Short Game Secrets

The easiest way to improve your golf scores is to sharpen your short game skills.  Most of your shots actually take place within 100 yards of the green.  If you can improve your skills within this golden zone you'll see your scores improve and your enjoyment of the game increase.

One secret of the short game is to love your sand wedge.  This club is useful in more situations than just sand bunkers.  The missing element for most golfers is how they use the sand wedge.  Learning how to open up or close the clubface will allow you to hit many different kinds of shots with just one club.

The standard sand wedge is 56 degrees, but the unique sole design of most wedges allow you to open up or close the clubface to drastically change this angle.  If you rotate the clubface in the clockwise direction (to the right for right handed golfers, left for left handers) you will increase the effective loft of the club.  Rotate the other direction to decrease the loft of the club.  What this allows you to do is hit high soft shots that will stop quickly on the green when using the open face technique.  You can also punch under branches with maximum control by closing the clubface.  This is a great way to extract yourself from troublesome lies.  Go to your courses practice area and try all different clubface angles.  You'll definitely add some shots to your bag without having to carry and extra clubs.

When you are close to the green your wedge or wedges aren't always the best choice to use.  You can learn to chip with your 8, 9, or even 3 iron.  As a general rule when chipping on the green the quicker you get the ball rolling on the ground across the green the better.  The shot will be more predictable if it is rolling like a putt.  Using a lofted club can introduce weird bounces offline.  Get the ball rolling quicker by choosing a club with less loft, like a 7 iron.  The ball will roll a greater distance when using these lower lofted clubs so plan for a good amount of roll after the ball lands on the green.  Take a club with just enough loft to fly the ball over the fringe surrounding the green.  Read the green and make sure you play the proper break when chipping with this technique.  It's almost like hitting a putt.

Chipping and pitching are not the only areas of the short game that needs to be improved. Don't overlook your putting skills. Use these few golf tips to improve your putting as well.

Amateur golfers have a tendency to miss their putts to what is considered the "low side" of the hole. This is for various reasons. Most of the time they don't read enough break in the putt. Not playing enough break causes the ball to break below the hole before it reaches the cup. Of course this type of putt will never go in. Plan to play a little bit more break and you'll hole more putts.

Another thing to improve is the speed of your putts. Again, most amateurs don't strike their putts with enough authority, causing the ball to stop short of the hole and a putt that doesn't reach the hole has a zero percent chance of going in. Hitting the putt with adequate speed will at least ensure that the putt has a chance to go in. Work on trying to roll the putt with enough speed to go at least 1 foot past the hole. If you are still having trouble try to hit it three feet pas the hole. This will ensure that the ball gets to its destination!