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How do you approach partial shots (touch shots under 100yds)

I would probably benefit from a more systematic approach, I'm pretty much just by touch in those situations. And my touch isn't great.
 
I use a variety of clubs depending on the lie and the layout of the hole between me and the pin. My goal is get on the graan and putt unless I am inside of 50, then I aim at the pin most of the time. This frees up a lot of creativity and creates a lot of options. I am not a good long game golfer, but I love the short game and this is where I make hay when playing.
 
I use a kind of mixture between the two methods. I play a 54 and 60, and have two or three distances with each one depending on how long my backswing is. Getting slightly better at flighting, but this still needs work. From about 50 and in though, it's all about feel and I'm more likely to bump a 9i or PW onto the green and let it run out that rely on carrying it. I have a new 50, 56, 60 setup on the way so I'll have to work on the distances again over the next couple of weeks.
 
Well what I want to be doing and what I am doing are two totally different things right now. Now, from about 70 and in, I tend to pick a club and play by feel. I am decent with this some times and other times I will leave it just short.

We do not have a good short game practice facility around here. Nothing with any known distances and targets etc. I have a friend I sold a house to a few months ago near me that has a long field running along the driveway he is not doing anything with. I think I have him convinced to cut it down pretty short and let me set targets at know distances in his field.

Then I want to work on 2-3 partial swings with all my wedges until I know exactly where I am putting each one. I will probably be writing that down somewhere. I honestly think that would have a huge impact on scoring for me if I can find the time to put in the work it will take to make it happen.
 
My LW goes 89 yards and it’s easy for me to take it down to about 70 yards by choking down and using a full swing. After that I’m still better with a full swing and an open face to shave off more yardage but I try not to leave myself shots between 35 and 70 yards as the only time I’ve had great distance control in that range is when I was practicing those shots at least a few hours each week. I don’t like to devote that much practice those shots as it’s more productive for me to practice putting and shots inside of 35 yards. If I can’t get inside of 35 yards I lay up hopefully to 88-90 yards. I’ve been doing this for the last 25 years so I’m pretty good at it although many think it’s strange when I’m hitting a 7 iron for my second shot on a par 5. We have two par 4’s where I normally hit 4 iron off the tee and another where I hit 4 wood so I leave myself a full LW. Those are my most birdied par 4’s on the course.
 
tahoebum said:
My LW goes 89 yards and it’s easy for me to take it down to about 70 yards by choking down and using a full swing. After that I’m still better with a full swing and an open face to shave off more yardage but I try not to leave myself shots between 35 and 70 yards as the only time I’ve had great distance control in that range is when I was practicing those shots at least a few hours each week. I don’t like to devote that much practice those shots as it’s more productive for me to practice putting and shots inside of 35 yards. If I can’t get inside of 35 yards I lay up hopefully to 88-90 yards. I’ve been doing this for the last 25 years so I’m pretty good at it although many think it’s strange when I’m hitting a 7 iron for my second shot on a par 5. We have two par 4’s where I normally hit 4 iron off the tee and another where I hit 4 wood so I leave myself a full LW. Those are my most birdied par 4’s on the course.
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Yeah my father-in-law, a pretty good golfer, simply told me "this doesn't have to be hard, just don't hit it to bad yardage". Obviously course management is a solution to most of this, but that requires a tremendous amount of self discipline.
 
Jmk202 said:
Yeah my father-in-law, a pretty good golfer, simply told me "this doesn't have to be hard, just don't hit it to bad yardage". Obviously course management is a solution to most of this, but that requires a tremendous amount of self discipline.
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Discipline is the key. At my last club we had a par 5(below - those bunkers at the top left were about 255 yards from the green) with water in front of the green that I had to make a hard rule for. If there was no wind or helping wind I would go for the green anytime I was 230 yards out or less. Many times when I missed my drive a bit I was 240 yards out and was laying up with a 9 iron for my second shot, lol. Before that rule, I made a lot of bogies and doubles on that hole going for the green in two. :)


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I posted this in another thread last week. It’s pretty good although long. That said it really makes sense and makes it easier.
 
I love to spin up short shots, my 50 deg is so easy to hit full, intermediate and even 30 yards....well that and the Square Strike wedge, lol...okay-maybe i was kidding about the square strike
 
Under 100 I use SW, GW, and PW depending on what kind of shot I want. 54* SW gets the most use. I practice 3/4 and 1/2 swing shots and have reasonable distance control. But ultimately I think I use feel more than anything else. I rarely use my rangefinder under 100 years. But this is an area where I want to improve distance control. I good shot puts me on the green with a putt. A better shot gives me the putt I want. I don't think I can practice wedges enough.
 
A few things came together for me in my short game in the last four years. Until then I was exclusively a Paul Runyan, chip-and-run guy from about 45 yards in. It worked much better from about 25 yards in for me. I will still use that approach depending on the situation.

Then I bought Ping Glide SW and LW with the Dylawedge grips. These have chokeup markings that are supposed to be 10 yard increments. So my full gap, sand, and lob wedges are 105, 85, and 65 yards. By choking up as needed, I have full swings in 10 yard increments from 105 to 45 yards.

I took a short game lesson that really showed me how to use the flop shot around the greens. That helped, too.

Finally, indoor golf helped my short game, which you'll almost never hear. The sims where I play penalize the chip and run, so I had to use lob shots. I hit the ball so high, it would pick up my lob wedge and often my sand wedge shots. So I had to use partial shots with my gap wedge, and I had to imagine what 45 yard shot with the GW should feel like, because there were no visual clues. The improvements when I went back outdoors were noticeable.

