16 May 2014 - Couple Weeks of Good Practice

21 May 2014 the Qualifier for the Maryland Open and the Maryland Amatuer will be played at Andrews Airforce Base on the East course (where I shot my first under par round).  For the last couple weeks I have been focused on getting my ball flight more consistent.  During a couple practice rounds I found some fades and draws slipping in unexpectedly. Turns out I had slipped into a couple bad habits like slouching a bit in my posture and shutting the face a bit at address.

Also looked at my recent stats and noticed that I'm making pars on birdie holes because I'm too far from the hole on approach shots. Also leaking a few strokes within 20 yards of the green.  So I've spent the last 2 weeks working on distance control with wedges from the fairway and around the green.

At this old golf clinic with Tiger Woods and Anthony Kim, Tiger explained how he controls distance with trajectory and it made sense to me... He turns back full and swings through at a consistent pace to different lengths of follow through.  Waist high, chest high, shoulder high each goes a consistent different distance.

I applied the above to chipping and found that it works.  For consistency, unless the fringe is very flat, I usually carry the ball onto the green with the right loft for the distance I need.  The key to a crisp strike and consistent distance is not slowing down through the strike and stopping the club on the follow through at a point to create a certain carry distance.  Watch this video of tiger and notice how consistent his pace is and where he stops his hands to control the distance.

I paced off 24 paces from the hole back to my chipping point.  I then paced off 12 paces to find the middle and placed a tee.   This also worked for shorter distances... 12 yard target so I pace off 6 yards and placed a tee.  Then, using my 58 degree wedge I used the above chipping technique tiger is using to chip balls to that mid point tee and it released perfectly to the 24 foot hole or 12 foot hole.  Obviously it's flat so a downhill I would need a little less air time, up hill a little more.

I was able to focus my eyes on the mid point tee as my target and then bounce the ball next to that tee to get the distance I want.  If you change to a wedge, 9 iron or higher club your aim point moves closer to you as it will roll more.  58 degree wedge - fly 50% - roll 50%.  52 degree - fly 45% - roll 55%,  PW - fly 40% - roll 60% and so on. Calibrate at each course for their green speeds.