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The simplest way to save shots on and around the green is to accurately identify your short-game problems.
That might sound easy, but almost every average golfer I've played with struggles to do it, and it's the difference between shooting 92 and 87, or breaking 80 for the first time.
When you miss a putt, do you know why? Is it because you made a bad stroke or a bad read? When you were just off the green, did you pick the right kind of chip to set up an easy putt? Did you know which side of the hole to favor on that chip shot? The answer to these kinds of questions is often "No."
My goal here is to show you how to diagnose the most common problems you run into on and around the green, and how to pick the best solution to those problems. It starts with getting comfortable with your putting and chipping mechanics, and then moves on to elements like making the right read and leaving yourself the easiest shot coming back. I'll also show you how I've developed a lot more confidence over short putts.
Follow these tips, and I promise you'll shave at least five shots from your score the next time you play.
1. Build Confidence in your putter
2. Master the basic chip
3. Read the true break
4. Understand the power of numbers
5. Challenge yourself
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1. Build confidence
in your putter
I see a lot of players using devices to work on their putter path. It's great to have a nice stroke that follows the right swing path, but if you concentrate only on your path, you're missing an important piece of information. You can have a perfect path, but if the face of the putter isn't square to your target at impact, you won't hit your putts on the intended line. A square face is much more important than a good path. The ball bearings on the Dave Pelz Putting Tutor I use during my practice sessions force me to hit putts with a square face. Even if my path is great, the bearings will get knocked off if the putter comes through open or closed. It's a great way to get instant feedback.
I have to hit with a square putterface to fit the ball between the bearings. I didn't do that here (on left).
The Putting Tutor (below) has lines to help my alignment. I use these two putters (below right) in tournaments. If I'm hooking putts, I switch from the older blade (left) to the model with a flange (right), which doesn't release quite as much through impact.
2. Master the basic chip
How to save 5 shots with your short game: Continued
|  On a basic chip, the tendency is to make a stiff, long backswing (above left). I like to keep my weight forward and take a smaller backswing with more wrist cock (above right). It really promotes a clean, downward strike on the ball. You're less likely to hit it fat or try to scoop it into the air. |
I used to spend a lot more of my practice time hitting shots like the one on the opening spread, to be ready for the one time I need it during a tournament. I still practice them--that work helped at the PGA, where a flop from the rough on 18 won me the tournament--but I spend more time on the basic chip, which I could use six or eight times in a round. By improving the shot I use all the time, I'm saving myself a lot of strokes because tap-ins are a lot less work than five-footers. The same is true for your game. Practice the shots you use over and over before heading to the deep grass to experiment with your 60-degree wedge. Your score will go down immediately.
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3. Read the true break
How to save 5 shots with your short game: ContinuedWhen I help my pro-am partners read putts, I hear one question more than any other: "Which is more important, speed or break?" Both are important, but you have to read the break correctly to have any chance to get the speed right. Most amateurs under-read the break by at least 50 percent, so they end up subconsciously compensating for the bad read by hitting the putt harder to take some of the break out. When you miss a putt like that, the ball goes way by the hole, which leaves you a lot of work coming back. Start by playing more break, and try to die a few putts into the hole. You'll make more of them, and if you miss, you'll probably have a tap-in left.
Photo: Start by reading the break correctly, but be sure to check your alignment. It's easy to cheat your body more square to the hole. It needs to be square to your intended line.
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| This 15-foot putt has five feet of break. Most amateur players would read this putt to have a foot or two of break and then compensate by hitting it too hard. The green line shows the right read and where you need to hit the putt to make it. The red line shows the wrong read and where a putt on that line would end up. It's hard to convince yourself to play that much break, but it's there. |
4. Understand the power of numbers
How to save 5 shots with your short game: Continued It's nice to make a long putt, but the numbers don't lie. You save shots by leaving yourself shorter putts after a lag or chip. |
A lot of players grind over long putts--ones from 20 to 35 feet. A better strategy is to think of long lags (and chips) as opportunities to leave yourself a tap-in. For last year, stat-tracker ShotLink puts my make-percentage at 29 percent from 20 feet. From 35 feet, it drops to 17 percent. Not a huge difference. But look what happens when I get closer to the hole. I made 99 percent of my three-footers. From six feet, I made only 68 percent. This is where you save shots--lag putting or chipping a foot or two closer to the hole--not by making more long putts.
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5. Challenge yourself
How to save 5 shots with your short game: Continued To build a putting clock, measure three feet from the hole (a putter-length is close enough), then space 10 balls around the circle. You can expand the circle to four, five and six feet for more of a challenge. Start with the putt that's straight uphill. |
One of my favorite drills is to build a putting clock of 10 balls in a three-foot circle around the hole. Each one of those 10 putts has a different, subtle break. Jackie Burke showed me this setup, and he challenged me to make 100 three-footers in a row. It took me a couple of weeks of trying, but I finally did it. Now, I won't leave the practice green until I make those 100 straight. That will certainly focus your concentration. I even use it for longer putts, up to six feet. (The best I've been able to do from six feet is 28 in a row.) Build your own clock and set incremental goals for yourself--first 10 straight, then 20 straight. It's an easy way to keep track of your putting progress. If you do get to 100 in a row, back the circle up a foot and start again.
