Golf’s Short Game For Dummies®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, 317-572-3447, fax 317-572-4355, e-mail: brandreview@wiley.com .
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Some of the exercises and dietary suggestions contained in this work may not be appropriate for all individuals, and readers should consult with a physician before commencing any exercise or dietary program.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.
For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport .
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2005920298
ISBN: 0-7645-6920-1
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4
1B/RV/QV/QX/IN
Michael Patrick Shiels: Michael Patrick Shiels displayed his woeful short game at courses around the world while maintaining his career as an international golf and travel writer. That is, until writing this book, during which his handicap improved five strokes.
Golf’s Short Game For Dummies is his fifth book. The Los Angeles Times called his Good Bounces & Bad Lies, written with Emmy Award-winning golf announcer Ben Wright, “perhaps the best sports book ever,” and a Washington Times review sardonically compared Shiels and Wright to Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Shiels’ first book, a biography of famed Detroit radio host J.P. McCarthy, was a regional bestseller that received praise from Jack Nicklaus, Larry King, and Frank Sinatra, Jr. Shiels also penned Works of Art: The Golf Course Designs of Arthur Hills.
His travel articles have appeared in publications such as Golf Magazine, Travel + Leisure Golf, www.pgatour.com , Sports Illustrated, Northwest World Traveler Magazine, Bermuda Royal Gazette, and the Honolulu Star Bulletin, and he’s written scripts for The Golf Channel and ESPN. Shiels has traveled the world — from Thailand to the Middle East to his beloved ancestral Republic of Ireland in search of rich stories to tell. You can contact Michael at Mshiels@aol.com .
Michael Kernicki: A PGA member for over 25 years, Michael Kernicki has spent most of his career as a Head Golf Professional and General Manager at some of America’s finest golf clubs. He was twice named Golf Professional of the Year by the Michigan PGA and has received other PGA awards. Kernicki has served as a member of the PGA of America National Board of Directors and on the Rules of Golf Committee, where he has administered the rules at 13 PGA Championships.
Noted for his knowledge of the golf swing, he has instructed at Teaching and Playing workshops around the country and has authored several articles about the golf swing and the short game.
Today Michael is the Head Golf Professional at one of the nation’s most prominent country clubs, Indian Creek Country Club in Miami Beach, Florida. As a daily routine, Michael teaches the short game and the golf swing in the most simple and logical manner. His primary objective is for his students to enjoy the game while they improve and make golf a game for a lifetime.
Michael Patrick Shiels: To my eight-year-old son Harrison Ambrose Shiels, a giant-hearted little boy who, at the age of two, aced his first-ever hole of mini-golf at Pirate Golf on International Drive in Orlando.
Michael Kernicki: To my father, Walter Kernicki, for the tools you provided for golf and life.
Thank you to Stacy Kennedy, the For Dummies acquisitions editor who envisioned the flight plan and got “Short Game” off the ground. Project editor Mike Baker was the architect with the shot clock, and copy editor Josh Dials put the finesse in our swings. Kennedy, Baker, and Dials are a “Wiley” bunch indeed! Photojournalist Ginny Dixon staged and shot the action at the famed Indian Creek County Club in Miami Beach, and you can see more of her work at www.ginnydixonphotos.com . Finally, thanks to the legendary PGA professional Dick Stewart, who has long lorded over Kalamazoo Country Club, for serving as technical consultant.
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/ .