I don't consider myself a good short game player by any means, but I'm better than I was, if only because I have more shot options at my disposal.
 
joebute said:
I have full swing yardages down to about 70 yards (lob wedge). By full swing, I mean a comfortable swing, I'm not usually going 100% with a wedge. I'm just saying I'm not purposefully trying to restrict anything. Less than 70 yards is just feel to me,
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This is basically what I have in the bag, too. LW is good out to about 70-75 yards. Below that, I will use partial shots with usually my GW, SW, and LW. Once in a while, I'll break out a PW or 9i for those in between pitches, but that's not often.
 
I play a 48/52/56 and right now I use the 52 by feel from 110 in.
 
From 75-100 Yards I use my 54* with varying amounts of swing applied, Most shuts under 75 are varying swings with my 58*. I've become really comfortable with partial wedges regardless of distance.
 
ApexFan said:
I posted this in another thread last week. It’s pretty good although long. That said it really makes sense and makes it easier.
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I'm going to have to watch the rest tonight I guess, but I really like what I watched so far. I dig that guy's approach to some things. Feels very familiar.
I didn't realize txg was posting matt's lessons. When did that happen?? Interesting stuff. Thanks @ApexFan

Edit: I was scrolling through other videos of theirs (I guess I shouldn't only watch their equipment reviews) while I'm sitting in my truck. There's one called the 50 yd Shot with Tyler McGhie that is basically everything I work on and try to employ on course with these shots in a nutshell. Really works for me. Limit backswing, acceleration and speed based in rotation, with more passive hands, keep launch low with a lot of spin. Real solid video imo. They're working on a 50 yd shot, but you can hear him say in the beginning that matt's backswing is too long and is more for an 80-90 yard shot. I've been trying to incorporate the things they're working on out to about that 80-90 yard distance, where I can get into a fuller 58. Pretty sure that's the guy @McLovin is working with/getting lessons from, too.
 
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I have been trying to have 1/2 and 3/4 swings with 50 54 58 to have specific numbers I can hit with them. Still seems like a lot of feel is involved with it, or I need to work on consistent tempo.
 
Those shots have been a problem for as long as I've played.
I'm good at little short-sided lobs around the green, but from say forty to ninety-five yards out, those shots are always hard.

One thing I do early on in the spring is put my eight-iron to putter in a Sunday pencil bag and head for the little nine hole pitch and putt course about twenty minutes from where I live. I play that at least two or three times before I open my year at the club. They also have a driving range so I hit a few big clubs as well.

How much does it help? So so. Better than nothing.

This year, for the first time in a very long time, I've got an all new bag. I didn't order the pitching wedge that matches the 5-9 irons that I bought.
I've got a whole set of matching wedges, and I've got a couple or three rounds on a pitch and putt course to learn how to use them.

What could go wrong?
 
OldandStiff said:
I'm going to have to watch the rest tonight I guess, but I really like what I watched so far. I dig that guy's approach to some things. Feels very familiar.
I didn't realize txg was posting matt's lessons. When did that happen?? Interesting stuff. Thanks @ApexFan

Edit: I was scrolling through other videos of theirs (I guess I shouldn't only watch their equipment reviews) while I'm sitting in my truck. There's one called the 50 yd Shot with Tyler McGhie that is basically everything I work on and try to employ on course with these shots in a nutshell. Really works for me. Limit backswing, acceleration and speed based in rotation, with more passive hands, keep launch low with a lot of spin. Real solid video imo. They're working on a 50 yd shot, but you can hear him say in the beginning that matt's backswing is too long and is more for an 80-90 yard shot. I've been trying to incorporate the things they're working on out to about that 80-90 yard distance, where I can get into a fuller 58. Pretty sure that's the guy @McLovin is working with/getting lessons from, too.
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A few months ago I think. They did one in Florida but this one as far as informative is hard to beat. The bounce explained in different conditions and all was great for me. It has helped me change how I strike my short shots and today it really showed.
 
In the old days, I was more into using different clubs depending on pin location and distance; now I use a 56 degree SW for anything inside 70 yards. I practiced those shots a lot last year and it helped me lower my Hcp.
 
If its in the fairway or rough, my preferred shot is to land it 1/3 of the way on the green and let it release to the hole (unless I know there are some dramatic slopes or something in play). If it's in a bunker:

 
I play 52, 56 and 60 deg wedges and know my full swing distance with each of them. I also have distances spec'd out for 3/4 and 1/2 swings which tend to overlap pretty nicely. 56 deg 3/4 swing falls mid way to 60 full swing. 1/2 56 is pretty close to full 60 but with a different shot shape. Same goes to the 52 coming down to a 56.

So all in all for anything 100 yds and in, I can play it a couple different ways.
 
I approach them with much dread and trepidation. Among the many things I do poorly on the golf course, this is in the top two of things I suck at.
 
My partial shots in the distances you’re mentioning are completely feel based.

it’s a tempo thing. I think of keeping my shoulders, arms, grip and Shaft moving away together and back to the ball at the same pace. This helps me stay shallow, and almost guarantees I engage the bounce of my club to create an appropriate ball flight that lands softly. I just select the club I want for the distance and height I need.

kisner actually puts it in a very easy to understand way when doing a piece with barstool and helping one the guys chip/pitch better. Video is on YouTube.
 
I practice 4 swings (quarter, half, 3/4, and full) with my 4 wedges. So I have 16 distances on my distance card. I pick the one I want, and fire. It’s Dave Pelz stuff, works for me.
 
For touch shots I play the shot with less clubhead lag. The sharper the hit the more the ball is "alive". I want a "dead" feeling shot that is similar to a lazy underhand lob.
 
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