How Much Versatility Do You Have?

JB

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Out on the course today and the approach shots left a lot to be desired for a playing partner of mine. He had so much versatility around the greens it left all of us talking about our own games.

From low hit and check spinners to high flip shots he hit just about everything I think.

Where does your game stand with this?
 
Lacking more often than not. I’d kill for a short game like that.
 
Man there was a time where I had the shots that would get me close dependent on need, right now I don’t have anything and I just go for the safest shot I can hit. I’d much rather putt for a bogey than have to chip for a double.

It’s such a game of repetition
 
While I consider approach shots a glaring weakness of mine I consider around the green the strongest part of my game.
 
I'm a high handicapper, but I'm pretty versatile with a wedge in my hand. There are a few shots that I don't have that I'm working on (I can't hit the low checker with consistency). So around the greens, versatile, everywhere else, imbecile.
 
Pretty good versatility around the greens but the low hit and check spinner is not in my arsenal. Have been hitting the ball so poorly lately the short game is the only thing saving me. Today I am 1 over (2 bogeys and 1 birdie) through 8 with only 1 GIR (the lone birdie). Hope to be able to hit the ball when the downpour ceases...
 
i have a few shots i can usually pull off, but i am terrible at the high soft pitch. just don’t got it.


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i have a few shots i can usually pull off, but i am terrible at the high soft pitch. just don’t got it.


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I usually try to feel like I'm only using the thumb and forefinger of my right hand on the downswing. The club slides right under the ball.
 
Surprised more people aren’t at least average with shots around the green. Or at the very least, comfortable with them. When I started to play, I needed those shots all the time. Almost every hole needed some kind of chip, pitch or sand shot. Sure, I clunked, chili’d and fatted a lot of them. But that’s how I learned that part of the game. As I improved, I didn’t need them as often but I never forgot how to do them. So now if I have one of those shots I’m not afraid of them- chances are I’ve done it before. At least that’s how I approach those situations these days.


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I'm not very versatile at all. I do what I do and it will have to, well... do.
 
I love having to make different shots, because I feel like those are the shots that make me 100% focused on how to best make the outcome happen.

I wish I could transfer how hard I'm thinking about a 120 yard 5 iron that I have to play with my back against a tree truck to how focused I am on a 150 yard 7 iron.
 
Depends on how far out we're talking about for the approach shot but I can hit 'em thin, fat, and occasionally make solid contact. Just kidding. I'd say my approach game is average. Low shots with lots of spin on the hardest.

One of the guys I play with can spin his ball left or right. It's impressive to see. He'll hit it right of the pin and kick it left and vice versa. Sure wish I could match those shots!
 
Basic chips and pitches I'm fine. Distance control is another issue. Flop shots I can pull off when needed. The low, high spin, hit and check shot is the one I need but have no confidence in pulling off. It's a thing of beauty when executed properly.
 
The driving range I go to.... they have short game area where you can practice bunker shots up and onto a green, pitch and chip onto a green; as well as a regular putting green. Granted the putting green kind of sucks. People are on the putting green. People are on the driving range, but the short game area is usually vacant. One of the pros calls that the "blue collar" area. No one likes to practice blue collar golf. Sure there are a lot of strokes gained by hitting more accurate approach shots and that means hitting better drives and hitting better 7 - PW. But that also means hitting a lot of balls per week.

The average bogey golfer gets out to the range to hit a bucket once a week and plays once a week. It wouldn't hurt to hit the chipping and pitching green for an hour on a Saturday or Sunday twice a month.

The most valuable shot I learned how to hit was a 100 yd knockdown with my PW. Hit it as low as you can. Now think about a 45 yd low high spinning punch with your 56 wedge.
 
Some days I feel like I can play any shot around the greens, but more often than not I should just stick to the basics. If only I had more time to play and practice I think I could be much more versatile. Being more of a feel player I lose that touch pretty quickly when I’m not playing regularly.
 
I’m extremely versatile in that I can screw up a vast assortment of shots. The number of shots I can actually pull off is significantly less.


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I can hit low or high from most lies, but beyond that I dont reach too deep into the bag of tricks.
 
How Much Versatility Do You Have?

I only have two basic shots around the green, High & soft and chip and run. I use a variety of wedges to pull those shots off depending on circumstances. I do not have the low one hop and check shot.


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Just enough to get myself into trouble


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Mine is not near as versatile as I wish it was.. Lots of work to be done

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Excuse the pun, but more often than not my versatility is pretty sub-par. Working to reverse that this season. I want that short game magic again, and am willing to put in the work to regain it!

Typically, I will have one kind of shot that works on a given day. Usually it is whatever I recently worked on, but then every other facet of the short game goes missing.
 
It's the strongest part of my game. My home course greens are tiny, so many times when a regular size green you'd be putting I'm chipping. Just today I played in a scramble and lipped out two eagle chips. One was a low hopper, that checked, rolled towards the cup and lipped out about 4" away from the cup. The other was a 10 yard chip over a bunker that flopped up, hit, lipped out and left about 12"

I use a 54 for 90 percent of my shots around the green. I only use the 58 on over bunkers or fast greens where I want it to land soft without to much roll.
 
The house I grew up in - out in the woods of NC - sat on about 7 acres of land. There was a big, grassy spot out front that had two trees about 100 yards apart. I convinced my dad to let me cut a "green" in the middle of it and I would spend hours practicing all sorts of shots around it; largely influenced by the early days of Phil Mickelson and all the initial press of his amazing short game.

As a result, I feel pretty versatile around the greens and, like, knockdown runners and such - purely because i'd practice these so much in my teens. I recently regripped my old Mizuno Nick Faldo 52° wedge that has a super thin sole and effectively zero bounce and put it back in my bag as I was just getting crazy frustrated with my mid-bounce Vokey 52°. Dunno why I didn't bring that guy back sooner because it's like my wand for most shots inside of 30 yards.
 
... When I first started a Pro gave me a tip to just play my 60* for all shots anywhere near the green. Then once I became proficient with the 60* I could move on to other clubs. I practiced my a$$ off and spent many days only hitting the 60* for as many different shots as I could on the practice green. Once I had 100% total confidence I could hit any shot (which took about 5 years) I was ready to move on to other clubs. But I never did. I am playing a 58* bent to 59* but still use it for every shot and unless I am short sided or the green slopes severely away from me, I think I can get up and down from anywhere. I think the most valuable shot with a LW is the low cut that stops immediately. Not high like a flop, but no more than waist high that just clears the fringe then slams on the breaks. I found that works much better in Phoenix than trying to run a chip thru the bermuda rough that is so unpredictable, releasing one chip then grabbing the next.
 
I think I’m pretty basic usually, but there are days where certain shots feel easier to execute.

Rely mostly on my 55 sw to get myself around the greens and will move up and down my stance depending on desired ball flight.


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