Golf.com https://golf.com en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.1 https://golf.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/cropped-favicon-512x512-1-32x32.png prosteachingjoes – Golf https://golf.com 32 32 https://golf.com/?post_type=article&p=15523641 Tue, 22 Aug 2023 01:39:17 +0000 <![CDATA[3 keys for hitting off a downhill lie, according to a Masters champion]]> On this edition of Pros Teaching Joes, 2008 Masters winner Trevor Immelman shares the keys to hitting off a downhill lie.

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https://golf.com/instruction/hit-downhill-lie-trevor-immelman/ On this edition of Pros Teaching Joes, 2008 Masters winner Trevor Immelman shares the keys to hitting off a downhill lie.

The post 3 keys for hitting off a downhill lie, according to a Masters champion appeared first on Golf.

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On this edition of Pros Teaching Joes, 2008 Masters winner Trevor Immelman shares the keys to hitting off a downhill lie.

The post 3 keys for hitting off a downhill lie, according to a Masters champion appeared first on Golf.

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Golf shots are rarely hit under perfect conditions. Every strike you put on the ball has some sort of variable that makes hitting the shot that much harder. Whether it’s wind, lie or stance, something will be a little off, forcing you to make adjustments to hit the proper shot.

This is true even at the most famous courses in the world. Take Augusta National, for example. Although the grounds are pristine as they come, the land has some funky contours. Even in the fairway at Augusta, you’ll rarely have a flat lie.

The 10th hole is a prime example. With a routing that takes players from the high point of the property near the clubhouse down a hill to the green, the second shot is typically played off a downhill lie. If a player wants to claim a green jacket, they must have success off all sorts of awkward lies.

Jim Furyk gives a golf lesson
Pros Teaching Joes: Jim Furyk’s 3 range tips to be a better ball-striker
By: Darren Riehl

Trevor Immelman knows this fact well. During his march to a Masters victory in 2008, he was forced to hit off numerous uphill, downhill and sidehill lies from the fairway — and he had a fair amount of success, too. By Sunday night, he was donning the green jacket after holding off Tiger Woods and a host of other contenders.

With such success on the awkward slopes of Augusta National, we asked Immelman to give us a few tips for hitting off downhill lies in this edition of Pros Teaching Joes. Check out the video above, or read below for more.

3 keys for hitting off downhill lies

1. Low — and long — takeaway

With your ball on a downhill lie, it’s easy to get your weight over your front foot and forget to finish your backswing. To combat this, Immelman likes to focus on a takeaway that’s low to the ground, putting an emphasis on making sure to finish the backswing.

“Try to make sure that the takeaway stays nice and low,” Immelman says. “Because then I can still complete my turn and not rush the transition. What I would find, like I said, is pick it up, not turning enough, you’re hanging on your left side, and then as you start to transition you’re way in front of the ball and clubface management becomes difficult.”

2. Don’t try to help the ball up

It can be hard to get the proper height on your shot from a downhill lie. With the club delofted a bit and your weight so far forward, the ball will tend to come out low. But that’s ok. As Immelman explains, you don’t need to try to help the ball up. That, he says, will only lead to even more issues.

“Don’t try and help it up,” Immelman says. “Because a lot of times then you’re going to be moving backwards and you’re going to hit behind the ball and lose all of that contact.”

3. Move with the slope

The final thing to keep in mind when hitting off a downslope is to swing with the slope. This means your weight should be shifting with the slope to keep the low point in your swing consistent.

“Once you’ve done that stuff we spoke about with the backswing and you come down here, move with the slope,” Immelman says. “Don’t be afraid to drive it a little lower. It’s going to come out a little lower. As soon as you hang back, you’re going to lose the low point in your swing and your contact is going to suffer.”

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https://golf.com/?post_type=article&p=15521162 Thu, 13 Jul 2023 21:57:07 +0000 <![CDATA[3 tips to improve your short putts from an LPGA pro]]> In this edition of Pros Teaching Joes, LPGA pro Angel Yin gives three tips that will help improve your short-range putting.

The post 3 tips to improve your short putts from an LPGA pro appeared first on Golf.

