How To Play Difficult Short Game Shots

Golf Monthly

In this video, Joe 'The Pro' Ferguson talks you through how to play some of the toughest short game shots in golf. Getting out of trouble around the greens is crucial to keeping the momentum of your round going and so it's important you have the skills at your disposal to be able to hit the ball close and tap it in for an easy par rather than racking up a score-killing double bogey. Check out the shots featured in the video listed below.

Transcript

00:00I'm Joe Ferguson and I'm going to show you how to get up and down from anywhere!

00:04Okay so you might have noticed that golf is rarely straightforward. We often

00:11find ourselves in tricky situations around the green so I'm going to show

00:14you a few scenarios here that you might commonly find yourself in on the golf

00:17course and the skills I'm going to show you are going to help you turn three

00:20shots into two, keep the momentum going in your round and improve your scores so

00:24let's get to it. So I found myself in a particularly smelly spot here, I've missed

00:36the green left, I'm on a severe downslope coming over a bunker with not much green

00:40to work with. One of the first things people do here is they tend to panic and

00:43try and help the ball up in the air and that might be the worst thing you can do.

00:47In these scenarios you can't fight the slope, you have to use the slope. If you

00:52start leaning back to try and help the ball up in the air you'll bottom out

00:55early, hit the hit the shot fat and it won't go the required distance. So one

01:00of the first things you need to do is move your body with the slope, get your

01:03shoulders more level, move your sternum in front of the ball to make sure you're

01:08using the slope. Inevitably the ball is going to come out lower here because we've

01:12got this downslope so you need to take your most lofted wedge and even open it up

01:16a little bit more to make sure you get the required height. So again move with the

01:20slope, move the sternum in front of the ball, try and get your shoulders more

01:23level to the slope and then just swing down the slope.

01:29Got quite a nice result there and that's how to cope with a downslope. Right I've

01:34missed another green and I found myself in a particularly horrible lie in the

01:37bunker, it's plugged. So this is a real problem for me, I've not got a lot of green

01:41to work with and I've got to get this ball out and as close as possible. So what do I

01:45do? So first things first I need to get underneath this golf ball, it's sitting

01:49below the surface of the ground so I need to do everything in my power to be

01:54able to get steeper on the ball, increase my angle of attack and drive this

01:57leading edge of the golf club under the ball. If you don't do that and you try

02:01and help it up you're going to scull it across the green. So the way I do that I

02:04get a little bit wider, I try and move more of my weight forward so I'm

02:08steepening my angle, steepening my angle of descent and I'm just going to drive

02:11this club in as hard as I can behind the ball and stick it in the ground. You can open or

02:16close the face as much as you want, some people prefer to play this square, I

02:20prefer to add a bit of loft because I feel comfortable enough that I'm going to

02:23get the blade under the ball so I open it up a little bit. Wider stance, leaning

02:28forward, drive that club as hard as you can, as vertical as you can behind the

02:32ball and stick it in the ground. And it pops out nicely, it's released up

02:37pretty close, six or seven feet from there I'm really happy with that. Right I'm

02:42stuffed again. I'm behind this bunker, I've got a tight pin, not much green to

02:46work with and I'm really struggling. The first thing you need to do in this

02:51scenario and this is absolutely crucial is you have to assess the lie. I play a

02:55lot of pro-ams, I play with a lot of amateurs who when they miss a green have

02:59already decided what shot they're going to play and if you come up to the ball and

03:03it's lying sitting down on a bare patch of turf for example and your plan is an

03:08open-faced flop shot, well no one in the world can execute that, you've already

03:12ruined the shot before you've even started. So a really key part of short game

03:17is learning how to read the lies and knowing what's possible. Unfortunately

03:21there's no real shortcuts for that, that's experience, that's going around the

03:24chipping green, throw some balls down in different lies and work out what's

03:27possible. Fortunately in the lie that I've missed the green with here it's perked up

03:32a little bit so I've got an opportunity to throw this ball up in the air and get

03:35it stopping relatively quickly. First thing I need to do is add loft. One of the key

03:40ways of doing this is make sure you open the face before you take your grip.

03:44See a lot of people taking their grip, manipulating the face open and all that's

03:48going to do is return back closed. So open the face then take your grip so I'm

03:54going to have a relatively wide stance to support what's going to be a relatively

03:59aggressive swim. Because we've opened the face here loft's pointing up so I need to

04:03give it some more momentum. Another good tip here is to keep a really light grip

04:07pressure. We don't want any tension in the hands and we also want the club

04:11to feel impossibly like it's passing the hands a little bit and we don't want any

04:14shaft lean or dry that's going to take loft off that because we're already putting

04:18quite an aggressive swing on it. So light grip pressure, open the face, allow the

04:22club head to pass the hands and just slip under the ball and play it with

04:26confidence. Just let it pop up, land soft and we're in a good position to save par again.

04:33Right, this is particularly horrible. I found myself in a bunker here and this

04:37must be the best part of 50 yards, 40 to 50 yards. Really awkward range, a load of

04:42bunker to carry and this is where panic can really set in. One of the most common

04:46mistakes I see is people automatically reach for their most lofted club and just

04:50go and try and get really close to the ball, pick it off and get a little bit of a

04:54cleaner strike. Now that's really high tariff. Looks great if you can execute it but as a

04:59percentage play I'd like you to consider something else. Have a little go, reach

05:03for your pitching wedge, even your nine iron and just try and play it like a basic

05:07splash shot that you would around the green and trust that the extra length in

05:10the shaft, the less loft, will propel the ball the correct distance.