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development
Project Editor: Mike Baker
Acquisitions Editor: Stacy Kennedy
Copy Editor: Josh Dials
Technical Reviewer: Dick Stewart
Senior Permissions Editor: Carmen Krikorian
Senior Editorial Manager: Jennifer Ehrlich
Editorial Assistants: Hanna Scott, Nadine Bell
Cover Photos: ©David Madison/ Getty Images/Stone
Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com )
Composition Services
Project Coordinator: Emily Wichlinski
Layout and Graphics: Barry Offringa, Jacque Roth, Heather Ryan, Amanda Spagnuolo
Special Art: Ginny Dixon
Proofreaders: Leeann Harney, Jessica Kramer, Carl Pierce, TECHBOOKS Production Services
Indexer: Aptara
Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies
Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies
Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies
Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel
Brice Gosnell, Associate Publisher, Travel
Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel
Publishing for Technology Dummies
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User
Composition Services
Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
Title
Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
What You’re Not to Read
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I : Walking the Short Game
Chapter 1: Sharpening Your Approach
Approaching the Short Game Statistically
Approaching the Short Game Athletically
Giving Yourself the Best Shot
Making Practice a Priority
Avoiding Common Misfires
Chapter 2: Discerning the Short Game Certainties
Recognizing the Peril and the Opportunity
Viewing the Variables: Terrain and Conditions
Understanding Your Options
Weighing Your Goals and Expectations
Playing in the Subconscious
Zeroing In On the Target Line
Grasping the Importance of Feel
Obeying the Captain: Allowing Your Front Hand to Lead
Centering on Ball Position
Chapter 3: Gearing Up for the Short Game
Going Short-Game Clubbing
Sorting Through the Short Sticks
Calling All Putters Great and Small
Finding the Putter That Fits You
Caring for Your Putter
Part II : The Long and Short of It: Short Game Technique
Chapter 4: Chipping Off the Ol’ Block
Discovering the Chip
Choosing the Chip over the Putt
Picking Your Chipping Tool
Chipping Goals and Expectations
Mapping Out a Chip-Shot Strategy
Hitting a Chip Shot
Too Close for Comfort: Paul Runyan’s Greenside Chip Trick
Chapter 5: Pitch, Pitch, Pitch
Distinguishing the Pitch Shot
Covering Distance and Avoiding Hazards
Pitching Club Preference
Pitching Goals and Expectations
Planning Your Pitch-Shot Strategy
Hitting a Pitch Shot
Pitching a Fit over Additional Complications
Chapter 6: Climbing Bunker Hill
Setting Your Bunker Goals and Expectations
Avoiding an Explosion
Hitting a Bunker Shot
Executing Bunker Shots from Troubled Lies
Chapter 7: Putting Your Best Foot Forward
Tossing Your Putting Prejudice Aside
Recognizing the Importance of Putting Skills
Putting Goals and Expectations
Rolling with the Fundamentals
Reading the Break of the Greens
Part III : Short Game Strategies
Chapter 8: Waging (and Wedging) a Ground Campaign
Gaining an Advantage by Keeping the Ball Low
Pitching and Running
Discovering the Famed Texas Wedge
Holding the Green
Pulling the Pin . . . or Leaving It In?
Chapter 9: Selecting Putting Strategies and Remedies
Becoming a Great Putter
Settling on a Style
Watching Your Speed
Conquering Speedy Breaks
Defeating the Yips and Other Putting Maladies
Chapter 10: Taking an Unconventional Approach
Chipping with a 3-Wood
Putting from Bunkers
Putting without a Putter
Playing from a Cart Path
Bellying the Wedge
Splishing After You Splash
Hitting Lefty (or Righty)
Rehearsing the Unconventional
Chapter 11: Flipping to Flop
Focusing On the Flop Shot
Choosing to Hit a Flop Shot
Playing a Flop Shot
Deciding Against the Flop Shot
Chapter 12: Keeping Your Head in the Game
Regrouping When the Wheels Come Off
Weathering the Heat of the Moment
Practicing Visualization
Staying Positive with Self Talk
Dispelling the Clouds of Doubt
Pacing Your Swing with a Phrase
Part IV : Short Cuts to the Short Game
Chapter 13: Warming Up to the Short Game
Limbering Up Before You Play or Practice
Practicing Like You Play
Preparing before a Round
Chapter 14: The Games People Play
Pitching for Dollars
“Horse-ing” Around
Bingo, Bango, Bongo (Jingles)
Snake
Eight in a Row
First to Make Five
Chapter 15: Tricks and Treats: Techniques and Tools to Improve Your Game
Riding the Range
Practicing in the Sand and on the Green
Improving at Home
Chapter 16: Learning from the Stars
Feeling like Seve Ballesteros
Escaping (Not Sleeping in) Bunkers like Gary Player
Living Hard and Playing Soft like John Daly
Scrambling like Lee Trevino
Putting like Ben Crenshaw
Finishing like Annika Sorenstam
Yipping like Johnny Miller
Part V : The Part of Tens
Chapter 17: Ten Simple Secrets of Short-Shot Success
Play in the Subconscious
Be Aware of the Clubface
Swing Along the Target Line
Maintain Consistent Speed
Salute the Lead Hand as the Captain
Let the Ball Get in the Way
Follow Through
Keep Realistic Expectations
Roll the Ball on the Ground
Recognize that Every Putt is Straight
Chapter 18: Ten Ways You Can Practice Off the Course
Putt on Your Carpet
Watch Golf on Television
Get Attached to Your Wedge
Chip into the Drapes
Bulk Up
Visualize Good Shots
Review Your Scorecard
Clean Up Your Act
Play Other Sports and Games
Read This Book When Necessary
Chapter 19: Ten of the Greatest Short Shots Ever
Tway at the PGA
Mize at the Masters
Hail Hale!
