If you’ve read my golf tips, you know how vital I consider the short game. If you want to cut your scores and slash you golf handicap, you must learn how to turn three strokes into two. The secret to that is hitting a precise spot on or near the green when chipping and pitching letting the ball run to the hole. The more accurate you are at hitting the right spot, the more accurate your shots will be. The more accurate your shots, the lower your golf handicap.

In addition to accuracy, you also must develop a “feel” for chipping, which comes with practice. Keep in mind that your feel may change over the years, so you may need to change your approach over the years as well. When Tom Watson was young he played every chip shot near the green with a pitching wedge. Tom was one of the better chippers on the PGA tour. He had a great feel for chipping and pitching. As he aged and lost the great feel, he used different clubs to compensate for it. You may have to do the same.

Club Selection is Critical
Club selection is critical when chipping and pitching, as I’ve stated in my golf tips. On shots just off the green, you have an option. Some players with low golf handicaps prefer putting the ball from here. The stroke is simpler and the ball behaves more predictably. Others prefer chipping it. The preferred clubs for chipping are the sand wedge and the 5-iron. If you use the wedge, pick a spot about three-quarters to the pin and aim for it. If you use the 5-iron pick a spot a few feet from you and aim for it.

On shots about 10 feet off the green but still on the fringe, you’re better off chipping the ball than putting it. The ball must go through to much grass. The clubs of choice are the 7-iron and the 60-degree wedge, if you have one. If you use the wedge, land the ball about three-quarters to the pin and let role to the hole. If you use the 7-iron, land it just on the green and let it role to the hole. Most golfers prefer the 7-iron because there’s a higher margin for error. Practice and experience tell you how close or far away from the pin you need to hit the ball.

When in Trouble
On shots farther from the green and in the rough, it’s even more critical you hit the right spot with your chip, especially if you don’t have much green to work with. Your choices here are an 8-iron or a sand wedge. Here, the more lofted club may be your best bet. You have to carry the ball just over the fringe and run it to the hole. If you hit the ball a little heavy you could easily miss your spot, ending up in the grass or falling far short of the hole. With the sand wedge, you have a better chance of carrying the rough. Shoot for a spot three-quarters of the way to the hole and let the ball run to it, as if it were a putt.

Of course, sometimes you have no choice. For example, if you have to lob the ball out of the rough, over the bunker, downhill to a tight position, the sand wedge is the club of choice. Block out the bunker mentally and focus on the spot you want to hit, which in this case is the fringe, then hit away. No other option enables you to stop the ball near the hole. Keep the knuckles of your left hand (right hand for left-handers) pointing to the sky, which keeps the clubface open and gets the ball up quickly and down softly.

Choosing the Right Club
A good drill for learning to chip and pitch to a spot is to practice hitting the same spot with different clubs. For instance, try a sand wedge, a 9-iron, and a 5-iron from the same distance. The idea is to carry the ball in the air with different clubs but to the same spot. Study the various distances the ball rolls after it comes down. This drill provides a sense of how far the ball carries and runs with different clubs, giving you a better idea of which club to use when.

Regardless of which club you use, the key is hitting the right spot. Visualize landing on that spot before swinging. Then, it’s just a question of judging how far the ball will travel as a “putt.” Practice hitting a spot and before long you’ll be turning three shots into two and chopping off strokes on that golf handicap.

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.

Was it the pressure that caused Sergio to miss that 8-footer on the 18th at Carnoustie in the final round of The British Open? Or, was it bad mechanics? We’ll never know for sure. But one thing’s certain: The mental part of putting is as important as the mechanical, as I’ve written in my golf tips. If you’re going to be a great putter, you must work on the mental aspect of putting as hard as you work on the mechanical. Together, they’ll reduce your golf handicap significantly.

Obviously, you must have a good stroke to be a great putter. And you must be able to repeat that stroke time after time after time. If you don’t have a good stroke, you’ll never be a great putter. But once you’ve developed a good stroke, you must focus on the mental side of putting to continue to improve. Remember golf is a game of scoring, not of strokes. And putting is the best way of scoring. Focusing on the mental side of putting propels you to the next level in putting, and dramatically cuts your golf handicap.

Below are six mental keys to putting.

Attitude
Great putting begins with attitude. A positive attitude on the greens helps you address each putt with full intention and focus. A positive attitude means seeing yourself as a great putter, but knowing you can improve as well. It means filling yourself with positive attitudes and emotions, and trusting in your judgment on the greens. And it means programming yourself to believe that you can putt the ball to an exact spot, without doubt. Developing a positive attitude is your first priority in becoming a great putter.

