A Simple Golf Guide: Short Game Essentials
The short game is where your final score will really be decided during a round of golf. Sure it is fun to hit long drives and pretty iron shots, but it is in the short game where you take advantage of those shots are turn them into pars and birdies. If you don’t have a short game that you can rely on to get the ball into the hole quickly more often than not, your chances of reaching your golf goals are slim to none.
A few of the basic key ingredients to a good short game are listed below –
- Soft hands. Keeping your hands ‘soft’ on the grip of the club while you hit short game shots is key to having good touch and feel around the greens. You don’t want to squeeze the club too tightly, or you won’t be able to manage the right distance control on most of your shots. When you practice your putting and chipping, think about keeping a light grip pressure through the shot and you will notice an improved ability to control the ball.
- Practice, practice, practice. You aren’t going to improve your short game without practice, so commit yourself to working on your short shots just as much as you work on the long ones. Putting in the time on your short game can pay dividends as soon as your next round, where it can take months or years to actually see improvements from working on your full swing. Find a golf course or driving range with a quality short game practice area and use it frequently if you wish to lower your scores.
- Be patient. It is important to understand that even the best putters are going to miss putts during a round, and not every chip shot will finish right next to the hole. Patience is a key part of having a good short game because it will help you accept the occasional poor shot and keep you focused on the long-term plan of improvement. It is perfectly normal to hit some bad short game shots during a round – just set a goal to hit fewer and fewer of them as time goes by until they become a rare event. Once you have put in the work and improved your short game you will be amazed at how it gives you confidence on the rest of the course knowing that your short game can be relied on.