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https://golf.com/instruction/putting/3-tips-improve-short-putts-lpga-pro/ In this edition of Pros Teaching Joes, LPGA pro Angel Yin gives three tips that will help improve your short-range putting.

The post 3 tips to improve your short putts from an LPGA pro appeared first on Golf.

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In this edition of Pros Teaching Joes, LPGA pro Angel Yin gives three tips that will help improve your short-range putting.

The post 3 tips to improve your short putts from an LPGA pro appeared first on Golf.

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Short putts will always be easier than lag putts, but they also come with more expectations. When you’re closer to the hole, you expect to make more putts, so when you don’t it can seriously mess with your psyche.

Once you miss a few shorties, your confidence will plummet. Self-belief is everything in golf — especially on the greens — and keeping it high is a must.

GOLF.com’s own Jessica Marksbury knows this fact well. Despite being a former collegiate golfer, her confidence on short putts has been shaken in recent years, and it’s had a detrimental effect on her putting — and her scorecard.

To help get her confidence back on the short ones, Marksbury teamed up with LPGA pro Angel Yin for a quick lesson to improve her short putting. Check out the video below, or continue reading for more.

1. Find the line

This might seem obvious, but sometimes when we get closer to the hole, it’s easy to ignore. Even when you’re within three feet of the hole, your line is immensely important. Short putts can have plenty of break to them, so you want to make sure you’re starting the ball on the correct line. Yin suggests standing behind the ball first to read the putt and then going into the rest of your routine.

lee trevino reads putt
Lee Trevino has a clever setup trick for making all short putts
By: Zephyr Melton

“Maybe just outside of [left edge],” Yin says. “Because it’s downhill, it’s gonna be a little faster so it’s gonna break a little more.”

2. Aim club down the line

Once you find the line you want to start the ball on, you need to aim your clubface properly. Even if you have the correct read, if you can’t aim correctly, it won’t matter. Yin explains that she likes to get her clubface aimed first and then step in and get her body aligned after that.

“I address first,” Yin says. “And then I square up my body.”

3. Focus on stroke

Instead of zeroing in on the hole, Yin likes to focus instead on the apex of the break on the putt. The intermediate target allows her to free herself up and make a committed stroke. From there all you need to do is focus on rolling the ball over the intermediate spot and watch as the ball breaks toward the hole.

“I will focus on that part and the speed it needs to reach [the apex],” Yin says. “So instead of looking at the hole, my point of focus is going to be a little further back.”

If you can follow these three steps, it should make holing the short putts much simpler.

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https://golf.com/?post_type=article&p=15519940 Fri, 23 Jun 2023 17:01:49 +0000 <![CDATA[I was terrified of my 60-degree wedge — until I got this lesson]]> Parker McLachlin, aka Short Game Chef, helps GOLF Instruction Editor Nick Dimengo hit crispy shots with a lob wedge around the green.

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https://golf.com/instruction/short-game/lob-wedge-tips-parker-mclachlin-pros-teaching-joes/ Parker McLachlin, aka Short Game Chef, helps GOLF Instruction Editor Nick Dimengo hit crispy shots with a lob wedge around the green.

The post I was terrified of my 60-degree wedge — until I got this lesson appeared first on Golf.

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Parker McLachlin, aka Short Game Chef, helps GOLF Instruction Editor Nick Dimengo hit crispy shots with a lob wedge around the green.

The post I was terrified of my 60-degree wedge — until I got this lesson appeared first on Golf.

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Soon after I started playing golf I defaulted to using a pitching wedge anytime I got around the green. It seemed comfortable, and, rather than risk mishitting a lob wedge, I figured it was my best opportunity to land on the green — even if it did often result in a ball that rolled eight, 10 or 15 feet past the hole.

But after a quick lesson with Parker McLachlin, aka Short Game Chef, my mindset completely changed.

In today’s Pros Teaching Joes, McLachlin not only shows me the proper setup and swing to use a lob wedge, but, by doing so, gives me the confidence to make it my go-to club around the putting surface.

So if you’re someone who just always grabs pitching wedge, 8-iron or something else near the green, take a look at the video above to see why you could be costing yourself shots — and why the lob wedge can help you hit crispier chips with pro-style backspin.

