Short Game - Rule of 12

deuce said:

I can wow people with a flop shot when it doesn't count ... but make it actually mean something and I manage to do a great impersonation of a prison fight ... SHANK!

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You have to try this in a tournament: you and your opponent both have shots over the same bunker. You go first because you're a little bit away. It's a blind shot onto a nasty green. Pull your lob wedge and trash talk your opponent (because she's been a b*tch the entire round), then land your shot and have it stop a foot from the hole, tap it in and light a cigarette.

Widen your stance to lower you shoulders. Keep the weight on the left side with that blade open and swing through. Speed is the key with this shot. The more speed you have the softer is comes out.

deuce said:

I can wow people with a flop shot when it doesn't count ... but make it actually mean something and I manage to do a great impersonation of a prison fight ... SHANK!

Click to expand...

I did it for a bit, but honestly stopped due to the amount of thinking and math needed for it. I found I was just spending too much time trying to figure out which club to use, I prefer a simpler system honestly.

I'm a math guy. So, I like what he's teaching. I don't think he explained in the best manner, though.

This guy explains it much better, imo.....http://www.golf.com/video/get-up-and-down-every-time-12-rule

1. What is yardage from ball to 3’ onto the green.
2. What is yardage from above spot to the pin.
3. Divide #2/#1
4. Subtract that from 12
5. That is the iron to use

The general rule that most golfers should probably adhere to, at least for chipping, is to get the ball on the ground as soon as possible. That is why a lot of tips talk about putting from off the green. But, if the area around the green, or the fringe is inconsistent, or the grass is too long to putt from, this method may work.

I used to be a feel player with my chipping. I would look at the hole and just mentally figure out what to use and where to land it. I have since incorporated something similar to the Rule of 12, where I almost always try to land it on the mow line that gets created when the greens mower makes the run around the edge of the green, which is 3-4' on. Any deviation from that is mostly due to the lie and the undulations on/around the green.

Wait, it's 1 part carry and 6 parts roll, add the square root of 14 and move the decimal 3 places and divide by 1.463 ?

Smart boy there, got a mind like a steel trap – full of mice

I have to admit that, even as old as I am, I'd never heard of the Rule of !2 (or 11 for that matter). If my short game (chipping) ever goes into the toilet, I may try it. For now, I'm happy.

Enjoyed that! Gonna try it sometime. I've actually recently put the Smart Sole C wedge back in the bag for bump and runs around the green and I'm starting to get a good feel for it. I'm very good with a 60 or 64 wedge 70 yards and in, but I find that I don't get it close enough to the hole for a 1 putt as much as I'd like to.

I actually like the video. A lot. I have no idea how far any of my clubs "roll out" when chipping...it's always a guessing game--or a "see it, hit it" plan of attack.

I'm also a math guy, so calculating one part carry to the spot I want to land it, and two parts roll to the pin will come very easy to me.

I have NO CLUE if this method will work, but I'm willing to give it a try.

I have seen this theory before and think its great for someone looking for a system to learn. One aspect that doesn't seem practical is pacing off the distance of each chip to the hole. I play in 4 balls almost always someone is taking a shot Until we've all holed out. If I'm walking torwards the hole I'm likely distracting another golfer.

I do used everything down to a 7 iron for chipping. What I have found with the 7 iron is that I don't have to hit my landing target precisely and as long as I land it on the putting surface it will roll out toward the cup. I guess that's where the "feel" aspect comes in to play. I don't play fast greens very often but the 7 iron I use at my home course can be an 8 iron or even a 9 iron if the greens are faster and rolling out more at a different course.

Now I still use my 54 degree for anything from a shaggy lie to a required carry. So I guess I'm a two system guy with "feel" being at the root of both.

Doesn't require a lot of math...just practice using different clubs for different length of shots and how much fringe needs to be carried. I didn't watch the whole video and not interested in learning the rule of 12 but I know my 8i will roll out more than my 9i, same for 9i compared to pw.

as been mentioned its really not too complex once its (like anything else) understood. You basically take the distance from you to your desired landing spot and then determine how many more of those ("that distance") it is from there to the hole.
If your landing spot is 5yards away and the pin is about three more of those 5yard gaps then you use (12 -3) the = 9iron.

