Tips On: Short Golf Game Faults And How To Fix It

Golf Monthly

In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by tour coach Liam James to offer some simple guidance on how to escape bunkers and chip it closer!

Transcript

00:00One of the fastest ways to improve your game this year might well be to concentrate on

00:10the short game.

00:11Now, we've teamed up with PING and we're here at the London Club to offer you some really

00:14helpful pointers about how to improve, starting, Liam, with bunker play.

00:19Now, I guess the issue that a lot of people will have is that they either are in danger

00:24of filling the ball into the face or fatting it and leaving it in the bunker, so how do

00:27you get more consistent with the amount of sand you take?

00:29Yes, so the most inconsistent thing that you see in the bunker really is obviously

00:33where the club is striking the ground, so as you've just mentioned there, some players

00:37trying to help the golf ball out of the bunker, hitting the sand in the wrong place and then

00:41obviously that fearful thin that goes through the back of the green, but we've got a simple

00:45drill for you here basically that just enables you to obviously make sure that when you're

00:50practising back home and you're practising in the bunker, you are entering the sand in

00:54the right place every time, so it's just a simple line here in the sand and there's a

00:58couple of basic things that we're going to do in your set up just to enable you to ensure

01:02that we're going to hit that ground in the right place.

01:05Ok, so tell us about that set up then, what do you need to do to make sure that you're

01:09in the right place before you hit?

01:10So again, just a little common thing that we start to see quite a bit of is that when

01:15a player's set up here, obviously the first thing that we generally see is the golf ball

01:19gets a little bit too far back in their stance, so this line that I've got here on the ground,

01:24I'm just going to make sure that that's just inside my left heel in the set up and then

01:28obviously when I've got now into my address position, I'm just going to place a little

01:31bit more of my weight onto my left side, so I've got about 70-80% of my weight on this

01:36left side now and as I'm just having a few practice swings, all I'm going to ensure is

01:41that I'm just going to strike that line in the same place every single time.

01:46I guess the temptation, Liam, for people when they're hitting a bunker shot, but any sort

01:52of chip shot, is to kind of lean back on it a bit and feel like you're helping the ball

01:55up in the air, it can feel like the most natural thing to do, but actually that can

01:59hurt you, right?

02:00Absolutely, and that's where you've just got to trust the fact that you've got plenty of

02:03loft in your hands in the first place, I mean we've got 56 degrees of loft here, so there's

02:07no need for me to try and add any more loft at any given point, but there's just a little

02:10bit of a trust thing in there to make sure that you're set up in the right place first

02:14of all, but 80% of this really is your set up, if we get that right, the rest of it is

02:19a lot more straightforward.

02:20Okay Liam, so talk us through the drill.

02:22Okay, so basic drill, obviously I've drawn the line in the sand here, so all that we're

02:26going to do really when we set ourselves up in the practice now, two or three practice

02:29swings before we go ahead and hit the ball, and I'm just going to make sure that this

02:33golf ball is just positioned inside of my left foot here, and now I'm going to place

02:38around 70% of my weight onto that front side as I mentioned, and I'm just going to have

02:42a few practice swings making sure that I'm hitting the sand in the right place.

02:48The big thing to watch out for when you're doing this is obviously making sure we're

02:51not seeing the club enter the sand too far behind that line, because that will refer

02:56to what we spoke about.

02:57So, shall I give it a go?

02:58Give it a go, yeah, let's see.

03:01Okay, so plenty of loft on the golf club in address there, ball's just inside my left

03:05foot, I've got a little bit of weight on that left side.

03:08Perfect.

03:09And then off we go.

03:11Lovely, and if you can do that, then you should be able to eradicate some of those really

03:15poor shots that might be costing you in the bunker.

03:18Okay, so we're moving on to chipping now, and Liam, I guess for whatever level of golfer

03:22you are, getting consistently the distance right is the key, isn't it?

03:28So, how do you go about training that?

03:31How can you practice for that?

03:32Absolutely.

03:33So, I mean, there's first of all a couple of things that you can do, just generally

03:36basics in your setup that offer you a little bit more control kind of when you're hitting

03:41a chip shot.

03:42So, often we see a lot of amateurs hitting golf shots with their hands right at the top

03:46of the grip here.

03:47The club's actually at its heaviest when you're holding all the way up here, so to gain yourself

03:52a little bit more control and again, help you gauge the distance a little bit better,

03:56the first thing to do is just grip down the golf club a little bit, so you can see my

03:59hands are almost covering the golf rod there on that grip.

04:03Right.

04:04Now, the second thing that I've got set out here for when you're practicing is there's

04:08just a towel on the green there, so that's my ideal landing area for this shot.

04:13So, to refer that to your distance control, all that we're going to do now is just have

04:17a few different practice swings and the only thing that I'm trying to do here is just have

04:22a relevant practice swing of how hard I'm trying to hit that.

04:25Often we see a lot of golfers have very irrelevant practice swings where they might be swinging

04:29back too far or they might not even have a practice swing at all.

04:32Yes, so you're really trying to gain a feel for distance just by looking at the towel

04:37and then feeling the left side swing.

04:38Absolutely, so just eyes on the towel, a few different practice swings there, just keeping

04:43my eyes on there and just trying to gauge if I'm taking that golf club far enough back

04:47in order to land it where I want.

04:49And when you're out on the golf course then, are you trying to, how much attention are

04:52you paying to your landing spot when you're on the golf course?

04:54Is that just as important there?

04:56100%.

04:57Identifying that landing area first of all is a really important part and often something

05:01a lot of golfers don't do, so it's worth just taking a little look, having a little walk

05:05around before you hit the chip shot and just trying to identify yourself an area where

05:09you'd like to land the golf ball in order for it to release back down to the pin.

05:13Okay, Liam, let's give it a go.

05:14Okay, so I'm going to make sure that, as I mentioned, I'm just covering the logo on the

05:19bottom of my grip there, I'm going to have two or three practice swings, just keeping

05:23my eye on that landing area, just trying to replicate the swing that I need, and I'm going

05:29to get in there and give it a hit.

05:34Very good.

05:35It's these sorts of drills that if you can use them, it stops you getting too technical,

05:39it stops you thinking too much, but should help improve your feel and that could make

05:43a big difference to your scores.

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