05:14I find it easier not to change too many variables by moving about where I'm trying

05:19to get in the sand. If I just play the normal splash shot with my

05:22pitching wedge that I would around the green, hopefully it will come out a little bit

05:26stronger and make the required distance.

05:31And that's a great result, that's pitched, spun up lovely.

05:35The compact sands help there a lot but that's a really good way of coping with a

05:39very very awkward shot. Right it's happened again, I've missed

05:44another green and here at the Oxfordshire around the greens there's some

05:47particularly juicy thick rough and that's okay if your ball's sat on top of it

05:51but the two lies I've got here it's right down in it. So I need a method

05:55of coping and getting these balls out of there. Primarily the number one thing I

05:59need to do because these balls are kind of below the surface of where I would want

06:03them to be I've got to get this club head under the ball. The first method I use

06:07is probably a more traditional method and it's about just steepening my attack

06:12angle to make sure this club instead of coming in nice and shallow and

06:16impacting the grass here and getting tangled up I need to do what I can to

06:19steepen this attack angle and just pop the ball out. So I'm just going to

06:23essentially feel like I'm dropping the club onto the back of the ball with a

06:26bit of a stabbing motion and just get the ball moving forward.

06:30Wait a little bit further forward a little bit of shaft lean to help that

06:33leading edge get through the turf and I'm just going to drop the club on the

06:37back of the ball and it's going to pop out with a bit of release and roll out

06:41and I've got the green to be able to play that shot. Sometimes however you don't

06:45have as much green and this is a bit more of an American style shot you might see

06:49this a bit more on the PGA Tour where they tend to play almost like a bunker

06:52shot with grass so you're deliberately impacting behind the ball you're

06:56accepting that you're not going to pick the ball first

06:59you're opening the blade and you're trying to slip the club through the grass

07:02as you would the sand it'll come out a bit higher a little bit softer it's a

07:06little bit more high tariff this one so it does need some practice in but

07:10essentially it is just a bunker shot with grass so I'm moving the ball a little

07:13bit further forward a wider stance I'm opening that club face and I'm

07:17literally just going to try and play almost as a deliberate fat shot and pop

07:21it up it's come out a little bit high it's

07:24come out a little bit strong that one but it's stopped nice and quick and it's

07:27got me out of what is some particularly thick and juicy rough so practice

07:31both of those methods and work out what's going to be the best scenario to use

07:35them in. Right I'm getting a bit grumpy now I might be the unluckiest golfer in

07:39the world I've hit three glorious shots in here they've just rolled off the

07:42green by a foot and I'm presented with this they're all up against the

07:46collar from the fringe to the rough and I've got to deal with it I can't just

07:50cry about it I've got to figure out a way of getting these up and down

07:53the eagle-eyed amongst you might have noticed I've got three golf clubs in my

07:56hand and I'm going to show you three different methods

07:58to cope with that so I'm going to start with a good old-fashioned belly wedge

08:02now belly wedge is essentially a deliberate fin

08:06I can't get to the bottom of that golf ball so I'm going to use the leading

08:10edge and try and get that into the equator of the golf ball directly

08:13halfway up the ball so it comes out just rolling like a putt

08:17so the best way to do it is the the fringe will probably dictate where the

08:21club sits anyway I can't get this any lower than that

08:24I'm going to use my putting grip and pretty much a putting stance

08:28and I'm just going to rock my shoulders and try and get the ball moving

08:33forward it's a little bit quick down that slope so it's

08:36four or five feet past but that's a pretty acceptable result I'm okay with that

08:40so that's one method of coping with it the next method is three wood believe it

08:44or not the way the sole of a three wood is

08:47designed obviously we've got a bit more width here

08:49that helps it stop snagging in this sort of tangly rough behind the ball

08:53so it's a pretty safe option to help ensure you get some reasonable contact

08:58and get it going somewhere close you do have to be wary there's generally a

09:01little bit more energy on the face of a three wood than there would be on a

09:04putter or wedge so it can pop out a little bit quick so factor that in and do a

09:08bit of practice with this before you use it

09:10but again a similar method putting grip you can't get to the bottom of the ball

09:14so you're just sort of giving it a little pop forward

09:18let the slope do the rest and that's tracking on a really good line and

09:21just missed so a really safe method I'm happy with both of those

09:24I've got a good chance of saving my par on both

09:27the last one's a little bit more elaborate and I first saw Vijay Singh do

09:31this at Sawgrass on the 17th hole up against the really really thick

09:36collar of rough and he just manipulated the putter instead of having in its

09:39normal orientation using the face turning in and using the toe end and you

09:44can see what that does to this angle here all of a sudden the toe is very very

09:48steep and low to the ground and I've got no friction from back here so I've

09:52already preset a descending blow into the ball

09:56now there's certain putters you wouldn't want to try this with so ensure yours is

09:59compatible got a relatively flat toe end

10:02and again it's just a similar method so use your putting stroke your putting grip

10:06and just bump your shoulders and allow the toe end of that putter

10:10to just nudge the ball out gently and get it rolling towards the hole

10:13that one's got a little less pace on it so that one's stone dead

10:16really happy with all three of those I've turned what could have been a really

10:19difficult and annoying scenario from a good approach shot there to a really

10:23pretty simple par

10:27right well I like those tapping for pars so hopefully what I've shown you there

10:31has armed you with a skill set that's going to leave you with a lot more of

10:33those keep your momentum in the rounds and

10:36improve your scoring so from me here at the Oxfordshire that's everything

10:39I'll see you next time

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