Every shot you face on the golf course basically offers up 3 options. There’s an aggressive option. There’s a conservative option. And then there’s the cautious option. So for every shot you’ve got to get in the habit of assessing the 3 options and then choosing which option you’re going to play for the shot at hand. And here is an acronym which will help you to way up the 3 options…
A = Aggressive
B = Be Conservative
C = Caution (or Cautious)
An example of an A shot would be if a golfer hits a great drive down a long par 4 and they’re in the middle of the fairway with a great lie. They have 190 yards to go to the pin and that’s the perfect distance for a solid 4 wood. There’s a big bunker in the front of the green but this golfer has a lot of confidence in their 4 wood and they’re confident that they’re going to hit a good shot over the bunker. So that’s a situation where a golfer would choose the A (Aggressive) option.
An example of choosing a B (Be conservative) shot in that same situation may be hitting a 6 iron so the ball ends up in the fairway with a simple pitch over the bunker to the pin. But here’s a clearer example where most golfers should choose a B shot.
Let’s say you’re playing a short par 5, which is playing downwind, and you’ve hit a terrific drive straight down the middle of the fairway. You have a good lie and there’s 220 yards between your ball and the pin. But there is a small lake in front of the green that you need to carry. And to carry this lake you need to hit the shot 200 yards in the air.
You have a 3 wood that could do this but it’s at the very limit of how far you can hit the ball with that club. If you miss-hit the shot slightly it will probably end up in the lake. So a B shot would be to figure out a distance you’d like to be pitching from. You decide you’d like to pitch from 80 yards as that is a distance you’re confident from. So to do that you’d have to hit a shot 140 yards. For you that’s a solid 7 iron.
See, that’s smart thinking golf and it’s those sort of decisions that will help to slash shots from your score.
Now here is an example of a C shot. You’ve sliced your drive deep into some trees on the right of the fairway. You get to your ball and amazingly you can have a full swing. You’re 160 yards from a small green that is surrounded by deep bunkers.
As you’re assessing your shot options you notice a small opening in the trees that would be about the perfect height for a 6 iron shot. Also, that is the perfect distance for your 6 iron but you decide it’s too risky, because if you hit the shot just slightly less than perfect you’ll hit trees and who knows where the ball will end up. So you then try and find a way that you can get the ball to finish just in front of the green….before the bunkers.
To do this however you’d have to hit a low punch shot and make sure the ball travels the correct height. Because if it goes too high the trees will catch it, and if it goes too low the rough will stop it and you’ll still be in the trees.
So even though that’s a B shot option you think it’s still too risky. Now the C option (remember, C stands for caution) is to chip the ball out to the fairway and have a shot of about 140 yards. You’re confident you can get that 3rd shot on the green so that’s the smartest play and one that will greatly reduce your chance of a big number.
Now after reading this I need you to understand that you’ve got to apply this mental fundamental to all your straight forward shots as well. For example, let’s say you’ve hit a great drive on a par 4 hole. Your ball is sitting in the middle of the fairway with a perfect lie…and you’re 150 yards from the pin. But the pin is hard to the left side of the green. In fact, just 10 feet to the left of the pin is a big bank that will cause any ball left of the pin to run down it leaving a very difficult shot back.
Now in that case an A shot would be to fire straight at the pin. But you would only ever do that if your confidence was sky high and you’ve been stiffing your iron shots all day. Even then I’d say it’s a very risky shot.
Then you have a B shot which is to aim 15 feet right of the hole. And lastly a C shot would be to aim 30 feet to the right of the hole so it takes the bank completely out of play.
So when you’re assessing your shots you’ve got to look at where the ball is going to land as well and what could potentially happen to it.
This is true for every shot….even putting! And here’s an example to prove it.
Let’s say you’ve got a 5 foot putt with a slight right to left break. Now the A option there would be to ignore any break and aim straight for the back of the hole. To do this naturally you’re going to have to hit the ball quite hard and you do run the risk of running the ball way past if you miss, and possibly missing the next putt. But if you’re putting really well and your confidence is sky high then that may be a good option to take.
The next option…the B option is to aim your ball to finish about 1 foot behind the hole if it misses the hole. At that pace you’ll have to allow for the break but you have much more margin for error than the A option.
Finally a C option would be to allow for a lot of break and for the ball to just die in the hole. That way there’s no possible chance of a 3 putt but then the chances of the ball going in are much less than the B option.
