When faced with a putt of any importance it is vital that you keep to a solid pre-shot routine. This helps to relieve any anxiety and focus in on the job in hand. A solid pre-shot routine should not be too time consuming, as long as you are taking on board the vital components needed to execute the shot.
First Plan the Putt
This involves looking at the break of the putt from both behind the ball and behind the hole. (look at the putt from the side’s whilst walking to and from).
Build a feel
With the information gathered in the planning stage you must now build a feel for the stroke needed. This should be done in the address position but some golfers like to do this behind the ball whilst looking down the line of the putt.
Execution
The actual shot. This should take place immediately after the player has built his/her feel for the putt. Any delay in the execution can often result in the build up of anxiety and negative thoughts creep in and the player ends up second guessing his/her earlier work.
Keep focused and stay positive on the putting green. Enjoy the challenge of putting.
Take a look at this great putting lesson from Denis Pugh.
The biggest conceptual mistake amateur golfers make is they believe that the putting stroke is a straight line (wrong!). The putting stroke whatever shape or size you may be should be a natural arc. Do not try to “hood” the putter face square during this arc stroke. Instead let the natural progression of the arc open the clubface on its way back, square up at the ball and rotate closed on the follow through The motion of the backstroke and follow through arc slightly to the inside of the target line with the ball resting at the apex of this arc.
Watch Golf Digest instructor Dave Maga demonstrate in this video.
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When playing shorter chip & pitch shots many club golfers wrongly try to adopt a special technique. These types of shots are simply shorter versions of the full swing, keeping all of the same concepts and principles. Some common faults are as follows:
Balance – Keep a steady centre. Rotation of the hips and shoulders is still required but without any lateral movement (or Sway) from side to side. Poor balance means you will find it hard to connect properly with the bottom of the golf ball.
Levers – the 3 levers are your turn, your arms and lastly your wrist hinge. These 3 levers need to work together as a unit. Too much of one can lead to mistakes. The common mistake in chipping is using too much wrist action (trying to scoop the ball into the air). Instead maintain a constant wrist position through impact (just like hitting a full shot) and the loft of the club will give you the desired height.
Angle of attack – This relates to the angle which the club descends onto the back of the ball. If this angle is too steep (or V shaped) then the likely outcome will be a “fat” shot. Like wise if the angle is too shallow or flat it will result in a thin shot or the dreaded “shank”. Try to maintain a consistent “U” shape swing that incorporates all of the 3 levers. This should provide you with a solid technique in order to build your feel for different types of shots.
Watch Dennis Pugh demonstrate some of these concepts.
The most important factor here is we must take the ball first before the sand. Again the correct setup will encourage this to happen. Firstly move the ball position slightly further back in the stance. Remember to play this shot like a normal fairway shot and don’t try to “scoop” the ball out of the bunker or else you will stand up during your swing, lose all your power and take too much sand.. Lastly keep a smooth rhythm during the swing. This way you will be best placed to maintain all your angles and execute the perfect fairway bunker shot.
First it is a good idea to understand just how your bunker club works using the leading edge and the bounce. In most bunker shots we must use the bounce of the club to its full effect, creating a “splashing” effect when playing the shot. To encourage this hold the clubface open when taking your grip so it gives the effect of adding more loft to the club and pointing the face slightly to the right (for right handers). We must also compensate in our stance by aligning ourselves open (slightly to the left).
Now simply imagine you are hitting a pitch shot “fat” or heavy and remember to commit to the shot and complete your follow through.
Watch this clip from Dennis Pugh for a better understanding.
Recovery from a plugged ball in a bunker or a “fried egg” to use its slang term requires a slightly different setup from a standard bunker recovery shot. Firstly the setup should be square to the target as opposed to open and we should also adopt a square clubface just as if we were playing a normal pitch shot from grass. The trick here is to hit hard down through the sand roughly 1 inch behind the ball. To encourage a proper execution ie. A steeper angle of attack into the ball we must start with the majority of our weight on the front foot.
Remember a shot like this will come out much lower with more run out so be sure to allow for this. Watch this classic lesson from Seve to get a better understanding.
Many amateur golfers struggle with a slice, often because they have the wrong concept of the cause of such an erratic shot.
First, start by checking your grip. A grip which is too neutral or weak can often affect the forearms doing their job through impact. The forearms should gradually rotate through this position in order to correctly square the clubface onto the ball. Bad forearm rotation often results in an open clubface and either a block or slice shot.
Check out PGA Master Professional Denis Pugh who explains this in this tutorial.
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Plan, Build, Execute - Mental Preparation
Execution