McLachlin’s tips for using a lob wedge

As McLachlin mentions in the video, my short game has always been “a little bit one dimensional.” That’s because I wasn’t expanding my horizons and just figured that pitching wedge was the safer club to hit.

He adds, “I don’t think you’re alone in that. I think there’s a lot of amateurs that do that.”

So how can you gain trust in the lob wedge? The first thing McLachlin does is explain the benefits of the higher-lofted wedge — especially for a shot that I was about to take, which had a steep hill that I needed to clear to reach (and stay) on the green.

“The other disadvantage to using this pitching wedge is that we are going up the hill,” he tells me. “So if you don’t get it up this hill, and you don’t carry it over the hill, there’s a good chance this is rolling back to your feet. This could add 1-2 more strokes to your game.”

parker mclachlin hits chip shot
4 myths costing you shots around the greens, according to a short-game expert
By: Nick Dimengo

After reassuring me that hitting a pitching wedge is actually riskier than hitting a lob wedge, McLachlin has me hit a few chips to analyze where I can improve.

“Here, try the 60-degree [lob wedge]. I think there’s a lot of good things in your motion,” McLachlin says. “You don’t have to put the ball position so far forward. With that pitching wedge, you had to put that ball forward to add loft to it.

“Let’s use the 60-degree, and put the ball position a little more middle; closer to your sternum. You don’t have to open the face as much, feet are closer together, and the ball position can go a little bit more to the middle. Weight position is pretty neutral. Now make your normal swing from there.”

After I hit my first shot with the lob wedge, the ball sails on me a little bit — with McLachlin saying I just hit the ball first a little too much. This is where he wants me to focus on turf interaction on my next attempt.

“Overall, that actually wasn’t that bad,” he says. “You should feel like you’re just brushing this grass here on the way through.”

Taking his advice, I hit my next shot just like the pros do — and put some killer backspin on it to sit perfectly on the green.

“Beautiful! Oh my god, look at that thing stop on a dime!”

After hitting a shot that felt more natural, I voice a little concern over getting accustomed to my swing power with a 60-degree lob wedge. McLachlin shuts down those concerns and says the hardest part will be trusting my club choice by incorporating more turf interaction.

Dealing with a tricky plugged bunker shot? Try these nifty tips from Parker McLachlin, aka Short Game Chef, to see more effective results
Dealing with a plugged bunker shot? Try these nifty tips from a short-game star
By: Nick Dimengo

“The power part is going to be easy, right? I want to make sure that your turf interaction is good. Because you have a higher-lofted club, the leading edge can sort of pay you a visit more than you want it to,” he says.

“I felt like, with the pitching wedge, you had the ball so far back in your stance that you’re trying to lean back to try and get some loft on it.”

This is where it comes down to trust and confidence, relying on the lob wedge’s loft to hit the shot I want.

“Use the loft from the 60-degree [lob wedge], make your normal type of swing, and you saw the thing come out high, land soft, and it actually spun for you. So that adds another dimension to your short game, which is exciting.”

Remember, seeing a successful shot with a lob wedge boils down to setup and club positioning. And, in many cases, less is more — so McLachlin reminds me that I don’t need to do anything extreme.

“Just because you have a 60-degree [lob wedge] doesn’t mean you need to set up really wide and open the face. With a 60-degree, you can still have feet close together, and you can have the face fairly square. You don’t have to feel like you need to go to the extreme just because you grabbed your 60-degree.”

If you’re interested in seeing more from the Short Game Chef, check out McLachlin’s website, where you’ll find more ingredients to help improve your game around the green.

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https://golf.com/?post_type=article&p=15519679 Mon, 19 Jun 2023 23:06:42 +0000 <![CDATA[Pros Teaching Joes: Leona Maguire's keys to hitting fairway woods that soar]]> Two-time LPGA champ Leona Maguire knows a thing or two about hitting solid shots. So, I enlisted her advice on how to master fairway woods.

The post Pros Teaching Joes: Leona Maguire’s keys to hitting fairway woods that soar appeared first on Golf.

