best Selling: Golf In The Kingdom. John Andrisani. (Golf Magazine. Excerpt from product page Become a Putting Machine What If You Could Learn To Become A Putting Machine! * * * * * * * Become a Putting Machine [1] WHAT IF YOU COULD LEARN TO BECOME A PUTTING MACHINE! IS THERE A MAGIC ANSWER, A SPECIAL HIDDEN SECRET TO GREAT PUTTING? I CLAIM THERE IS A PROVEN, TESTED METHOD. SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT PUTTING IS 25% ART AND 75% SCIENCE. I SAY THAT PUTTING IS 25% PHYSICS OF THE MOVEMENT, 25% SUBJECTIVE OBSERVATION AND 50% IS OF ESOTERIC MATTER. MAGIC CAN ONLY BE FOUND IN THE LAST COMPONENT. YOU CAN ASK ANY GREAT ‘PUTTER' AND HE WILL HAVE A HARD TIME EXPLAINING IT. MAYBE YOU ASK YOURSELF QUESTIONS LIKE: WHAT DRIVES THE PATH OF MY PUTTER HEAD? DO I HAVE A ‘GRIP' THAT SUITS THE DESIRED PATH? WHAT IS THE ROLE OF MY LEFT SIDE? 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I will explain in time PAGE 28 Once I arrived at the house, even before opening a beer I was drawn to the dictionary. I consulted my old Webster and turned to page 478 finding the word esoteric: adj. a) designed for or understood by only a chosen few, b) beyond the understanding or knowledge of most people. Wow! My jaw dropped, I was very intrigued PAGE 23 - The rotation axis of your shoulders and the position of your left hand on the putter, ( if right handed) are the keys to the square-back-and-square-through path of the putter's head. PAGE 27 - You must also understand the work of your left side. Your right side seems to be taking over on the forward stroke. When you dance with your girlfriend who leads? - I do. - Would you say she's a better dancer than you are? - Absolutely, she makes me look good. - You've said it all. When putting you are the left side and your girlfriend is the right side. 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[2] Should you have any further questions regarding our offer, or wish to arrange a private coaching session, we'd be more than happy to accommodate you. Simply write us support@become-a-putting-machine.com [3]. ————————- Become a Putting Machine powered by WordPress [4]. Sites you may be interested in Golf Instruction & Help » How To Become A Scoring Machine Tags golf swing putting green golf putter golf tip golf green This product is also listed in Sports & Recreation New Products Golf Pingback / Trackback In database since 2008-07-20 and last updated on 2008-08-04 […]
October 25th, 2008 at 2:35 am
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