Rocca Rocks the British Open
The Million-Dollar Ace
Watson Plunders Pebble
Leonard Lets Loose
Lanny Lands the Cup
One Small Shot for Mankind
Payne’s Putts at Pinehurst
Chapter 20: Ten Great Short Game Golf Courses
The Old Course at St. Andrews: Fife, Scotland
Pinehurst #2: Pinehurst, North Carolina
Stadium Course, TPC at Sawgrass: Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Ballybunion Old Course: County Kerry, Ireland
Threetops at Treetops Resort: Gaylord, Michigan
Strategic Fox, Fox Hills Golf Club: Plymouth, Michigan
Indian Creek Country Club: Miami Beach, Florida
The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort: Charleston, South Carolina
Augusta National Golf Club: Augusta, Georgia
Club de Golf Valderrama: San Roque, Cadiz, Spain
If we mention the term professional golfer to you, what image immediately comes to mind? Most likely you envision Tiger Woods taking a vicious swipe at the ball or Greg Norman bravely sweeping through the ball with his blonde locks flowing out from under his hat. You probably think of strong Tour players hitting big, booming drives that soar through the sky like guided missiles.
But even professional, tournament golf has an old and trusty adage: “You drive for show, but you putt for dough.” Often you hear a player who wins a tournament say, “I won because the putts just started falling for me this week.” No player ever won a tournament by hitting the ball the farthest from the tee. Players win tournaments at the opposite end of the hole — by hitting the ball close to the flagstick and making putts.
Take it from the pros: You can win more of your amateur tournaments and friendly matches by hitting the ball closer to the hole and giving yourself better chances to make putts. And you can improve your enjoyment of the game by improving your performance. An improved performance results in lower scores. And you can most immediately improve your performance and your scores by improving your short game.
Although most average players place a great deal of emphasis on how long a player can hit a golf ball, you use the driver from the tee only 14 times per round on a golf course. By contrast, you use your putter and short irons for as many as 50 percent of the total strokes. Players who strive to break 90 have a much better chance of realizing their goal if they come to the realization that they can save many, many more strokes by improving their short games instead of placing so much emphasis on the long ball. Chicks may dig the long ball, but as any dummy can tell . . .
The secret of golf satisfaction is in the short game.
Every player likes to bang the ball with a driver, just like the kid at the carnival who tries to hit the bell with the sledgehammer. But standing at the driving range and belting pills gets you one thing — blisters.
Tiger Woods and John Daly may slug majestic, rising drives over 300 yards, but the average player has trouble equaling that kind of prowess. For most of us, the short game is the great equalizer. Something that we can do as well as the pros. For all their power, long hitting players like Woods wouldn’t be as successful without equally impressive short-game skills — skills that average players can, indeed, acquire. You’ve likely heard Woods being tagged with the best-short-game-on-the-planet label, and if you’ve watched Daly, you’ve listened to announcers marvel at his touch around the greens. That part of their games you can emulate and even equal!
Convincing people to spend time at the practice green rather than the driving range is a tall order, but a spoonful of sugar can help the medicine go down, and we’ve written Golf’s Short Game For Dummies to serve as an invigorating elixir for players seeking to improve their golf games.
Because many instructional books are as boring as the thought of practice itself, we wrote this book to entertain and excite you about developing and showing off your short game. Soon after you open the book and hit the practice facility, you can start winning bets and impressing your opponents.
This book details not only the specific types of shots and how to execute them but also relives stories of some of the greatest short game shots ever hit and shows you what you can learn from golf’s biggest stars.
You find drills, tips, secrets, visualizations, and bits of advice that you can use immediately and that inspire you to go back to Golf’s Short Game For Dummies time and time again for refreshers.
To help you navigate through this book, we use the following conventions:
We use Italic for emphasis and to highlight new words or terms that we define in the text.
We use Boldfaced text to indicate keywords in bulleted lists or the action part of numbered steps.
We use Monofont for Web addresses.
We dedicate most of Golf’s Short Game For Dummies to improving your play by improving your short game. We put some of the other historical asides and stories in sidebars throughout the book. You don’t have to read these asides to understand the text, but you certainly can: Reading them may inspire you or provide you with some vivid examples to help your visualization.