Confidence
Another key to great putting is self-confidence. Learn to build and preserve your confidence. Having confidence means believing you can make every putt—no matter how long or how tricky. It means developing confidence in your skills on the green through practice and hard work. And it means not letting a bad putting day ruin your attitude. If you critical, self-judgmental, or self-de-grading, you’ll erode your confidence. Monitor yourself closely. Eliminate negative self-talk. Replace it with positive thoughts.

Touch
Every putter has touch. Touch is the ability to gauge your distance from a target and hit your ball at the right speed. But to be a great putter, you must have a great touch, as I tell students who take my golf lessons. Touch comes from experience and practice. If you’ve never hit a 20-foot putt, you have no idea what it’s like to do so. Work hard on the practice green at developing your touch. Ingrain what it feels like to make breaking putts, short putts, and long lag putts. Developing a better touch also improves your self-confidence and helps build a positive attitude. Practice drills that improve your touch and practice them. My golf tips feature some but there are others. Invent your own.

Imagination and Vision
Your mind and body follow your eyes. And putting is a highly visual task. That’s why vision and imagination are crucial to great putting. You line up your putt with your eyes. You determine your line with your eyes. And you gauge the break in a putt with your eyes. Use your mind’s eye to sink your putt. What should you focus on when putting? Most players focus on the ball, not the putter head. Focusing on the putter head causes you to try and control it. Other players retain the ball-target orientation and/or sight their line with peripheral vision. Choose what you’re comfortable with.

Trusting Your Stroke
Trusting your stroke isn’t the same as relying on mechanics to stroke the ball. Work on ingraining a reliable stroke, but don’t do it when playing a round. Instead, focus on the feel of solid contact, the tempo of your stroke, or the rhythm of the shot. This is the time to let you creative mind do its thing. Practice putting with your eyes closed to develop trust in your stroke. If you can hit the ball solidly with your eyes closed, you can trust your stroke. As one sports psychologist says, trust is the mental glue that binds the components of great putting together.

Total Focus
Watch a professional golfer putt sometime. He or she is totally focused on the task. Great putters focus completely on the putt. Two important keys to total focus are (1) staying the present and thinking one shot at a time, and (2) focus on the elements of your routine. Most errors in concentration on the greens result from thinking about the putts you missed on the last hole or about the next shot. If you play one shot at a time, you’ll eliminate these errors. Also, when you focus on the steps in your routine, you’re focused on the present moment and the immediate task ahead.

Having a mechanically sound putting stroke is a must if you want to be come a great putter. But so is having the right mental approach. The six mental keys we discuss above—attitude, confidence, touch, imagination and vision, trust, and total focus—serve as the foundation for that mental approach. And since great putting cuts strokes off your scores, it will slash your golf handicap as well.

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.

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How To Break 80 Newsletter

August 1, 2007

“The Web’s Most Popular Golf Improvement Newsletter”
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In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Drilling Downhill Putts
2) Creating a Practice Station
3) Question of the Week - Overcoming Alignment Problems
4) Article - Hit the Spot To Slash Your Golf Handicap
5) Article - Six Mental Keys to Great Putting

Jack’s Note: Happy August! This is a big month for golfing fans as we have the PGA championship next week as well as the last few tournaments in the new FedEx Cup playoffs. It will also be a big month for us as we will be releasing a new DVD later this month as well as a special event next week.

We’re just about to re-order a whole new stock of the “How To Break 80…And Shoot Like the Pros!” physical book but we have some inventory left which I’d like to offer to you at a great discount. This is our award-winning physical book which contains the entire game plan to shooting lower scores…even if you’re high handicapper. I’ll also be offering an equivalent discount on the eBook and audio CD’s. So, if you still haven’t checked this product out, now is your chance. Stay tuned next Tuesday, August 7th and watch for you special discount notice. We’ll only be running this discount sale for a couple of days so mark your calendars.

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1) Drilling Downhill Putts
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Beware of downhill putts! They can cost you, if you’re careless. Hit them too softly and you could wind up with another downhill putt. Hit them too hard and you could go flying past by the hole. Or worse, the ball could roll off the green and into the rough, a bunker, or the water. A big break makes the putt that much harder.

While you must be careful with downhill putts, you don’t need to be intimidated by them. Here are 5 tips on playing downhill putts:

* Take your typical putting stance
* Hold the club a little firmer
* Avoid the putter’s sweet spot
* Play the ball off the toe
* Keep the face square at impact

Even a slight tap of your putter can send a ball flying past the hole. So avoid hitting the putter’s sweet spot. When you do, the ball jumps off the face of the putter. Instead, hit the ball off the putter’s toe. It absorbs the force delivered by the stroke, deadening the putter’s impact just enough to prevent the ball from flying past the hole. Since the putt is downhill, you don’t need to strike the ball as hard to get it to travel the same distance.

