Today is December 14th and it’s been unseasonably warm here in Minnesota. We have had some snow here and there but we’ve not seen nearly the cold temperatures that we’re accustomed to. In fact, today, it was almost 50 degrees in some parts of the state!
My buddy actually reached out earlier this week about playing golf today but naturally, I had to work. However, that did not keep me from taking SOME time in between meetings to get outside and swing the clubs a bit.
With pretty much all the of the driving ranges and short game areas closed, I was left to be resourceful. I found a park with a good amount of open space, grabbed my 54 degree wedge and some golf balls, and trekked out to work on my short game.
My last few rounds of the year, I had a number of chip and pitch shots that were lackluster to say the least. Instances of chunks and thins had reared their ugly heads much to my dismay. Because I was not practicing much, I hadn’t been able to figure out what was going on so today was about doing some experimentation.
That’s what this post is all about. Opening up our minds to try out extremes to find what works best for US. Sure we can try to do things exactly right but who knows if we’re even trying to do the correct thing without an instructor standing over our shoulder.
So I set about experimenting with a few different variables with regards to my pitch and chip shots.
Ball Position
This is typically where I start when I notice my chipping and pitching contact gets iffy. Often, I don’t realize that the ball position is moving forward in my stance and I’m sliding forward to get the contact.
I experimented with moving the ball all the way back, all the way forward, and variations of middle until I saw some improvement. I didn’t see quite the quality I wanted which led me to continue my exploration.
Distance to Ball
This is another area that can get wonky pretty easily. I tend to get too far away from the ball which messes with my low point so I explored moving REALLY close to the ball and REALLY far from the ball. I then worked my way to the middle until I saw some better results but I still wasn’t quite to where I wanted.
Tempo
During my exploration of tempos with the Vision54 self coaching, I’ve found that different tempos can produce all kinds of outcomes when it comes to short game. I explored taking the club back really slow then accelerating down, taking the club back fast then slowly coasting into the ball, and a more even tempo. An even 2:1 tempo worked really well and I was almost back to high quality shots.
Grip
I’m glad I worked through the entire process of dialing in the variables above but as soon as I got to my grip strength, I saw a HUGE jump in performance. I tend to get a stronger grip (showing more knuckles on my lead hand) and while I can manage that pretty well in the full swing, it messes with how I deliver the club in my short game shots.
As soon as I weakened my grip to a more neutral grip, I unlocked all my short game shots and was able to use the above variables to hit low spinners, high soft floaters, bump and runs, and whatever else I imagined off a variety of lies.
What was great about this is I learned some valuable feedback for myself the next time I get to play golf and I notice my shots are off in my short game. Checking my grip will be something I do right away but I’ll also have those other variables in mind and have references because I experimented during this session.
I highly encourage exploring variables in your own swing and game. Whatever shot you’re trying to hit, determine what variables you can easily change and explore the EXTREME ranges. Then work back to something in the middle or whatever you perform best at.
Quite frankly, if you can hit amazing shots with a ball position “too far back” or a grip that is “too strong”, who cares? As long as the ball is going where you want, then we can get the ball in the hole as quickly as possible.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever tried this experimentation or if you have questions about what to try!
Until next time,
Enjoy the odyssey!
-Nick