Tour players I work with score by playing the right shot at the right time. Use their strategies to transform your game.
1. Aim safe, curve it in
Tour pros seem to always miss in the right spots, but how? Most of the time they aim away from trouble and curve their shots towards the risky spots, being careful not to over-curve them. If the pin is tucked on the left side [above], pros know they don’t want to miss left, on the short side, so they aim at the middle of the green and work the ball towards the hole. Amateurs often go directly at the pin, leading to short-sided misses. Make your target bigger by aiming at the safe side of the green. If you curve your shot towards the hole – great shot! If not, you’re still on the green.
2. Bad greenside lie? Lean towards the target
The first question pros ask themselves when they get to their ball is, What’s the lie? Analysing how the ball is sitting and adjusting your technique to accommodate the lie is crucial. Average players rarely do this. Take this nasty lie in greenside rough [above]. Pros know that if they used a standard chipping setup and swing here, the club would get snagged in the grass coming into impact. When the ball is sitting down like this, take your highest-lofted wedge and open the clubface. The big key, though, is to get nearly all of your weight on your lead leg, leaning your whole body towards the target. Notice how it looks like I’m “sitting” into my left leg. This creates a very steep swing, where the clubhead drops onto the ball, not behind it. Another mistake with this shot is not swinging hard enough to get to the green. Hit this shot twice as hard as you think you should. The resistance of the rough will deaden the blow. Play it like a bunker shot: open the face, lean left and swing hard.
3. Hinge it for height
The best wedge players typically flight the ball low by limiting the amount of wrist hinge in the backswing [above left], but that doesn’t work every time. If the hole is cut in the front of the green, say, over a bunker, pros will generate more height to have the ball land softly. Average golfers tend to leave these shots short because they know their typical lower trajectory has no chance of stopping near the hole. By hitting wedges higher to front pins, pros create more margin for error. They do this by moving the ball slightly up in their stance, just forward of centre. But the real key is to hinge the wrists more in the backswing [above right]. More hinge sets up a fuller release of the club through the ball – and more loft on the clubface at impact. Be sure you still make a full turn going back by rotating your ribcage. This is not an arms-only swing. Then, from that extra wrist set, feel the club unhinge coming down and then rehinge on the other side to create more loft.
4. Go steeper in rough
What makes rough so difficult is the unpredictability of how the ball will come out- – sometimes dead, other times hot. Both are caused by grass getting trapped between the clubface and the ball. Pros manage this by making setup and swing adjustments to steepen their angle of attack into impact, so less grass comes between the face and ball. Many average players make no changes and wonder why the rough grabs the clubhead and kills the shot. To get the club to travel more steeply into the ball, stand a few inches closer, grip down and put 70 percent of your weight on your lead leg [above left]. From this setup, the club will tend to swing slightly to the outside going back [above right], which sets up a steeper downswing. Feel like the clubhead drops straight down on the ball. The last thing you want from the rough is a sweeping motion through impact. Also, because the ball tends to spin less from the rough, pros often take less club to play for rollout. If you’re 150 yards from the hole, you might need to carry the ball only 130 to get it pin-high. Club down accordingly.
5. Let your body turn through on chip shots
When you’re in the fairway, just short of the green, it’s tempting to opt for a bump-and-run or even a putt. That’s often the right play, but pros know it doesn’t work in every situation. If the pin is cut just onto the green or the grass is wet, they carry the ball onto the putting surface for consistent results. You can hit this higher pitch, too. First, open the clubface and keep it open throughout the swing. (Play every greenside shot, aside from a bump-and-run, with an open clubface.) Take the club back slightly to the outside, then think, body, body, body. Look at how I’ve rotated through so that you can see the back of my pants and shirt [above]. Good players keep turning and nip the ball. Amateurs duff it because they use only their hands and arms. Turn through until your belt buckle and shirt buttons face the target. You’ll catch the ball solidly and stop it with backspin.
Photographs by J.D. Cuban
