WEBVTT - How to Improve Your Short Game 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:03.360 It's the Son of a Butcher podcast. I'm your host 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:07.000 Claude Harmon solo episode of the pod this week. Just 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:09.239 got back from two weeks on tour and one of 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.079 the things went I'm on tour working with players is 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:13.960 I'm always trying to think about what I see and 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:16.680 what I see on a regular basis that can help 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:20.760 all of you listening. And I've talked about a lot 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.599 of things on the pod, but when we think about 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:26.960 what's going to help you get better, what's going to 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:32.040 help you improve your game, I think short game is huge, right. 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:34.040 I mean, every single week on tour there is a 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:37.239 pro am, and when you watch the best players in 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.120 the world and look at their short games and then 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:43.600 look at regular everyday golfers and their short games, there's 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:48.120 a dramatic difference. On DJ's lift team, he's got Patrick 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.880 Reed and I walk a lot of practice rounds with 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:55.000 Patrick Reed, and the guy's short game is just ridiculous. 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:56.680 It is one of the best short games I've ever seen. 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.800 And the way that he is able to control spin, trajectory, 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.360 the way he varies his shots, it's amazing and it's 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:06.959 no surprise that that is kind of the calling card 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:11.560 of his game. But what can you, as a regular 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:15.800 golfer do to improve your short game? So I'm gonna 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:18.960 break this down and you know a few different areas. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:20.679 The first thing I think you want to do is 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:23.800 take a look at your wedge setup. What type of 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.000 wedges are you using? And I'm talking kind of like 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:29.640 loft wise, do you have a lob wedge in that 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:33.720 sixty fifty eight degree range? Sand wedges are going to 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:36.880 kind of run in that kind of fifty six range 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:40.440 pitching wedge gap weights. A lot of the guys that 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.560 are playing and girls that are playing professional golf, they 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:48.240 do have four wedges. I'm not saying that works for everybody, 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:52.400 but I do see a lot of times big gaps 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.600 in people's wedge games right and kind of gaps in 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.560 the distances on they have a shot and they don't 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.440 really kind of have a club for that. So the 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.000 first thing that you want to do is take your 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:09.160 wedges to the driving range and if you've got a rangefinder, 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.800 you can go ahead and scope out some yardages. If 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.480 you've got access to a launch monitor, that's great as well. Rapsodo, 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.080 who you've heard me talk a lot about on the 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:24.240 pod I think for the money under one thousand dollars, 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:26.920 they've got a launch monitor that's portable. You can use 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.760 it inside, you can use it outside. The MLM two 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.680 pro is going to give you carry distances, and I 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.040 think it's very important when you're trying to assess your 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:40.280 short game to have a very specific, defined group of 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:45.720 numbers that you know is how far you carry your wedges. 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:48.960 I think a lot of people listening right now, if 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.880 they're honest with themselves, they don't really have a very 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:55.239 good gauge, a very good understanding as to how far 0:02:55.360 --> 0:03:00.520 they're carrying their wedges. What swing they're making is to 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:03.480 produce that number. So one of the things that I 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.160 think you want to guard against and stay away from 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:11.000 is making full wedge swings. You know, a full lob wedge, 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:15.720 a full sand wedge, a full gap wedge. I think 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:19.079 that's very, very dangerous because I think it brings in 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:22.640 a lot of characteristics in order to pull these shots 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:26.160 off that you need. First of all, you need really 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:30.120 good launch conditions. You need very very good impact positions, 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:33.839 and I think a lot of regular golfers, mid handicapped 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:37.720 golfers struggle with good impact. You know, in their full swing, 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:41.800 and they struggle with that in the short game as well. 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:46.040 I think ball position is very important. Is the ball 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:48.560 in the middle of your stance, is the ball back 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:50.760 in your stands? Is the ball forward in your stants? 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:52.920 I see a lot of players have that golf ball 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.320 way forward in their stands with their wedges. They don't 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.360 really know why they're trying to hit something high, but 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:01.240 they don't really have anything in their technique that they're doing, 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.640 and they don't really know what they're trying to do. 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:09.560 So start off by neutral ball position right, neutral in 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.440 your stance, so kind of where the buttons on your 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:14.760 shirt would be, kind of where the zipper on your 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:17.640 shorts or trousers would be, where your belt buckle would be. 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:21.600 That would be kind of neutral to middle right. And 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.599 if you've got a camera on your I mean every iPhone, 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.240 every smartphone has a camera, go ahead and take a 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.479 look at your setup with your wedges. Look at where 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:31.520 you're setting up. Are you setting up with the golf 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:34.440 ball back in your stands? Are you setting it middle? 