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On Course Approach to your Short Game

My 1st choice is to putt. If I can't putt. I chip. If I can't chip, I pitch. If I can't pitch, I will flop the ball to the pin.

My putting, and chipping grip. set up, and stroke are essentially the same. With chips, I land the ball about 2 feet on the green, and let it roll out from there.

Pitches I land the ball about midway to the pin.

Flops I land as near the pin as possible.

Usually I want to get the ball rolling on the green as quick as possible. I can control distance, and accuracy better with the ball rolling than flying it to the pin.

Since I want the ball rolling asap on the green. I read the green the same as I would a putt. I also pay more attention to the last 2-3 feet of the roll around the pin since the ball is rolling slower at that point.

From previous experience, I will use any club I feel is right for the shot.

I practice all these shots quite a bit. Sometimes, using one ball, I will chip/pitch/flop, and then us my putter to hole out. My goal is to get the ball close, and 1 putt. I'm looking for an average of 2.5 strokes, or lower over 9/18 practice holes.

That's pretty much my entire green side play/practice routine.
 
gkeller813 said:
This is one of the fun parts, and the most difficult parts, of golf. It's fun because you can be creative and be thoughtful on your short game shots. Difficult because you need to master to many different shots to be really, really good in the short game. I can practice a lot of different shots in my backyard, but need to get to the course more and practice to see how different shots affect the roll out. Does this shot spin less, or more? What do I need for tight lies? What do I need when I have a lot of green to work with? I enjoy because its all on me to hone this craft, and hopefully see a few shots fall off a great round.
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General rule of thumb: Distance and spin are related. Assuming quality contact, everything else equal, a longer chip is going to have more backspin than a shorter chip. This is one of the things to work out with practice. A pop and stop shot is pretty easy to execute from 20-30 yards out from the pin. From 15 feet the ball is going to roll out.
 
Use less lofted clubs from the tight lies, even when the flag is close, yeah it's a thing of beauty to see the Pros open the face and clip it with a 60* but that takes a ton of practice and perfect contact, very little room for error, and a bladed shot across the green is one of the most costly misses in the game.

Better off working with GW, PW, 9i or even more from those lies, it's amazing how easy it is to get the ball close when you know your shots with those clubs, and best of all the misses aren't so bad, the soft edge/sole allows a lot of room for error off the turf.
 
The first thing I do is get the ball on the green so I can start putting. Two short shots in a row is a huge no-no. The green is my target unless the pin is in a very inviting position.

I have all my chipping and pitching distances calibrated by club and swing length, so I know just which combination to use given the distance to the hole for stock shots.

If I get into a situation on the course that I don't have a shot for, I use my knowledge of short shot variables to create on the fly. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't, later at the range I'll figure out a shot for that situation to plug that particular hole.

As far as flying the ball to the hole or running it up there, you have to know how to do both. Being wedded to just one approach can leave you helpless at times.
 
I use a 56° SW as kind of a baseline... plenty of green, not a lot of uphill or downhill slope. If there isn't a lot of green to work with or the slope runs down towards the hole, I'll use the 60°. If the slope run uphill towards the hole and I have a lot of green, I'll use a stronger loft - up to about a 9i.

I rarely open the face but I'm working on that.

I'll pick a landing spot based on slope, amount of green and the club. On short-sided shots, that target landing spot might be short of the green. While I have worked on opening the face and using bounce to control rollout, I'm not yet confident with that shot.

I will often use the putter from off the green but I'm getting away from that on really long putts.

I've gotten away from trying flop shots but plan on working on that shot at some point.
 
Last round out, tried using my 8i and 9i around the green, which was very successful first time out. 31% up and down, which for me is very good. Gave myself good chances to both hole the chip, as well as not even putt as I was inside 2 feet a couple times. Like what I saw, and will continue to hone this skill.
 
I've used my 5H when close, but have to get it over some crap. This requires finesse because the face is so lively. On the fringe, apron close to the green, or short rough just near the green i'll putt. Otherwise I'll go with my 54, open the face a little, fly it and drop it. Sometimes I'll use a 58 if I need to go high and short.
 
I usually use my GW or SW but need to practice with my 8i/9i for bump and runs which is sorely lacking in my game.

I have an age old chipper doing nothing but haven't used it in ages.
 
Prime Directive: Get on the green with one short shot. Down in three is O.K., but down in four is a big no-no.

Learn to hit the same shot type with a variety of clubs because what you're facing is never the same. There are Tour pros who use the 60* for everything, but that takes a lot of practice that we don't have time for.

Learn how to fly the ball and run the ball to the same destination with the same club. Versatility.

Remember the short shots you had trouble with or didn't know how to hit because it was a new situation, then get a playing lesson on how to hit them. Patch the holes.
 
RecGolfer said:
Prime Directive: Get on the green with one short shot. Down in three is O.K., but down in four is a big no-no.

Learn to hit the same shot type with a variety of clubs because what you're facing is never the same. There are Tour pros who use the 60* for everything, but that takes a lot of practice that we don't have time for.

Learn how to fly the ball and run the ball to the same destination with the same club. Versatility.

