By Jack Moorehouse

“Improve your short game.” That’s may answer to those readers who ask me how to chop strokes off their golf handicaps. It’s always the same—whether I’m addressing someone in a golf lesson or a group in a golf instruction session. Improving your pitching, chipping, and putting as well as your bunker play does more for cutting strokes from your golf handicap than learning to hit monstrous 300-yard drives.

But improving your short game is easier said than done. That’s why it’s always good to talk with professional players about their games. They can often give you golf tips that you won’t find anywhere else. Below are five golf tips from tour players we’ve recently unearthed. They’ll improve your short game and reduce your golf handicap by a stroke or two.

Let The Lie Tell You What To Do (Nick Price)
Pay more attention to your lie on short-game shots. Weekend golfers see those of us on tour hitting beautiful shots around the greens and think they can do it, too. But nine times out of ten, it’s because we’ve got a good lie. If you have a poor lie, focus on hitting the ball hard enough to carry whatever’s in front of you and get it on the green.

Pitch With Your Body (David Toms)
The best pitchers in the game use a lot of body; the worst use almost none. If you freeze your body and throw your hands at the ball, you’ll make a sweeping swing and tend to hit it fat. Good touch around the green isn’t about having good hands. It’s about turning your body through, which keeps the club shallow and lets it get under the ball.

Also, if you’re having trouble making contact on greenside shots, try setting up with your feet or belly button pointed more toward the target. This pre-sets the body in a through-swing position. From there the club will stay shallow and slide through impact. Always turn your body to the target, with the club staying in front of your chest. With the focus off your hands your touch will improve.

Put Aggressively—But Not To The Hole (Jack Nicklaus)
To avoid three putting, pick a spot on long putts three feet short of the hole, and putt aggressively to that spot. You’ll rarely be short by more than three feet because you “charged” to that short target. If you hit the putt too hard, it can roll five feet further than your target, and you’ll only have two feet coming back.

Change Club, Not Swing (Chuck Cook)
On long greenside sand shots, instead of trying to punch or chip the ball out with a sand wedge, make your same bunker swing but use a club with less loft. With a little practice you can hit a perfectly acceptable explosion shot from the sand with an 8-iron—which will come out on a lower trajectory and roll more. That’s a nice shot to have in your bag when you’re 40 yards from the green.

Speed Up Your Pitches (Phil Mickelson)
A common mistake is taking the club back too low, with straight, stiff wrists. If you swing the club back that way, your tendency will be to try to scoop at the ball to help it in the air, because you’re subconsciously aware that you haven’t generated enough speed. The stiffness in your hands and arms also hurt your sense of feel, so your distance control won’t be as sharp.

Shorten The Club To Dial In Your Wedges (Judy Rankin)
Spend some time on the range with your wedges, moving your hands down the grip in one-inch increments. By gripping down an inch you can subtract five to eight yards without changing your swing. See how it affects your yardages. You’ll have to get closer to the ball but you’ll be taking a full swing.

Improving your short game will quickly reduce your golf handicap. So if you’re serious about becoming a better golfer take golf lessons, read golf tips, attend golf instructions sessions with friends, and practice, practice, practice. Do whatever you can to improve your short game. The work will pay off.

By Jack Moorehouse

If you usually slice off the tee, you’re costing yourself strokes. Slicing lands you in instant trouble, leaving you with bad lies and tough shots. More importantly, slicing boosts your golf handicap and increases pressure on your short game. Most slicers know this. That’s why they’re always looking for a cure. Some find it. Others don’t. Those who don’t find a solution often get frustrated.

But you don’t have to get frustrated with your slice. You can eliminate it once and for all by following a simple, four-step process. It tells you why you slice and provides golf tips that can help correct it. In the end you get a slice-free swing that has you thinking—and acting—like a new player. Eliminating your slice helps chop strokes off your golf handicap and eliminates frustration. Below is the four-step process:

Step 1: Examine Your Divots
Slicers create three types of divots. Each reveals the mechanical problems behind their slice.
Divots that move extremely left of the target line result from swings combining an open clubface and an incorrect swing path.
Divots that move somewhat left of target and then curve back across the target line result from a faulty swing path traveling outside in and across the ball.
Divots that move relatively in line with the swing path but drift slightly left result from and open clubface at impact.