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https://golf.com/instruction/pros-teaching-joes-hitting-fairway-woods-that-soar/ Two-time LPGA champ Leona Maguire knows a thing or two about hitting solid shots. So, I enlisted her advice on how to master fairway woods.

The post Pros Teaching Joes: Leona Maguire’s keys to hitting fairway woods that soar appeared first on Golf.

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Two-time LPGA champ Leona Maguire knows a thing or two about hitting solid shots. So, I enlisted her advice on how to master fairway woods.

The post Pros Teaching Joes: Leona Maguire’s keys to hitting fairway woods that soar appeared first on Golf.

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No matter which tees you play, developing a good relationship with your fairway woods is an important part of the game.

Even though I’m in full tee-it-forward mode these days, I find that fairway woods still comprise a good percentage of my shots — especially now that I carry a 7-wood.

There’s only one problem: Fairway woods can be a difficult clubs to master. My misses tend to be thin shots or drop-kicks — never a fun feeling when you’re already a fair distance from the hole, and likely have a hazard of some kind to clear en route to the green.

That’s why I enlisted Leona Maguire for some guidance. The 28-year-old Irishwoman knows a thing or two about solid shots, having just claimed her second career victory on the LPGA Tour on Sunday at the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan.

Maguire gave me four simple keys to focus on to ensure I hit a high, soaring shot with my fairway woods every time.

How to hit high, soaring fairway woods, according to Leona Maguire

lpga golfer celine boutier
How to hit a draw (and a fade!) with simple setup tweaks, according to an LPGA winner
By: Zephyr Melton

1. Let the club’s loft do the work

“The biggest thing with this club, it has so much loft, I don’t have to help it in the air,” Maguire said.

2. Move the ball slightly forward

Maguire recommended using a neutral setup, with the ball positioned slightly forward in the stance.

“Then I’m just able to swing it normally like I would with any of the woods,” she said. “And it just pops right in the air for me, which is nice.”

I’ll say!

Maguire made it look so easy. I decided to give it a go myself, and invited Maguire to roast me.

The shot was okay — not my best, not a complete hack. It was solid but a bit snipey, something that may have ended up in a bunker. It certainly lacked the gorgeous, soaring trajectory of Maguire’s.

“The tendency with those woods is, we kind of lean back and try to scoop it up into the air, try to help it up,” Maguire said. “But actually the club has enough loft that you don’t have to do that.”

3. Stand closer to the ball

Kyle Berkshire and Jessica Marksbury
Pros Teaching Joes: How long-drive champ Kyle Berkshire helped me gain 8 yards in two swings
By: Jessica Marksbury

Maguire thought I was standing a bit too far away from the ball, so she encouraged me to scoot a tad closer.

4. Drop the hands

Because I was standing a bit far from the ball, I was also reaching — another no-no. Maguire suggested dropping my hands a bit, which happened naturally when I stood the correct distance from the ball.

I addressed the ball as Maguire told me to, and wouldn’t you know it: I smoked it! Amazing!!

The trajectory was high, just like I wanted.

“One and done,” Maguire said with a laugh. “I think that’s enough for my teaching.”

My sudden improvement was unsurprising for Maguire, though.

“Little tweaks to your setup, then you have to make manipulations throughout your swing,” she said. “It might be a little awkward to start, but it actually should be a lot more natural and comfortable position.”

Well hey, when you’re spot on, you’re spot on. Maguire clearly knows what she’s talking about, and hopefully you can benefit from her instruction the same way I did. For more from Maguire, check out the full video of our lesson above, and for more tips from the game’s best, check out our entire collection of Pros Teaching Joes videos.

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https://golf.com/?post_type=article&p=15517625 Wed, 24 May 2023 19:48:32 +0000 <![CDATA[How to hit a draw (and a fade!) with simple setup tweaks, according to an LPGA winner]]> On this episode of Pros Teaching Joes, three-time LPGA Tour winner Celine Boutier shows you how to shape the ball both ways.

The post How to hit a draw (and a fade!) with simple setup tweaks, according to an LPGA winner appeared first on Golf.

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https://golf.com/instruction/pros-teaching-joes-celine-boutier-draw-fade/ On this episode of Pros Teaching Joes, three-time LPGA Tour winner Celine Boutier shows you how to shape the ball both ways.