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:38.480 Are you setting it up way way forward the club face? 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.960 Start off and just get some baseline ball position. So 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:45.840 neutral ball position right, get a lob wedge out, get 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.359 your lob wedge. Whether you know sixty fifty eight, In 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.520 my opinion, you shouldn't be playing anything over sixty degrees 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:56.600 of loft. Anything over that is very very specialized, very 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.640 very specific. Yeah, it's going to help you hit the 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.359 golf b high because you've got so much loft. But 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:08.120 I have yet to see a non elite competitive professional 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:14.080 golfer utilize anything more than sixty degrees of loft. Well, 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:18.159 I just don't see it. So fifty eight sixty is 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.400 kind of in that range where you want your lob 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:25.479 wedge and club face should be square. The club face 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:29.080 doesn't necessarily need to be open. You can get to 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:31.719 that right. But I want you to think about your 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.839 short game like being a cook or a chef, and 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.920 what you need to do is just come up with 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:43.960 a menu of shots that are pretty basic, not a 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:48.240 ton of ingredients, but are very very reliable that you 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.520 can produce on a regular basis. So I'm sure I've 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:55.440 talked about this before, but I was watching all the 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:57.720 guys over the last two weeks that was lucky enough 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.000 to be in practice rounds with looking at their short games, 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:05.000 and I think it's very important that for whatever yardage 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:07.719 is that you're trying to hit, that you have some 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:11.560 end points, an end point to where the backswing is 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:13.440 going to go and an end point to where the 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:16.000 follow through is going to go. Because I see a 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:19.160 lot of people struggle with their short game because they're 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:22.960 making a backswing length that is way too far for 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.080 the length of shot that they're trying to hit. So 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:28.960 if that backswing length is too far, Let's say you've 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:34.960 got a twenty five to thirty yard shot, right, it's 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.360 going to be more of a pitch than a chip, 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.360 but you're trying to carry it thirty yards in the air. 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.200 I see a lot of players struggle because they're making 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.960 a backswing that is easily going to carry the golf 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:52.479 ball fifty seventy five. Sometimes even they make a full 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:57.920 length backswing for a very small shot, and then they 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:01.080 have to decelerate as they're coming into him because otherwise 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:03.840 you're going to carry the golf ball too far with 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:08.400 that backswing. So it's a very basic, kind of standard 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.320 way of thinking about this. But again it's a little 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.160 bit like I said, it's like being a chef. If 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.600 you don't know how to cook. It's hard to make 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:21.840 one Michelin Star, two, Michelin Star, three Michelin Star. You know, 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:27.520 fancy cuisine. So think about your wedge game, like, Okay, 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:29.880 I'm a chef and I just need a couple of 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:34.239 really good dishes with not a lot of ingredients. Doesn't 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:36.960 have to be fancy. I talk about this a lot 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:39.720 with my students. I've talked about it in the pod 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:47.840 making an omelet. Making a cheeseburger. Right, a cheeseburger has meat, cheese, bread. 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:53.320 What you put on it after that is adding some nuance, 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:58.360 some flair whatever. But at the core to have a cheeseburger, 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:02.000 you need meat for the burger part, you need cheese 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:05.680 for the cheese part of the cheeseburger, and you need bread. Right, 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:09.120 that's not a lot of ingredients. So go get your 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:12.840 lob wedge and say, all right, this is my cheeseburger, 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.640 this is my omelet, an omelet, eggs, not a lot 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:18.720 of ingredients. You can throw a bunch of stuff in it, 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:25.760 but really eggs, milk, salt, pepper, some butter, not crazy 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:30.360 fancy when you and how you make that dish. Another story. 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.520 So sixty degree fifty eight degree lob wedge. Go get 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:38.280 your lob wedge, middle of your stance faced square, weight's 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:42.160 going to be on the left side. The stance is 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:46.200 going to be maybe slightly open, and the handle at 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:48.600 a dress is maybe going to be a little bit 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:53.800 leaned forward. That's a pretty standard way of chipping and 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:57.320 hitting a lot of pitch shots inside of fifty yards. 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.360 The ball is going to be neutral, the stets is 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.280 going to be a little bit open, the handle is 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:03.719 going to be a little bit forward. We're going to 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:05.760 have our weight on our front foot. I'm sure a 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:08.840 lot of people listening have heard that before. But why 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.480 are you doing that? Why are we getting you into 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:14.760 that position to chip? The main reason is we're not 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:18.400 making a big golf swing around the greens. We're only 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:22.480 carrying the golf ball five ten, maybe even less yards 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:25.480 to three yards, so you're not going to need a 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:29.240 big swing. So the setup a little bit open, ball 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:33.400 kind of neutral, maybe just slightly back in your stance, 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:37.560 handle a little bit forward, and wait a little bit forward. 