If you’re reading this book, we assume you have more than a passing interest in golf and more than a little desire to refine your game and improve your scores. You probably have your own golf clubs and know the difference between a 9-iron and a 4-wood. You know what your favorite golf courses are and can recognize a tough hole or an easy green. You like to go out and play with some friends, and you want to get a competitive edge over them. You likely understand enough golf lingo to be able to handle any of the terms we use in this book.
If you’re a true beginner, we can surely help you develop your short game. But you should also consider picking up Golf For Dummies (Wiley), written by Champions Tour player and CBS Television golf announcer Gary McCord. His text can familiarize you with the game and help if you’re having trouble with golf shots outside of the short game.
We organize Golf’s Short Game For Dummies so that you can look through the table of contents and immediately find the help or instruction you need to hit a specific type of shot. If you have trouble with bunker shots, you can flip directly to the bunker shot chapter and read all about the technique and execution needed to play effectively from the sand. We lay out the basic nuts and bolts for you in plain “golf speak” (admittedly, a variation of English!).
You can also delve into discussions on equipment, strategy, unconventional shots, drills, practice techniques, and philosophies about the short game by turning to other chapters of the book. We have chapters that tell you which golf stars to emulate and what golf courses are best to test your short game on! You can even read about how to stretch and limber up properly before any round of golf or practice session.
Part I of Golf’s Short Game For Dummies is all about reintroducing you to the short game. We show you that it doesn’t have to be all that complicated. With some practice, you can begin knocking strokes off your score in no time by avoiding some common mistakes we all make. We also present a new way of thinking about the short game — broken down into two parts: fundamentals and preferences. We conclude Part I by dumping out that bag and taking a closer look at the golf clubs you use for short shots. The short game relies on fundamentals and preferences, and you have plenty of options in terms of clubs and equipment.
In this part, we present the technique and execution of the fundamentals of approach shots via the short game: chipping, pitching, bunker shots, and putting. This part spells out the basics and gives you the fundamental techniques you need to improve your short game. The good news is an effective short game isn’t as tough to achieve as you may think. This part shows you why.
Part III reveals the strategies behind the fundamentals of chipping, pitching, bunker play, and putting and also gives you fixes if your game has gone astray. What should you be thinking when faced with a certain shot? Can you use a more effective variation of the shot? How can you putt more efficiently and take your green game to the next level? Should you hit the ball high or keep it low? What can choking down on a golf club do for you? How can you shape the shot and affect its outcome? What are some unconventional short-game shots you may encounter or unconventional techniques you may want to work into your repertoire? We have the answers. Also, you can meet the infamous flop shot and receive a host of tips and tricks for getting your mind right and your head in the game.
We’re all about practice. But we’re all about practicing with a purpose and making sure that practice stays fun. In this part, we help you warm up with proven pre-round and practice routines to get you prepared for the short game ahead. We provide a bunch of games you can play to keep things interesting while you practice and a number of practice implements and aids that you can use without spending a fortune on various gadgets and expensive equipment. We also help you transform time on the couch and time spent watching the game in person into productive practice time by outlining what you can learn from the stars.
Part V is a fun Dummies tradition — the Part of Tens. Here we outline 10 simple secrets for short game success, cover 10 things you can do off the golf course to improve your short game, relive 10 of the greatest short shots ever, and present 10 great short game golf courses.
The icons we use in this book are carefully placed little graphics to help you identify specific, important information in the text. You can flip through the book and read only the passages with icons to get a bare-bones cache of valuable short-game information. You find the following icons throughout the book:
.jpg)
Golf’s Short Game For Dummies isn’t a book that you need to read “A to Zed.” You can start anywhere you want and go directly to the information you find valuable or compelling. You can get yourself out onto the golf course and into the action by reading the techniques and trying them out. Go ahead and climb right into the saddle if you want. We advise practicing the techniques first, of course, before you challenge the club champion.
If you want, you can read the entire book for an overview of our full short-game philosophy and outlook on technique. All the shots — chips, pitches, bunker plays, and putts — are related to each other through motor skills and the fundamental of acceleration at contact.
Where to go from here? Anywhere you want!
In this part . . .
D rop that driver! Come over from the dark side and experience the force of the short game. You’ll be wielding your pitching wedge like a light sabre after you realize the importance of the short game and start improving yours. Part I gives you an overview of the short game universe and gets you geared up to practice and play.