The post How to hit a draw (and a fade!) with simple setup tweaks, according to an LPGA winner appeared first on Golf.

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On this episode of Pros Teaching Joes, three-time LPGA Tour winner Celine Boutier shows you how to shape the ball both ways.

The post How to hit a draw (and a fade!) with simple setup tweaks, according to an LPGA winner appeared first on Golf.

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Shaping ball flight is a key skill in elite players’ tool bags. While weekend warriors are just trying to keep the ball in bounds, top players are thinking about not only hitting the ball close, but also the best shot shape to get it there.

There are two basic shot shapes in golf — a draw and a fade. The former moves right to left, and the latter left to right. Simple, right? Well, yes and no.

Most golfers — even novices — can reliably curve the ball in one direction or the other. The difficulty comes when trying to hit the ball the other direction. If you can hit a fade (or a slice), hitting a draw isn’t easy, or so it seems. In reality, though, shaping the ball both directions is simpler than it appears.

In this episode of Pros Teaching Joes, we’re joined by three-time LPGA Tour winner Celine Boutier, who shows us the basics of shaping the ball both ways. Check out the video above, or read below for more.

How to hit a draw

The high draw is a shot that every golfer wishes they had in their bag. Not only is it a beautiful shape, but it’s also useful for accessing pesky tucked pins. And while hitting a draw seems like it’d be difficult, in reality all it takes is a few setup tweaks.

When you step up to the ball, you want to aim your stance a bit to the right of the target. Next, you’ll need to aim your clubface at the target, meaning it will be a little closed in relation to your stance. Once you have the setup down, all you need to do is swing along your stance line and make sure you release your hands as you swing through impact.

“You’ll aim a little bit more right and have your stance a little bit more closed,” Boutier says. “Then swing where your feet are aimed. And then during impact you want to release your hands a little bit.”

If you follow these steps, your ball should start right of the target and draw back toward the pin.

How to hit a fade

Hitting a fade is much easier for most golfers, but the issue is they can’t consistently control it. Much like a draw, though, all you need to do to hit a controlled fade is change a few things in your setup.

The setup for a fade is basically the exact opposite of what you do for a draw. Line up with your stance open to the target line and then aim your clubface at the target. Once again, you’ll want to swing along your stance line, but this time, hold off your release a bit longer as you swing through impact.

“Just like a normal swing with my stance,” Boutier says. “But I will try to keep my hands a little bit more passive towards impact so I can leave the clubface a little open.”

If done correctly, the ball should start just left of your target line and work back toward the pin.

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https://golf.com/?post_type=article&p=15515370 Fri, 28 Apr 2023 15:47:46 +0000 <![CDATA[I *finally* learned how to escape deep bunkers thanks to this short-game expert]]> Parker McLachlin, aka the Short Game Chef, shows GOLF Editor Nick Dimengo the tricks to hitting out of deep bunkers.

The post I *finally* learned how to escape deep bunkers thanks to this short-game expert appeared first on Golf.

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https://golf.com/instruction/bunker-shots/deep-bunker-shots-parker-mclachlin-pros-teaching-joes/ Parker McLachlin, aka the Short Game Chef, shows GOLF Editor Nick Dimengo the tricks to hitting out of deep bunkers.

The post I *finally* learned how to escape deep bunkers thanks to this short-game expert appeared first on Golf.

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Parker McLachlin, aka the Short Game Chef, shows GOLF Editor Nick Dimengo the tricks to hitting out of deep bunkers.

The post I *finally* learned how to escape deep bunkers thanks to this short-game expert appeared first on Golf.

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Ever since I started playing golf nearly 30 years ago, I always feared bunker shots. It wasn’t that I struggled hitting out of the sand, it was that I had no control of my shots. In my mind, just getting out was good enough. If my ball happened to land anywhere near my target, it was a major success.

Then I met Parker McLachlin, aka the Short Game Chef, who completely changed my mindset about playing from the sand.

So Yeon Ryu putting tips
Pros Teaching Joes: Do these 5 things to drill every 5-footer
By: Alan Bastable

In this episode of Pros Teaching Joes, McLachlin shows me the tricks to hitting out of deep bunkers. He provides me a quick and easy lesson about setting up properly, ball positioning, and clubface angle, giving me the tools to hit better shots from the sand — and with a little spin for good measure!