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:42.720 All of that is to basically preset your impact position. 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:44.920 That's what we're trying to do, right, We're trying to 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.720 preset good impact because we're not making a weight shift. 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:49.680 We're not making a big turn off the golf ball. 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.040 We're not making a big turn through the golf ball. 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:56.560 And then I've talked about this before, but it is 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:01.000 such a simple way to try and gain some repetition 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:05.240 in some consistency. Use the clock method. You're standing within 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:07.040 the dial of a clock. If you're a right handed 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:09.800 golfer standing within the dial of a clock, your head 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:13.040 is at twelve o'clock and where your hands are are 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:16.440 at six o'clock on the dial of a clock. And 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:19.360 if you think about it, so you've got six o'clock, 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:21.920 so your hands are at six o'clock. And on the backstroke, 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:25.120 on the backswing, your hands can go to the seven 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:29.120 o'clock position, the eight o'clock position, the nine o'clock position, 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:33.000 the ten o'clock position, the eleven o'clock position on the backswing, 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:35.760 and on the follow through, your hands on the follow through, 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.160 if they're starting at six, they can follow through to five, 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:40.760 they could follow through to four, they can follow through 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.760 to three, to two to one. So think about your 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:49.120 hand position. Don't think about the club head. Don't think 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:50.800 about where the club at is. Think about where your 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.720 hands are. Think about where the grip is right, and 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.520 I do think one of the ways to become more consistent, 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:02.520 more repetitive, and kind of get the contact to be 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:07.800 a little bit more consistent more often is to use 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:11.520 that clock theory. Hands are at six o'clock. My weight's 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:13.280 going to be a little bit on the forward side. 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:14.920 The reason I'm going to keep my weight on the 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.480 forward side on my lead leg. If I'm a right 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:19.520 hand golfer, that's going to be my left foot. If 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:21.280 I'm a left handed golfer, that's going to be my 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.520 right foot. But if you're a right handed golfer, your 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:26.240 weight's going to be a little bit on the left side. 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:28.640 You're trying to preset impact. One of the things that 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.760 I see. I posted a video on my social that 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:35.120 I did for Cobra Golf a couple weeks ago. I 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:39.320 put a shaft down kind of parallel to where my 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:42.600 right foot would be, and what I'm trying to do 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:45.000 is make sure that I'm not going backwards to try 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:46.560 and get the golf ball in the air and hitting 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:48.640 the shaft. So it's going to help me have that 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:51.640 little bit of downward angle of attack to try and 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.000 get the golf ball in the air, the angle of attack, 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:56.000 how much we're hitting up and how much we're hitting 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.640 down on the golf ball dramatically influences how the ball launches, 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.680 but it dramatically influences the quality of the contact and 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.080 the quality of the strike. So if you are hitting 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:10.360 your chips thin, if you are hitting your chips heavy 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:15.240 pitches thin pitches heavy, make sure that when you're coming 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.120 through impact that your weight isn't going to the back foot. 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:20.000 So you've got your left foot if you're a right 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.920 handed golfer and your right foot is a right handed golfer, okay, 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.240 And when you set up, go ahead and think in 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:28.320 terms of okay. In a normal setup, I'm going to 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:32.400 have fifty to fifty experiment with feeling okay, sixty forty 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:36.480 on the left, maybe seventy thirty on the left. Really 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.760 get my weight over there and see what that does, 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:43.160 and then experiment. And I think the easiest baseline to 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:46.320 get is you're setting up with your lob wedge balls 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:48.800 in the middle, weights a little bit forward, you're a 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:51.720 little bit open, handles a little bit forward, and then 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.719 think in terms of okay, and that clock theory. When 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.199 I take my arms back, when I take that grip back, 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:58.920 I'm going to try and take it to that kind 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:01.880 of nine o'clock position on the backstroke if you're right handed, 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:06.280 and then follow through to three o'clock on the follow through. 