pitching and chipping troubles

[golfernut78]

any tips to avoid fat and thin shots

alright, my short game has fallen to pieces. it was a strong point of my game, but has fallen off. i did have some luck switching back to my vokey's from my nike forged, but i believe there is bigger problem with me and not the equipment (although i am considering swithcing out the s400 shafts in the nikes with s200 in the vokeys).

so are there any tips or drills to help. my recent weakness has been getting the ball up (not a flop as much as just getting up) and up hill lies. anything to help would be appreciated. this weekend alone, i counted 18 strokes that could have been avoided by better pitching and chipping over the 36 holes i played this weekend. also, i know this would help me setup shorter and easier putts (i'm needing all the help i can get with putting but thats another story all together).

[Sam-Tee-Time]

These should help out......

 

- Left Hand Only - Have you ever seen John Daly walk up to the practice range? He always starts with hitting a LOT of chips and pitches (even full swings, sometimes) holding the club with his LEFT HAND ONLY. This is a superb drill that teaches coordination, timing, improves your swingplane on the downswing, and most importantly - leading the clubhead with your left hand at impact.

 

- ChipStick - Hit chips and pitches with an old shaft, a long wooden dowel, or some longish "stick" protruding away from the grip end of the club. This "extension" should NOT impact your body on the way through impact. I use an old iron shaft, adjusting my grip to hold both my club and the shaft at the same time. The picture shows what I mean:

 

 

[tanj]

Accelerate on your chips and pitches. My dad tries for too much control and does not accelerate and hits fat chips and pitches.

[ce_me_golf]

Notice in the picture that past impact how he's kept his left straight. I played around yesterday and had short game problems and practiced this for about an hour and a half. The three things I kept in mind

 

Kept the left wrist straight through impact.

 

Kept my weight in my left foot.

 

Swing more using my shoulders as opposed to my other parts of my body. Think like it's a longer version of your putting motion. This is especially true when chipping.

 

 

Acclerate through impact with your club head facing the hole.

 

And yes you have to practice.

[TourPro21]

These should help out......

 

- Left Hand Only - Have you ever seen John Daly walk up to the practice range? He always starts with hitting a LOT of chips and pitches (even full swings, sometimes) holding the club with his LEFT HAND ONLY. This is a superb drill that teaches coordination, timing, improves your swingplane on the downswing, and most importantly - leading the clubhead with your left hand at impact.

 

- ChipStick - Hit chips and pitches with an old shaft, a long wooden dowel, or some longish "stick" protruding away from the grip end of the club. This "extension" should NOT impact your body on the way through impact. I use an old iron shaft, adjusting my grip to hold both my club and the shaft at the same time. The picture shows what I mean:

 

 

 

this is the best short-game practice aid you can do! i do the same thing and IT MAKES SURE you don't break your wrists, which i bet you do way to often... you'll hit crisp chips that are consistently in the sweet spot!

[lrgdawg]

A couple key thoughts I always use: 1) keep more weight on your forward foot (foot closest to the hole); 2) accelerate the clubhead through the ball; 3) hit the ball with a firm left wrist (don't let the right hand pass the left); 4) always hit the ball first with a decending blow; 5) don't limit yourself to chip/pitch with a "favorite" club, but rather use the club that will produce the optimum results for the situation you are facing. And lastly, practice!! Good luck.

 

:)

[golfernut78]

thanks for the advice guys. i think a big problem was i was definetly getting to "handsy" especially when hitting over a bunker or up onto a elevated green (not a flop shot, just a shot i need to get up). i also think i was having flaws in either decelerating at impact or accelerating too too much.

 

i think the things i am going to focus on right now is keeping the club head behind my wrists and posture (really need to focus on this for my whole game right now). now i just need to find a good pitching green to work on this at now.

[tarik]

My key swing thoughts are to keep my wrists ahead of the clubhead and to make sure that the clubhead stays outside the swing path. When it goes inside it forces the lower body to compensate (when it should be quite) and leads to fat and thinned shots.

[golfernut78]

thanks for the responses. i've been working on taking a smaller back swing and accelarating through the ball. as well as working on the wrists. spent 2 hours on the pitching green over the weekend. i've also made the switch from nike forged wedges back to vokey oil cans. picked up a 52* and 58* and i was imeadately noticing a difference. i don't know why, but the short shots come easier with the vokeys.

 

actually played this past weekend and only had two holes with chipping/pitching problems and 3 holes with some absolutely great performances. stuck the ball within 4 inches of the hole from 35 yards out with a 1/3 swing with the 52* and knocked in a 30 yarder chip (was on the front edge of the green and pin was in the back). ball broke 5 times and i thought the ball went past the hole and then suddenly disappeared.

[cornbred19]

for me, it's alignment when i have problems...my trend is to open the stance too much while keeping my shoulders more closed...which leads to shanking every time... (cool)