Take a look at his tips below, and see how they can change your bunker approach.

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Tips for escaping deep bunkers

First off, let me tell you how intimidated I was stepping into the deep bunker with McLachlin. As a 14-handicap, there are few traps I’ve even seen that menacing, let alone ones that I’ve successfully hit out of.

But with the proper approach from McLachlin, I didn’t just hit out of it, I dominated it! Here’s how you can do the same.

Dramatically open your clubface

By dramatically opening my clubface, McLachlin ensured more control of my deep bunker shots. Instead of fearing to overhit the ball and sail the green, the new clubface angle ideally removes that possibility.

“I’ve pretty much taken long out of play, so you don’t have to be afraid of going long anymore. Now you can swing as fast as you want, and smack the sand as hard as you want, without the fear of it going long like it did before. That’s our goal.”

Dig your feet in and make an extra wide stance

After hitting my shot out of the bunker — on the first try, I might add — McLachlin reassured me that the main reason was due to my setup and my wider stance. Getting low gave me more leverage to cut through the sand to get beneath the ball; something I couldn’t do with a more straightened posture.

“You want to get wide in here, number one, to lower your hands, but, number two, you want to create a stable base,” added McLachlin. “I’m not using my legs a ton in this shot; they’re there for support. I’m really using my arms and my hands, which are my main weapons in the bunker.”

Lower your handle for added loft

Like most amateurs probably do, I was trying to replicate my setup while inside the bunker the same way I would for shots from outside of it. But McLachlin quickly corrected this, showing me to lower the handle in my stance, which, in effect, causes the clubface to stay open in order to get under the ball.

“It’s added loft to the club, which will make the ball go higher,” McLachlin said. “The closer you are [with the club] to it, all of a sudden, this ball is going to come out fast. So we want to find a happy medium to add loft to address.”

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The post I *finally* learned how to escape deep bunkers thanks to this short-game expert appeared first on Golf.

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https://golf.com/?post_type=article&p=15515239 Wed, 26 Apr 2023 18:15:02 +0000 <![CDATA[How to putt with a wedge from a green's collar, according to a major winner]]> How do you hit a shot when your ball is against the collar of the green? Danielle Kang explains in this edition of Pros Teaching Joes.

The post How to putt with a wedge from a green’s collar, according to a major winner appeared first on Golf.

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https://golf.com/instruction/shot-greens-collar-danielle-kang-pros-teaching-joes/ How do you hit a shot when your ball is against the collar of the green? Danielle Kang explains in this edition of Pros Teaching Joes.

The post How to putt with a wedge from a green’s collar, according to a major winner appeared first on Golf.

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How do you hit a shot when your ball is against the collar of the green? Danielle Kang explains in this edition of Pros Teaching Joes.

The post How to putt with a wedge from a green’s collar, according to a major winner appeared first on Golf.

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Golf is a game of inches, and the difference between a good shot and a bad one can come down to the smallest of margins.

That’s particularly clear when your ball settles off the side of the green in the exact spot where the fringe meets the rough. This spot, referred to as the collar, is a particularly tricky area on every course. Although it’s just feet away from the putting surface, playing your ball from this area is anything but simple.

Celine Boutier simplified my short game in just a few minutes.
I hit chip shots with the LPGA’s latest winner — here’s what I learned
By: Dylan Dethier

When your ball is pressed up against the collar, there’s no easy way to approach the shot. Putting is very tricky because the rough won’t not allow you to make a smooth stroke. But chipping the ball also isn’t easy because the long grass will impact your ability to cleanly strike the ball. In other words, creativity is key.

For help with how to approach this shot, we enlisted major-winner Danielle Kang in this episode of Pros Teaching Joes. Check out the video at the top of the article, or read below for more.

1. Approach it like a putt

Kang explained that she wants these types of shots to come out like a putt would with topspin. But with the rough making using a putter impossible, she hits the shot with a wedge instead.