Step 2: Determine Your Downswing Type
Downswings are driven by either a pulling (rotary) or a pushing (lever) motion. A rotary-driven swing uses the hip and trunk rotation as the primary force moving the club. With this type of swing, the golfer turns his or her body counterclockwise, with the club being dragged through impact. A lever-driven swing is one in which the right hand and forearm are the primary force behind the downswing. With this type of swing, the shoulder and chest rotation are delayed as the right hand and forearm power the club down into impact.

Step 3: Match Your Grip
It’s critical that your grip matches your downswing type. If you’re a rotary swinger, you need a stronger grip than a leverage swinger. A stronger grip counters the open impact position by keeping the right hand and elbow bent and tucked into the body, which in turn lowers the right shoulder and keeps the clubhead on the correct path.

If you’re a lever swinger, you want a more conventional grip or even a bit of a weaker grip. For a lever swinger, a grip that’s too strong results in a closed clubface at impact, producing hooks. To make sure your grip works with your swing type, focus on developing a setup position that’s correct and use your impact position to check on your grip—when your wrists unhinge at impact, the clubface should be square.

Step 4: Find The Slot
It’s critical you get the club properly slotted.  It’s also critical you match your transition to your swing type. If you’re a rotary swinger, the most important things to focus on when making the transition into the slot are letting the arms be relatively passive so they can swing freely and maintaining a slightly closed clubface position. At the top the rotary swinger’s position is somewhat flatter than the lever swinger’s and the left wrist is slightly bowed. Both are musts.

If you’re a lever swinger, the most important things to focus on when making the transition is shifting your weight onto the left leg, shifting the left shoulder left with no pulling of the left arm, and keeping the right wrists bent. At the top, the most important things are keeping the clubface square and the right hand and wrist bent to maintain width and keep the club on path.

Slicing is the game’s most common swing fault. It’s also among its deadliest. If you slice consistently off the tee, you’re often find yourself in instant trouble. This costs you strokes and boosts your golf handicap. To eliminate your slice, follow the four-step process described above. It will help you to hit them long and straight. Hitting them long and straight like they teach you in golf lessons boosts confidence and saves frustration.

By Jack Moorehouse

Average size players like Sergio Garcia and Annika Sorenstam prove that you don’t have to be a giant to hit the ball long. To hit the ball long like Sergio and Annika, you’ll probably have to change your mind-set a little and make some minor adjustments to your every day routine. Making these changes can add 20 or even 30 yards to your shots and help you chop strokes off your golf handicap—without spending hours at the range. We call it power over easy.

The hardest thing for weekend players to accept is that they don’t have to swing hard to hit the ball long. I see students in my golf lessons swing harder all the time. Professional golfers seldom swing harder than 85 percent on any shot. More often, they’re swinging at 70 percent. They’ve learned to swing easily and smoothly and let leverage and clubhead speed work for them. To gain extra yardage, work on things like rhythm, tempo, and technique.

Upgrading Your Fitness Level
Fitness level is another key to power. Many weekend golfers do little to maintain their fitness levels. You can gain extra yardage to your shots just by upgrading your fitness level. Doing cardio, Pilates, Yoga, and/or light weightlifting can transform your body. Improving your fitness level may not directly translate into more distance on your shots, but the improved endurance that comes with upgrading your fitness level will help you hit the ball as far on the 17th tee as on the first.

Another golf tip on generating more yards from your shots is to take advantage of today’s advancements in golf technology. New drivers, shafts, and balls are great, but players don’t benefit from them completely unless they work together. For example, some balls spin less and launch higher than others. These balls enable you to use higher-lofted drivers, which provide more carry. More carry translates into longer shots, especially when playing on firm fairways.

Plug The Power Leaks
In addition to modern technology, plug the power leaks in your swing. For example, among the biggest power leaks is the tendency to take the club back with your hands and arms not in sync with your body. When the hands get too far from you, your body sucks the club inside and the player “lays-off” at the top. In other words, he points the club left of the target at the top. Once this happens you must correct this power leak with your hands. This is a leading cause of inconsistency. Golf instruction sessions can help you plug the power leaks in your swing.

Finally, learn to release the club properly. When weekend golfers feel like they need to hit the ball a long way, they tense up—almost as if they were going to get punched. They clench their muscles and hold the club really tight. That tension restricts the player’s ability to cock his wrists and reduces his turn, as I’ve mentioned in my golf tips newsletter. That, in turn, leads to shorter shots. Keep your hands loose and soft and you’ll add distance to your shots.