Trust me, every shot you face in golf has these three options. The only exception is a simple tap in putt. So that’s the A, B, C rating that you should use before each shot you play. Now you know this you’ve got to put it into use. To help you do this here’s how to put this into action….
Before you play each shot I want you to see in your mind three types of shots. An A shot (Aggressive), a B shot (Be Conservative) and a C shot (Caution). For example, if your first hole is a par 5 and if you hit a perfect shot with a driver you’d have a good chance of getting to the green in two. That would be an A shot. Then if you hit a 3 wood off the tee you’d have more chance of hitting the fairway but you wouldn’t have a chance of hitting the green in two so that would be a B shot. Finally, you could hit a 5 iron off the tee which would almost guarantee a straight shot but you’d have a longish third shot. Naturally that would be a C shot.
So I want you to do this scenario of an A, B or C shot for every shot you face.
Important Note: An easy way to do this is simply to ask this question “what would be an A shot in this situation?”. Then ask that same question for a B shot and a C shot.
Once you’ve looked at the A, B, C options for each shot I then want you write down on a piece of paper the shot you’ve decided to use for each shot. Do this writing down before each shot and then commit to the shot you’ve chosen.
Tags: course management
When it comes to putting speed there are two general philosophies golfers subscribe to. And they are:
1. Charge the putt, or
2. Die the putt
Now charging the putt means that a golfer takes an aggressive attitude to the putt. They would rather be four feet past the hole than a couple of inches short.
Conversely, a golfer that would rather die a putt would rather be a fraction short than be continually faced with 4-5 feet putts coming back.
But there is no right or wrongs with this.
Dave Pelz has his theory that the best speed each putt should be hit is 17 inches past the hole. But that is only a general rule and you have to decide on which speed philosophy you are going to choose.
Now to help you do this I think you should look at your personal playing characteristics. For example, do you like attacking the golf course? Do you like hitting risky shots? Do you like to play aggressive shots?
If you do then you’re probably more suited to being a charge putter. Examples of charge putters that you would know are:
- Greg Norman
- Tom Watson
- Arnold Palmer
If on the other hand you choose less aggressive ways to play holes. You pick safer options on shots like hitting fairway woods and irons off the tees, playing for the middle of the greens, laying up on par 5’s etc. then you’re probably more suited to the die style of putting.
Examples of golfers that are die putters are:
- Jack Nicklaus
- Ben Crenshaw
- Tom Kite
Now here are some pro’s and con’s to the styles of putting…
Die Putting – Pro’s
- If the ball is moving slower as it hits the hole it has more chance of going in the hole.
- If your ball misses the hole it will most likely be closer to the hole leaving you with an easier next putt.
Die Putting – Con’s
- If you’re putting on slow and bumpy greens it will be harder for the ball to stay on line and it will not stay on the line you wanted it to.
- It can be frustrating if you often leave putts short of the hole.
Charge Putting – Pro’s
- Your putts will have a chance of going in as you will rarely be short of the hole.
- If your ball misses the hole you will have a chance to see the break of your next putt.
- On short putts you can take the break out of the putt because you’re hitting the ball harder.
Charge Putting – Con’s
- You have to have steady nerves because you’re going to be faced with a lot of 4-5 footers coming back.
- You will probably have more 3 putts than a die putter.
So let’s sum this up.
If when you’re putting you worry about having 3-4 footers coming back then charge putting is probably not for you. But if you hate leaving putts short of the hole then die putting is probably not going to suit you.
So those are two considerations ,but you’ve also got to look at your personality. If you are naturally assertive, confident and sometimes aggressive on the golf course then you’re more likely to do better with charge putting.
But if you’re a more conservative person and would rather strategize your way around a course than attack it, then die putting would probably be better for you.
The bottom line however is that you should pick one style and stick to it for 5 games and chart your putting progress. Then you should change to the other style for the next 5 games and then compare your results. Because there is no right or wrong. Simply choose a style and stick to it.
This doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t change depending on the greens or situations. For example, if you decide you’re going to be a die putter and you’re playing match play and you’re in a situation where you must hole a putt then you must putt more aggressively to make sure the ball get’s to the hole.
Then if on the other hand you decide you’re going to be a charge putter and you’re faced with a long slopping putt on a very fast green you would be stupid to try and charge that putt. You’ve got to die that type of putt to get it close.
So by all means, experiment on the practice putting green with both types of putting speed styles and then out on the golf course to find what works best for you. But remember to be flexible and putt according to the conditions.