The biggest issue with this is when not on relatively nice flat conditions and good lie. But even that is still imo not such a dilemma after all. The very same way we now may adjust for undulations (via club up or down), we would also have to adjust accordingly so it would still work. Of course none of it means anything unless we get good at hitting our spots and also hit the ball on target. And how many times do we tend to hit without walking the green and only after we hit and walk closer to the pin area do we then realize it was a much more severe up/down hill roll than we thought but its too late. Sometimes we just get lazy and sometimes we also do it because may we get struck by lightening if we walk too far to look and slow down at all lol

I may have to give this a try or at least practice at the practice area. There are days when the "chipping feel" is there but then plenty when the feel (the force lol) leaves and I make the wrong choices of club and distance. Even when I have a decent "feel" going on I can still chose the wrong club on longer ones. Something like this I imagine would help a lot when the feel just isn't there especially on those longer shots. Of course you still need a good feel to hit the mark but that's a much closer look vs trying to judge the whole thing. My logic or guess being - Maybe The formula will sort of do the feel for me. Have just enough feel to come close to the spot and the formula does the rest of it. Of course it takes some guestimating to determine the gap but imo we look at distance more than enough to be able to tell "5 of these gaps " is about the pin distance. IDK but this seems worth a try. Now if my back just gets better so I can friggin play again that would be really nice

I actually was behind a slow guy yesterday so experimented with this. First one was a 6 iron per the math, put it within 3' and got up and down. Was happy. Couple more similar outcomes. Later did not actually walk it, visually estimated, and was about 5' out. Lipped out the putt.

It takes a bit of time up front but with repetition I can see where it can be awesome when I get to the point I am able to visualize it in my head and execute it quickly.

I think the point to all this is that people need to expand their range of clubs around the greens. If you have more than one option for getting the close, you would want to use the easiest option.

A 60* wedge is not the option 4' short of the pin with nothing obstructing you or nothing to carry. A 56* isnt the play on a 40yd bunker shot. There are other clubs that will make these shots easier and help in scoring, But you have to know what other clubs can do in your hands.

I just use the club I think will get it rolling on the green as quickly as possible. Sometimes I will land it before the green on purpose. I don't use this method per se, but I will us anything from 7 iron to PW to get it done.

I would rather use one swing on several clubs than have to learn multiple swings with one club.

This system works. I learned this system from two different instructors and from Dave Pelz clinic.
Problem is that, with carts, you have to either a) be really good at judging distances from the cart path, or b) carry all your clubs with you to the green. Walking - no issue at all.
I use this system whenever I can, sometimes it is not practical, but I still try to use it.
Green speed affects the results, tho.

Spivey said:

This system works. I learned this system from two different instructors and from Dave Pelz clinic.
Problem is that, with carts, you have to either a) be really good at judging distances from the cart path, or b) carry all your clubs with you to the green. Walking - no issue at all.
I use this system whenever I can, sometimes it is not practical, but I still try to use it.
Green speed affects the results, tho.

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Having an idea what several clubs can do and range finders will help with this. Carrying a club longer or shorter based on what is needed will help with the adjustments if you don't have the right club with you.

I worked on this concept at lunch today with pretty good results. At a minimum, it gives a good baseline on determining proper club selection. Then, I would sometimes go +/- a club depending on the situation, uphill/downhill lie or if there was enough slope on the green towards/away to warrant a more/less lofted option.

The big thing for me was that it created a more positive mental feeling. That, along with executing the same stance/setup/takeaway/follow-thru for each shot, with minimal moving parts, made it easier to hit a spot 3-6 paces away instead of trying to hit a spot 10-15 paces away.

Someone riding in a cart should be able to look at where their ball is and estimate how many paces they are off the green and also estimate how far the ball if from the hole. And taking 2-3 clubs along with their putter is just normal "pace of play"/"ready golf" common sense.

The green I was practicing on was recently punched/sanded. I am looking forward to incorporating this into my match on Saturday.