I was at the Barclays Open 2007 held in Singapore. Vijay Singh, Michael Campbell, Ernie Els, KJ Choi, Phil Mickelson & Carberra graced the event. Simply by watching the professionals practice their shot making skills was enough to allow one to realise what was lacking in the average players game.
One thing I took away from the event was the short game skills of the professional players. Watching them chip and pitch shed light on where the ball needed to land. Here's what I did that allowed myself to realise what was wrong in my game.
Just before a player chipped a ball, I visualised where the ball was supposed to land. The actual spot where the ball landed was not what I saw in my mind's eye. Most of the time, the ball fell short and trundled to the hole.
For example, if you were using a sand wedge to do a short chip on the ball and place it as near to the flag as possible, would you
a) Loft or Carry the ball and land it next to the flag, play some back spin
b) Chip the ball and land it halfway the distance from you to the flag
c) Chip the ball and land it 1/4 or 2/5 the distance from you to the flag
In my mind's eye, when holding a sand wedge I would choose option b. Interesting thing I noted was that 99.95 of the pro golfers landed the ball much earlier then what I originally thought. They would land the ball 2/5 the distance and allow the ball to take 3 small bounces before trundling to the hole. The shaft would lean forward (to the left) and the leading edge of the clubface perpendicular to the target line. This allowed the clubface to have a descending angle on the ball. By hitting down on the ball, we create a little backspin, which casues the ball to pop up and check up on the green before starting its roll to the hole.
Just imagine imparting backspin on a tennis ball with a tennis racket. We slice down on the ball to impart a slice or back spin, so the concept is the same for golf. Another point to note is to keep the hands close to the body so that the body controls the arms and there is a 1 piece connection between the arms and the chest.
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