Short game lessons??

yes a good one absolutely does.

my journey is documented ad nauseum on my thread here on thp, but one of the things i don’t talk a lot about is the instructor i had prior to my guy.

my last instructor is a nice guy, but ultimately our thoughts on the swing didn’t click. where we really struggled was short game. he would hit the shot then basically tell me to do what he did. he gave me a few thoughts, all of which were either wrong or i’m now actively trying to undo.

the guy i’m working with now has so much more knowledge, and is flat out a better instructor. we recently had a short game breakthrough and i’m seeing unbelievable improvements. i’m not scared. i’m getting the ball on the green. i’m getting up and down! and i have the clearest understanding i’ve ever had of what i need to be doing.

so yes, a good pro can absolutely help you. but it may take a bit of searching to find the best fit for you.

side bar: i cannot emphasize enough my advice against youtube videos. never in a million years would i have successfully diagnosed what my issues were. even then, i would not have known how to fix them and which videos to consume and practice. youtube golf videos are like webmd.


I agree to a degree. I think personal lessons will always be best because everyone has a different swing and different things that needs to be changed. Taking lessons over the past few months has been more helpful than all the YouTube videos I have ever watched. I understand my swing a bit better because of the lessons and can now take some of the YouTube videos as a guide for making some further changes. I can watch a video on chipping and I better understand what is being taught because I have taken lessons. I am starting to get to the point where I know enough about my swing that I can self-diagnose some issues and incorporate all the "advice" I am seeing from various sources. I would not be able to do any of that without first taking lessons.

I also sympathize with not clicking with an instructor. I just finished a series of nine lessons and enjoyed the instructor and learned a lot about my swing. As I look back on the lessons, it seems so much of what I learned was way out of order. In one of the final lessons we were working on some of the swing basics that seemed like it should have been done much earlier and a couple lessons seemed like I was just hitting balls on the range and checking the Trackman numbers.
 
Very well said; myself included.

The bad misses for me around the green tend to boil down more to choosing the wrong shot than they do to poor execution.

Case in point, last week I had a downhill chip from the rough to a somewhat tight pin. I had a fluffly lie.

I chose to try to bounce it in the fringe and roll it down close.

I executed the shot I wanted, it hit my spot and... rolled 15 feet past.

In hindsight the better choice would've been to carry it almost to the hole and use trajectory to stop it rather than try to run it down the slope.

It's funny sometimes to hit a good shot, only to sort out that it was the WRONG shot, haha.

I will say the example you gave the result may have been as good as it can be. Fluffy lie, downhill to a tight pin 15 feet might be as good as you can expect. Setting realistic expectations is part of it. Trying to carry it to the hole and stop it with trajectory could result in a much worse miss.
 
I will say the example you gave the result may have been as good as it can be. Fluffy lie, downhill to a tight pin 15 feet might be as good as you can expect. Setting realistic expectations is part of it. Trying to carry it to the hole and stop it with trajectory could result in a much worse miss.

That's fair. I wouldn't have gone with a flop there... probably just put it up in the stance with the 58 and carry it closer to the hole, expecting it to run out for an uphill 5-10 footer.

To your point, though, with a fluffy lie, I could've gone right under the thing.

The real miss was the approach shot where I left myself in that position...
 
This one is interesting. Look at all the different ways with different professionals (example: Lee Trevino puts the ball in the back of his stance and "traps" it but he says that allows the ball to "travel" and not check up...)
 
This one is interesting. Look at all the different ways with different professionals (example: Lee Trevino puts the ball in the back of his stance and "traps" it but he says that allows the ball to "travel" and not check up...)


Right? So much variation.

I do like the bump and run that Player does right at the top of the show there. Personally I tend to favor getting the ball on the ground as quickly as possible so it rolls out like a putt.
 
One more question for you guys. On 40-80 yard pitches, do you want to move the weight forward to your leading foot a bit just like you would on a chip? Meaning back foot 45, front foot 55?
 
To summarize: there are a bajillion ways to chip. Find one you like and practice the snot out of it.
 
One more question for you guys. On 40-80 yard pitches, do you want to move the weight forward to your leading foot a bit just like you would on a chip? Meaning back foot 45, front foot 55?
Caveat: I'm a high cap, short hitter.
40 and in, using the SW, more weight on the leading leg.
40-65 yards, using my GW, I'm set up like a regular iron shot.
70-90, PW, normal set up.
 
One more question for you guys. On 40-80 yard pitches, do you want to move the weight forward to your leading foot a bit just like you would on a chip? Meaning back foot 45, front foot 55?

I think you want the weight more forward on just about every shot in golf.

The exceptions I can think of would be:
- When the ball is sitting really high up in deep grass. You want a very even weight distribution to ensure you don't go under the ball.
- When on an uphill lie, you'll obviously will have most of your weight on your back foot to maintain solid balance
- On a sidehill lie, you might be a bit more evenly distributed for balance
 
I've probably taken 5-6 short game lessons over the years and they've all been different. i learned something from every one of them but some were much better than others.

If i ever take another lesson I would ask the pro if they are;

someone whose philosophy around the green is closer to mine....I tend to use just a few wedges for all my shots

Someone whose strength of their own game is chipping/pitching

Someone who can show me how to hit the shot
 
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