Remember the short shots you had trouble with or didn't know how to hit because it was a new situation, then get a playing lesson on how to hit them. Patch the holes.
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Great stuff. Being versatile is key. Lies change. Proximity to flag changes. Amount of green to work with changes.

I tried to use my 56* for the majority of the shots around the green, and when i was on my game, and had beneficial lies, it was fine. But now that I've added more clubs to my shots around the green, I feel more confident regardless of what's in front of me.
 
I still do the old skool “get it rolling quick” thing. My 56* does 99% of the work from <100, then the old “choke a 7i” chip and run on occasion, and the 60* lobster flop when I’m feeling ballsy.

Schit, I’m old.
 
I find it quite ironic that we recently had a thread on "biggest short game mistakes you see people make" (or some such) and one of the most popular answers was "using too much loft - always pulling their 60-degree. They should keep the ball on the ground - it's a much more simple shot with a lot less to go wrong."

In this thread we have many people saying "I use my high-lofted wedge for everything - I can make it do all sorts of things. I don't have time to practice using different clubs."

We're quite schizophrenic, are we not?

Me personally, I'm making a conscious effort to use as little loft as possible. A lack of practice time means my miss with a putter or 9-iron is likely to be less disastrous than a miss with a 60-degree which I also don't have time to practice.
 
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I've tried the whole "use a lower lofted clubs for chips" but I've found that I detest how much I can't control the rollout. On the other hand, with my 58 I'm very familiar with how the rollout behaves, so I'm very comfortable taking it out for any shot from inside 45 yards. The 45-90 yard range is for the 54, and 90-115 is the 50. I practice partial shots with all three wedges, and full shots with the 50 and 54. Every now and then I'll swing a full shot with the 58, but only if I have a 75-80 yard shot directly over a tree that I can't get past any other way (it happened in a tournament three weeks ago and I stuck it to 3 feet! Missed the putt of course :ROFLMAO:)
 
Recently though I've experimented with using different parts of the sole around the green, and it seems to have been working well so far. The 58 is a really great weapon, which really should be used more often. Chipping greens are free to use (most of the time), and I spend at least 30 minutes before each round chipping and putting.
 
wadesworld said:
I find it quite ironic that we recently had a thread on "biggest short game mistakes you see people make" (or some such) and one of the most popular answers was "using too much loft - always pulling their 60-degree. They should keep the ball on the ground - it's a much more simple shot with a lot less to go wrong."

In this thread we have many people saying "I use my high-lofted wedge for everything - I can make it do all sorts of things. I don't have time to practice using different clubs."

We're quite schizophrenic, are we not?

Me personally, I'm making a conscious effort to use as little loft as possible. A lack of practice time means my miss with a putter or 9-iron is likely to be less disastrous than a miss with a 60-degree which I also don't have time to practice.
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60s are basically short-game heroin. You KNOW they're bad for your score, but you can't kick them.
 
wadesworld said:
I find it quite ironic that we recently had a thread on "biggest short game mistakes you see people make" (or some such) and one of the most popular answers was "using too much loft - always pulling their 60-degree. They should keep the ball on the ground - it's a much more simple shot with a lot less to go wrong."
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Just because an answer is popular, doesn't make it right. A low running chip is a terrible choice if you are short sided, or if the pin is on a spot where the green is severely running away from you, or if there are severe or complex undulations between your ball and the pin, or...well I think you get the point.

A low running chip is great for a lot of situations, but by no means all of them.
 
leftshot said:
Just because an answer is popular, doesn't make it right. A low running chip is a terrible choice if you are short sided, or if the pin is on a spot where the green is severely running away from you, or if there are severe or complex undulations between your ball and the pin, or...well I think you get the point.

A low running chip is great for a lot of situations, but by no means all of them.
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Of course. I'm not suggesting using a 6-iron short-sided with the green running away.

But a lot of people in front of a flat green with a pin in the back will pull a 60. In my experience, many people who use exclusively a high-lofted wedge around the green don't get it as close as they think. I know my short game needs improvement and one of my strategies is to use the minimum amount of loft the situation allows.
 
wadesworld said:
Of course. I'm not suggesting using a 6-iron short-sided with the green running away.

But a lot of people in front of a flat green with a pin in the back will pull a 60. In my experience, many people who use exclusively a high-lofted wedge around the green don't get it as close as they think. I know my short game needs improvement and one of my strategies is to use the minimum amount of loft the situation allows.
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We actually agree and are only arguing the flip side of the same coin. We both see that a one-size-fits-all approach to the wedge game is limiting and that developing a wedge game that gives you options for different situations is beneficial.
 
Putt it if I can.

Use the bounce on my SW or LW to pitch the ball over a bunker or rough if I must.

From a truly awful lie, I'll make a big swing with my Sure Out 64 to hack it out of pine needles, deep rough, whatever.

I've been working on a true bump and run shot using a dead-hands motion with a PW or GW. It flies knee high for 10-15 yards then runs out another 20 yards or so. Still a work in progress but it worked OK the one time I did it yesterday.

But honestly there are many rounds where putting, pitching and a bunker shot or two are all I need short game wise. I like those rounds!
 
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