Also, learn to feel the clubhead releasing. When you’ve released the clubhead properly, you should feel like your left side is bringing the club back and right side is bringing it forward. To reinforce this feeling, hold a heavy club—like a sand wedge— in your right hand (left for left-handers) and take small swings, holding the club lightly in your fingers. Use the right hand, arm, shoulder, and hip to swing the club through, and feel the weight of the club itself promoting a good release. With a good release, there’s no holding on or manipulation to try to square the clubface at impact.

You don’t need to attend dozens of golf instruction sessions or hit hundreds of golf balls at the range to generate more power. There are easier ways. Work on rhythm, tempo, and technique, upgrade your fitness level, plug the power leaks in your swing, and learn to release the club correctly and you’ll see yourself hitting longer shots. Longer shots can help you hit your targets more often. Hitting your targets in turn can help you chop strokes off your 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.

By Jack Moorehouse

One way to chop strokes off your golf handicap quickly is to improve your pitching. The closer you land the ball to the pin on a pitch, the easier your putt. To improve your pitching, you first must learn to hit all your wedges. That sounds like a lot of work but it’s not. You don’t have to master pitching with each wedge. You just have to practice enough to develop a favorite while knowing which shots to avoid. Then make that favorite your go-to pitch shot under pressure.

Once you’ve learned to hit all your wedges, the next step is learning to control your pitches after they land. It’s one of the keys to pitching success. Usually, it’s best to land a pitch shot at least three feet on the green, as I’ve said in my golf tips newsletter. It’s better to hit a higher, softer shot with a 64-degree wedge than to try and hit the fringe and roll the ball to the pin. Fringes cause more bad bounces than the green, making it harder to control the shot after hitting.

Choose An Approach
Another key decision with pitches is choosing an approach. Some players hit low pitches that run. Others hit high pitches that land softly. Both approaches work. However, the best finesse players prefer shot trajectory rather than spin to control the placement and bounce on greens. High soft-landing shots are more predictable when well executed. Plus, they’re easier to hit time after time, as you may have learned in your golf lessons. Low running shots are harder to hit well consistently.

Let your skill at executing the shot, plus its margin for error and its probability of success, determine your approach. If you think you can get the ball closer with a flop shot than a bump-and-run, use the flop shot. The key is getting the ball as close to the pin as possible. Also, commit to the shot before swinging. If you’re not committed to the shot, your chances of executing it drop. Practice the shot in your mind first, then take your stance and hit.

Decide On Loft
If you choose to hit a high shot, you must then decide on the shot’s loft. This is a key decision because a shot’s loft affects its roll. How much loft do you need? A good golf tip to keep in mind is that when hitting a pitching wedge from bent grass, the ball rolls about as far as it flies. With a sand wedge from bent grass, the ball runs about two-thirds of its carry. If you hit a sand wedge with 15 yards of carry, it runs about 10 yards. With more lofted wedges on bent grass, the ball runs about half the carry distance.

Modify these estimates based on the green’s conditions. For example, the harder the green, the farther the ball rolls after landing. The softer the green, the sooner it stops. Also keep in mind that the higher the shot, the deeper the pitch mark the ball makes and the faster it stops. Shots from bent, rye, or bluegrass are easier to hit because the grass doesn’t grab your club as much as other grasses. Bermuda grass is difficult to pitch from, especially if you’re hitting against the grain. Kikuya grass, the dominant grass in Japan, is the most difficult to pitch from.

Effects Of Grass
Many greens have bent, rye, and Bermuda grass. They all affect the ball differently after hitting. Below are some golf tips to keep in mind:

* Expect more roll on bent greens and a little less on the thicker, stronger-bladed Bermuda greens.
* Expect almost no affect from the grain on bent grass, unless you can see it growing in once direction or another.
* Bermuda grain has a big affect on roll. Hitting into the grain, the ball stops faster. Hitting with the grain, the ball rolls farther.

Ask in the clubhouse what type of grass the course uses on its greens. Then use the above golf tips as guidelines when pitching. Also keep in mind that pitch-shot execution errors can be magnified or minimized depending on where a ball lands. So if you want to quickly chop strokes off your golf handicap, improve your pitching by controlling where the ball lands.

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.