If you find yourself on the fringe (unless there is poor conditions in front of you) always putt the ball. Not saying chipping the ball won’t end in a good result but a poor putt will always be better than a poor chip. You will find that putting from the fringe will get you close more regularly than chipping and this will lower your score.
I often see golfers go into a bunker without first assessing the sand condition. Soft deep sand requires more power to get the ball out where as firm shallow sand requires less power. Identifying this will help you plan and execute the the correct type of shot.
To check (and train yourself to) that you are striking the sweet spot of the putter try this drill.
Take two rubber bands and wrap them around your putter head either side of the sweet spot (centre of the club face). Allow a gap just big enough for the ball to make contact with the face without touching the rubber bands.
Make your stroke and if you are not striking the sweet spot the ball will hit one of the rubber bands and you will see this immediately. Keep working on this to train the correct strike for more consistent putting.
To create more power in our shots we must make sure we make a wide arc in our swing. The distance between our chest and our hands at address is the radius of the swing arc and must be maintained throughout the swing.
Try thinking about pushing your hands away from your chest on your takeaway and you will find it easier to maintain your width of arc.
Its really easy to drop a bucket of balls and hit shot after shot without any routine or thought into what you are trying to do. This will cause you to fatigue quickly as well as make things different when on the course.
We have to practice as we play. One shot at a time, full routine, just what we do out on the course. This way you will feel much more comfortable with your routine out on the course resulting in more consistent all round play.
We are not robots. We cannot expect to repeat perfect swing after perfect swing and get perfect result after perfect result. How often have you hit a poor shot out of the blue and continued to play poorly over the next few holes?
We have to get over ourselves. Accepting a poor shot and moving on instantly will give us our best chance of recovering from the poor shot and not letting the score snowball out of control.
If you hit a poor shot try taking three deep breaths and then tell yourself “ITS ONLY A GAME”.
Stewing over the poor shot will lead to more poor shots.
It is impossible to concentrate fully for a full 4 hours of a round of golf therefore it is important to switch on and switch off at the right time.
You need a switch on trigger firstly which could be when you rest your trundler next to your ball or pull your glove on, something that always happens before a shot. This is time to block out everything except the shot at hand.
Secondly you need a switch off trigger which could be club back in the bag, taking glove off which means its time to forget the shot and do something else like talk to your playing partners, admire the trees etc anything but the shot!
You will find by doing this you will be able to concentrate properly at all stages of the round.
If you only do a pre shot routine ‘sometimes’ then you might as well not do it at all. Routine needs to be ALWAYS not sometimes.
Also your routine should incorporate the two P’s. It needs to be PRECISE and PURPOSEFUL.
Have a think about your current routine and cut out part of it that does not need to be there. Then do it EVERY SHOT.
This will help you gain consistency in your game.
If you are struggling to control your speed on long putts it could be your preparation for the shot that is making it hard work for you. We get 1 chance for each putt and as they are varied in lengths we need to be able to adjust instantly.
Our eyes are a very powerful tool and the more time we spend watching our target, our body will adjust to make the shot happen.
Instead if looking down at the club on your practice stroke try turning your head to watch the hole. This will build a picture and then a concept of how much to give the putt so you are rehearsing the putt as best as possible.
Nearly every round you will be able to look back at a shot which in hindsight you would of played differently given the chance again. Typically it is taking on a shot in which the risk outweighs the reward. Trying and getting this shot wrong is usually what leads to the ‘blow out’ hole of triple and quad bogeys.
Bring this game plan into your game, whenever you are in trouble, take your medicine. Accept bogey. It wont destroy your score like the ‘dumb’ decision does. After a few rounds with this mindset you will start to notice a lot lower more consistent scores.
