chipping pitching #2

practicing these last few days have been interesting and I am learning about these short shots. I have realized I have less understanding when I miss than I do with long shots. part of this is my awareness which is hampered by being up in my head thinking rather than present in my body as I play the shot.yesterday I believe I was standing too close to the ball to allow the club to swing. all great pitchers seem to swing the club and do not appear to have a "hit" at the bottom of the stroke where the club contacts the ball. standing to close to the ball does not allow the club to swing inside the line on the back swing ( think jim furyk's motion )

I also can feel my body sway slightly on the way back, my head turning under which moves the bottom of my swing arc slightly behind the ball making it necessary to adjust on the front swing.

lastly, jay haas helped in a phone conversation where he helped me see that I am a really good bunker player where I use a weaker grip and open the club more on the backswing....this allows me to accelerate and because the club is so open even with acceleration which creates spin, the ball will not fly too far. this same approach is helpful on short shots where I have had too much backswing and too much " power" built up so I can not accelerate through. a weaker right hand grip also makes my hands less active which increases consistency. opening the clubface at address also takes advantage of the bounce on the wedge.

the long putter

in case you haven't noticed a man using a long putter is leading the champions tour money list by almost double the dollars.  and 5 of the top 20 in the British Senior Open used the long putter. but at the local golf shop where I went today, well stocked with merchandise there were no long putters for sale, in my local group which includes a few dozen golfer no one uses a long putter, and I still have yet to see a "how to" article in one of the golf magazines about using a long putter.

 A childhood friend who has played lots of Senior Golf told me two years ago when I was just getting started, " I have one piece of advice for you as you enter Senior Golf....if your putter length doesn't begin with a 4 you have no chance."

I am 56 and have been using a long putter for 14 months. I had little choice in going that way, and have found some success of late using a 48 inch putter. I have no qualms about the way it looks sticking so far out of my bag or pulling it out on the first hole with a group of strangers. because it has enabled me to putt without as much fear and allowed me to get more putts to the hole...... something I was unable to do with my short putter.

chipping & pitching

chipping and pitching.....I have made the commitment to myself to develop a routine and learn to play these shots around the green with more confidence and skill by next memorial day. there's an event called the Jess Sweetser at the Biltmore Forest Club in Asheville where you really need these shots to be able to play and compete. I thought it would be helpful to review my journey and include some of the journal entries I have recorded over the years. 

the fundamentals for playing this shot are fairly simple and if you watch someone who plays these shots well it looks so easy...but if you have flaws in your chipping stroke which makes it hard to contact the ball solidly with a sameness of trajectory then these simple shots become a problem

if your fundamentals are good then all you are doing is feeling the shot in terms of how far the ball will fly and how far it will run out determined by the trajectory.....but if you are worried about contact then you are thinking how to move and swing and most of your touch and feel goes out the window.

there are also two fundamental aspects of these shorts shots which are counterintuitive

1. the club must be descending or swinging down when it contacts the ball for the ball to fly up and reach it's proper height

2. this downward swing can not include a "hitting" motion with your hands. well it can but as you lose the feel and touch in your hands this can be problematic