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.800 And that's going to give you a very specific end 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.880 point to the backswing and a very specific end point 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.360 to the follow through. The reason why I think that's 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:19.760 really important is within that kind of zone, you know 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:22.640 where your backswing zone ends and you know where your 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:27.840 follow through zone ends. And film this film ten practice 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:31.439 swings without a golf ball and say, okay, so go 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.920 put the camera on a tripod, set it up on 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.560 a backstand, put it on your bag, lean it up 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.720 against something, but have it face on so facing your 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.880 chest right so it's directly across when you're setting up 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:50.840 directly across from your torso, and make ten practice swings 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.520 and think, okay, I'm going to try and go nine 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.520 on the backstroke three on the follow through. Now, when 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:00.240 you're making these practice swings, you're going to set up 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:02.280 as if you were going to be hitting a regular shot, 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:07.160 so slightly open ball position would be neutral handles, just 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:09.839 a little bit of chaffleen weights on that front foot 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:11.680 we're trying to feel like the arms go back to 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:13.800 the hands, that handle and that grip go back to 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.679 that nine o'clock So that's probably going to be somewhere 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.480 around waist high, and then it's going to go through 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:23.160 to the corresponding follow through. So you can start off 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:25.920 by just doing slow motion swings to where you're just 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:28.800 setting up and then making a backstroke and going to 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.520 nine o'clock. Do ten of those and just do the backstroke. Okay, 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.440 just set up and just make your backstroke and stop. 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:37.440 You can do this a couple times with your eyes closed. 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:41.080 So take that set up, wait slightly on the left handle, 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:43.880 just a little bit forward. The ball would be pretty neutral. 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:46.000 Go and close your eyes and go back to where 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.400 you feel like your hands, your left hand in your 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:51.520 right hand would be about that nine o'clock position. Do 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:53.400 that five times, and then go ahead and take a 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:57.120 look at what that looks like on camera and say, okay, yeah, 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:59.440 I was able to do that. No, that was going 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.040 too long. That was going too short, because you're trying 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:05.440 to have a sameness to the backswings, and then same 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:09.040 thing set up and then just follow through to that 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:12.800 three o'clock position and do just the follow through. See 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.080 if you can follow through. Have a look on camera, 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:20.160 see what that looks like. Okay, so you've done that. 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:22.720 You kind of got the feeling of where nine to 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:24.840 three is. You can do it with eight to four, 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:26.680 you can do it with seven to five, you can 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:30.880 do it with kind of that, you know, ten to two, 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:33.520 whatever it is. Do it without a ball and just 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:36.720 see if you can make ten practice swings that are 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.280 nine o'clock on the backstroke, three o'clock on the follow through. 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:42.880 The other thing that's very important here is when you're 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:45.720 making your practice strokes, make sure the golf club it 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.880 starts on the ground, and when you make your practice stroke, 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:51.320 make sure it hits the ground. If you're hitting golf 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:53.720 balls off a mat, it's a really good way to practices. 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.120 Make sure that you can hear that golf club hitting 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:01.520 the ground. In your short game before you hit a shot. 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:04.360 You should be able to make a practice stroke, you know, 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:07.440 whatever you're trying to do from a mimic standpoint, and 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.480 the golf club should start on the ground and it 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:14.560 should return on the ground. You need to hear that sound. 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:16.720 Do that ten times. See if you can get some 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.360 sameness to the length of the backswing and the length 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.400 of the follow through at that kind of waist tie, 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.200 that kind of nine o'clock. You don't need a ton 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:27.520 of wrist set here. We don't need to do a 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.600 lot with our wrist action here. We don't need a 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:33.840 lot of setting of the wrist because if you set 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.480 the risks, you're loading the golf club. And that's another 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.240 thing where I think so many golfers struggle around the 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:42.440 short game is they take their set up, they get 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:45.560 a lot of a set in the wrists, so they're 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.320 loading that shaft and so they've got a lot of 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:52.800 angle coming into impact, and that's going to make the 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:56.400 golf ball go a specific distance. So you don't need 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:58.720 a lot of wrist hinge, you don't need a lot 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.760 of wrist set. You're basically just trying to that kind 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:07.240 of Steve Stricker esque Jason Day. Just no riskset, no 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.479 risk to angles, and just see if you can go 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:12.320 nine to three and just see where that golf ball goes. 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:17.080 Take ten balls and hit one, video it and then 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:19.680 get your rain finder out, see how far it went, 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:22.320 and then look at it on film and say, okay, 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:26.239 that went nine to three. And that ball went X 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.720 amount of distance. It's going to vary for everybody. It's 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:31.920 going to vary on how much speed you're putting in. 