In this lesson I want to give you some drills you can do when practicing to get the most improvement out on the golf course. So to start this off, let’s look at….
Chipping
Now the big part of the short game improvement program is to learn to land the ball in the place you want the ball to land. And for chipping I want you to find one area to chip from and then with one club practice chipping until you can consistently land the ball where you want. Once you can do that then change clubs every shot and try to land the ball on the same spot. Use clubs between your 5-iron and lob wedge when doing this.
This is a great exercise to do because it will teach you quickly how far each club will roll the ball. Once you’ve done this then experiment with different chip shots and try different clubs until you find the best clubs for you generally to use on chip shots. For some people that will be high lofted clubs, for others they’ll prefer lower lofted clubs. You’ve got to find what works best for you.
Another great drill you can use to practice your chipping is to make a circle about 3 feet in diameter with golf tees around a hole. Then practice chipping from different spots trying to get each ball to stop within 3 feet of the hole.
Finally, if you’re lucky enough to have a practice chipping green with multiple holes then you should pick one spot to chip from. Then for each shot, chip to a different target. Naturally when you do this you will probably have to change clubs. For example, if you’ve got a 50 foot chip and a lot of green between you and the pin then you’ll do a lot better to choose a lower lofted club like a 5 or 6 iron. Then if you’ve got a pin that is very close to you and not much green then you’ll have to choose a more lofted club. Remember, the goal is to land the ball about 3 feet on the green for each chip shot.
This is a great drill to practice before you play a game as it will quickly give you a feel for the greens that you’ll be faced with out on the golf course (as long as they’re similar to the practice green).
OK, let’s look at some practice drills for…
Pitching
Often when you’re faced with a pitch shot your ball will not be sitting perfectly. So to become a great short game player you have to practice shots from poor lies. So do this, but when you do don’t just give yourself a bad lie for one shot and then go back to giving yourself good lies. Hit at least 10 shots from a particular bad lie so you can learn how best to get the ball out of that spot and close to the hole.
Now with pitching you have to employ a lot of imagination and be able to visualize what’s going to happen with the golf ball very clearly. And a great way of improving this skill is to get one club, e.g. a 7-iron, and place balls around a golf green and hit shots with your 7-iron trying to get each ball as close as possible to the hole. Naturally when you do this you’ll have to make adjustments from your normal setup. For example, if you’re behind a bunker and you’re using a 7-iron you’ll have to open the club up very wide, have a very wide stance and make a long, big swing.
But that’s OK. Doing things like this will help you to have some fun and learn what you can do with a golf club, and improve your visualization and imagination skills. That can only improve your short game.
All right, let’s now turn our attention to…
Distance Wedge Swings
This distance wedge drill involves a fellow golfer. To do this drill simply find an area where you can practice the distance wedge shots and practice hitting shots back and forth to each other. So start at say 50 yards away from each other and with one ball try and hit the ball to your partner so it bounces once in front of them and then they can catch it.
Then they hit the ball back to you trying to get it to bounce once in front of you.
This game is great as it puts a bit of pressure on, which can only help on the golf course. Also, it makes you focus a lot on where you want your ball to fly. And if you don’t fly it were you want then you might get a bit of flak from the person having to chase after the ball all the time.
If you don’t have a person to do that drill you can simply put targets out at different distances and then hit distance wedge shots to each target. Start with your shortest target and then move up to the furthest target. Once you’ve done that then hit each shot to a random target. By doing this it will get you more into a course mentality where each golf shot is different.
OK, now let’s finally look at…
Bunker Shots
To do this first bunker drill you simply have to place the ball on a tee and push the tee down into the sand. Once this is in place then you simply have to swing and try to cut the tee in half with the leading edge of your golf club. If you have trouble getting your club through the sand then you should definitely try this drill, as it helps greatly to accelerate through the sand.
Another great drill to improve your bunker shot technique is to place a ball in the middle of your foot print. Then when you swing simply focus on removing the imprint completely from the sand. This is a great drill if you’re afraid of hitting the sand. Finally, when you’re practicing bunker shots make sure you don’t just practice perfect lies. Give yourself bad lies and learn to get the ball close to the pin from anywhere.
So that’s some ways you can practice the short game. But finally, probably the best way to improve your short game is to practice with someone that is better than you. If you can find someone like that then play games with them trying to beat them in getting the ball closest to the hole.
Tags: chipping, drills, pitching, Short Game