However, you must make a slight adjustment, if using this technique. Grip the putter just a little firmer than usual. When you hit the ball on the putter’s toe, the putterhead tends to twist open, throwing the putt off line. Gripping the club more firmly keeps the putterhead square to the ball through impact, resulting in a truer putt.

Downhill putts are hard even for the pros. I’ve seen some pros roll the ball right off the green and into the drink. But downhill putts don’t have to cost you strokes, if you’re careful. Putt the ball off the putterhead’s toe and you’ll not only avoid trouble, you’ll sink more putts.

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2) Creating a Practice Station
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If you’re like most people, you barely have time for your job and your family. So when you find time to practice, you must make the most of it, if you’re serious about improving. What you need is something that makes practice more efficient and effective.

Set up a practice station next time you visit the range to maximize your use of time. Instead of just beating balls off the tee, use the station to put some order into your session. It eliminates two variables in your setup—alignment and ball position. In addition, it helps establish the correct optical reference to your target.

Here’s how to set up a station:

1. Establish a target line to a far away target. Then place a club on the ground outside the line but parallel to it.

2. Stick a shaft (or something similar) into the ground about 10 feet away along your established target line. This serves as an intermediate target.

3. Establish a stance line, parallel to the target line, and place another club on the ground along the stance line, in front of your feet.

4. With another club determine your ball position on a line perpendicular to your stance line.

Now you’re ready to hit. Place a ball on the target line in the pre-determined position. Use the shaft stuck in the ground as an intermediate objective along the target line, which serves as a guide as you try to hit the ball right or left of it. And swing away. Next time you play visualize the setup before hitting. It should help you hit better shots.

Don’t let a lack of time hamper improvement. Set up a practice station next time your on the range and use it to work on your game. It’s an efficient and effective aid to practice.

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3) Question of the Week - Overcoming Alignment Problems
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Q. Hi Jack, I have a problem with aligning myself square to the target. Have any tips?

Thanks
David Deysel

A. Thanks for the question, David. If you want to hit the ball down the middle with power, you must achieve a square alignment. Golfers tend to misalign themselves because they stand to the side of the ball at address, forcing them to view the target from an angle instead of head on.

To assure proper alignment, use the box-and-one drill. Here are 5 keys to the drill:

* Tee the ball opposite your left heel
* Imagine an invisible box
* Make the box as square as possible
* Picture the ball in the left-hand corner
* Bring the clubface into the ball

Take your normal address. Now tee the ball opposite your left heel, if you’re right handed. (If you’re left-handed, tee it up opposite your right heel and reverse what follows.) With that line established, draw an imaginary box on the ground. Try to make the box as square as possible. The box’s left side is the line between your left heel and the ball; the box’s right side is the line between your right heel and a point behind and even with the ball.

Now open the toe of your left foot slightly to allow for your hips to clear and take your normal golf swing. Concentrate on bringing the clubface squarely into the ball in the box’s upper-left hand corner. Follow through as you normally would.

The box-in-one drill helps you achieve square alignment. Use it whenever you doubt your alignment. Remember perfect parallel alignment helps you achieve consistency and accuracy, without short-circuiting power.

Clarification: Hitting a Draw
Some readers were confused about the point of impact when hitting a draw, which we discussed last week. If you’re right-handed and you envision a clock with 12:00 pointing directly at the target, you would be standing on 9:00. Directly opposite you would be 3:00. Normally, you tee the ball at about 1:00 (opposite your left heel). To draw the ball, tee it at 4:00, which is slightly back from the middle of your stance. Your swing would start at around 6:00 and travel round to 4:00, that is, from inside the target line to outside the target line. Sorry for the confusion.

If you’ve got a golf question you’d like answered, send an email to us at questions@howtobreak80.com and we’ll review it. I can’t guarantee that we’ll use it but if we do, we’ll make sure to include your name and where you’re from.

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If you want to truly discover the secrets of shooting like the Pros and creating a more reliable and consistent swing, check out: http://www.HowToBreak80.com

Also, for past issues of this newsletter and some of my most recent articles, visit our blog at www.HowToBreak80.com/blog

To view this newsletter online, please visit:
http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter08012007.html

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article - Hit the Spot To Slash Your Golf Handicap
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/spot.html

5) Article - Six Mental Keys to Great Putting
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/mentalputt.html

Until next time,
Go Low!

Jack

P.S. Feel free to share this newsletter with family and friends. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, send a blank email to break80ezine@aweber.com

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About the Author
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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 handicaps quickly. His free weekly newsletter goes out to thousands of golfers worldwide and provides the latest golf tips, strategies, techniques and instruction on how to improve your golf game.