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:36.160 But baseline numbers I think are very important with all 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:38.640 of your wedges right to make sure that you can 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:41.280 get that good number so that when you're on the 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:44.640 golf course you can take some of the guesswork out 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.720 of it, because I think so many golfers they don't 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.040 really know when they get into short game what they're 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:53.119 trying to do. They don't really know what shot they're 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:55.720 trying to hit. They're trying to hit a shot that 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.919 they've seen somewhere on television. Face wide open, big flops. 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:03.800 You should never be hitting a flop shot unless there 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:07.680 is absolutely positively no other way you can get the 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:11.440 golf ball close to the hole, and unless you're playing 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:15.040 a competitive round of golf, just dump it anywhere on 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:17.600 the green and just try and get out with hole 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:20.040 in a twenty foot of for par and get out 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:23.560 of there. But don't try the hero shot. Try on 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:26.439 the range and just say, okay, how far does my 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:29.560 nine to three go? Film it enough times to where 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:32.640 you're saying to yourself and you can visually confirm, yeah, 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:34.960 that's how far the golf ball or how fur my 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:38.240 backswing is going. Yet it's going about that waist hype 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.840 nine o'clock with not a lot of riskset I'm following 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:45.360 through to three o'clock, and I know that that swing 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:51.560 produces this yardage this number, and say, okay, let me 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:53.439 just see if I can bang these out. If I 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:57.760 can just repetitively hit the golf ball the distance I 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:00.880 hit it for my nine to three. Like I said, 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:03.640 everybody's going to be different, it's going to vary. It's 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:06.359 not going to be the same for everybody. But I 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.080 just think if you can have an understanding, I mean, 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:13.040 and then you know, get a target, take your towel, 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:16.320 walk it out to twenty five yards, walk it out 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.040 to you know. I think good baselines would be to 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:24.280 get three towels, do twenty five, fifty and seventy five 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:28.439 right start there and say, okay, what length of swing, 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:32.199 what club would I need to use to hit the 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:34.719 golf ball these distances? I think those are kind of 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:39.280 good round numbers for me. Twenty five fifty seventy five. 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.680 I think if you can get really good at your baseline, 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.439 twenty five, being able to have a technique and a 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:49.200 swing and a swing length to carry the golf ball 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.560 twenty five yards in the air, to have one to 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.560 carry it fifty yards in the air, seventy five in 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:57.480 the air. If you want to make that smaller, you 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:01.240 can do five. You can do ten, you can do fifteen. 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.840 You can do it in five yard increments. But I 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:07.560 think if you can just use some round numbers, you know, 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:11.560 ten to twenty, and say, okay, I'm gonna you know, 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:15.359 the short end is going to be ten yards, the 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:17.520 long end is going to be twenty. I don't want 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:21.400 to hit any short of ten yards. I don't want 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:25.000 to carry any past twenty yards. Right, you can go 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:28.840 out on the driving range and put you know, clubs down, 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:33.960 alignment sticks down, give yourself a visual and say, okay, 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:37.520 I've got my lob wedge. Now I've got an alignment 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:40.480 stick at twenty on the ground, and then I've got 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:43.160 an alignment stick at ten, and it's creating this kind 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:45.960 of ten yard window, and I'm just going to try 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:51.360 and carry my ball somewhere in between that window. And 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:55.199 if you can get good at just again, it's like cooking, 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:59.600 it's just a basic, basic technique to be able to 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:04.040 carry that golf ball in a confined space somewhere between 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.800 ten to twenty yards. And I think you can think 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:11.000 in terms of how far you're trying to carry the 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:15.760 golf ball, not how far the flag is. Yeah, obviously 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:17.440 you want to get a good idea of how far 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:19.840 the flag is. So if you've got a shot, you've 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:22.520 laid up on a par five and you know you're 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:25.719 say you're twenty five yards from the green or from 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:31.639 the flag, then walk from where your ball is, walk 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:36.440 to where the green starts and get a number. Get 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:41.399 that number. Okay, let's say that's fifteen yards, right so, 0:21:41.720 --> 0:21:46.800 or fifteen steps and then you've got another ten steps 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:50.760 to the flag. So then the number that you're trying 0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:54.080 to hit is. You want to know where you want 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:56.920 to carry the golf ball, right, don't think in terms 0:21:56.920 --> 0:21:59.680 of where you want the golf ball to end up. 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:02.720 Think in terms of, okay, where do I need to 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:07.080 carry this golf ball? And get that part first. So 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:10.440 I think if you can get that basic part first 0:22:10.480 --> 0:22:13.280 of okay, how far do I need to carry the 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.480 golf ball, then the math in your head can become 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:19.600 somewhat easy. Okay, I've got a twenty five yard shot, 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:22.240