2. Use the toe of the club

Instead of hitting the ball with the center of the face, Kang wants to use the toe of the club for this shot. This takes away the “hotness” of the ball off the face, and helps eliminate backspin and promotes top spin.

3. Use a putting stroke

Although you’re using a wedge for this shot, you aren’t going to be using the same technique as your typical chip. You want to play the ball back in your stance and leave the heel of the club up. Choke up on the grip and try to hit a little bit down on the ball.

“It’s not like a chip,” Kang says. “It’s more of like a putting motion.”

4. Visualize your line

Once you get all the basic of the shot down, all that’s left is to visualize the line, commit, and hit the shot. Read the green like you would a putt, and imagine how the ball would roll out on the green. Play the shot like a putt and watch it track toward the center of the cup.

The post How to putt with a wedge from a green’s collar, according to a major winner appeared first on Golf.

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https://golf.com/?post_type=article&p=15510566 Wed, 29 Mar 2023 10:46:21 +0000 <![CDATA[I hit chip shots with the LPGA's latest winner — here's what I learned]]> Celine Boutier just won her third LPGA event thanks, in part, to a clutch up and down. She can simplify your short game, too.

The post I hit chip shots with the LPGA’s latest winner — here’s what I learned appeared first on Golf.

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https://golf.com/instruction/i-hit-chips-lpga-latest-winner-what-i-learned/ Celine Boutier just won her third LPGA event thanks, in part, to a clutch up and down. She can simplify your short game, too.

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Celine Boutier just won her third LPGA event thanks, in part, to a clutch up and down. She can simplify your short game, too.

The post I hit chip shots with the LPGA’s latest winner — here’s what I learned appeared first on Golf.

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On Sunday, Celine Boutier arrived at the 18th green at Superstition Mountain to face a particularly binary challenge.

Get up-and-down for birdie? She’d force a playoff with Georgia Hall. Fail to do so? She’d settle for T2, the latest in a string of near-misses for the French golfer.

I don’t know exactly how Boutier felt at the time. But I can tell you that watching, I had very little doubt what was about to happen. For one thing, she was already 6 for 7 in up-and-downs on the day. For another, I’d seen her hit this chip firsthand. Just a few weeks earlier, I’d gotten to spend some time with Boutier at an ADP shoot, where we chipped around for a while. So of course she got it up and down for birdie. And of course she birdied No. 18 again in the playoff to earn her third career LPGA Tour victory.

We filmed a few chip shots — and deep-dived Boutier’s approach — in an episode of Pros Teaching Joes which you can watch at the top of this article. I’ll run through what I learned about setting up for a basic chip shot below:

1. What club should you use?

Boutier favors a 58-degree wedge, praising its versatility. “You can flop it or you can run it,” she says.

2. What trajectory should your chip-shot take?

There’s no right answer, and your approach will vary based on the situation. But with plenty of room to let it run towards the hole with our chip, Boutier opted for a lower approach.

3. What should your setup look like?

Boutier moved the ball slightly back in her stance, somewhere between the middle and her back foot. She kept her weight slightly forward, with more on her left foot than her right. Her hands slightly ahead of the ball, matching her ball position. As for her swing? She focuses on rhythm; that’s the best way to control her distance. She used the word “neutral” to describe that rhythm. Easier said than done, of course.

“I don’t think it’s too complicated, it’s definitely something you have to practice a little bit, but there’s definitely not as much to it as people think,” she said.

4. Where should you aim?

Boutier says she stays relatively square to the target; her stance wasn’t crazy open or anything. This gets back to the ideas of neutral and simple. And she aims at a landing spot rather than aiming at the hole.

“I think people try to overthink sometimes in technique and shots. I like to be intuitive with it, look at your landing spot, have the right setup and let the club do its thing,” she says.

5. What happens when things go wrong?

You’re not alone! Boutier’s tendency is to take the club away too fast, forcing her to decelerate or else blast the chip long. A slower, more tempered takeaway sets her up for success. She’s learned that through repetition, both at home and in pressure situations.

6. How’d you do?

Thanks for asking! Things went great in my “Joes” portion. I tried to keep my stance square. My hands slightly forward. Boutier had me switch from a 54-degree wedge to a 60 and move the ball slightly back to help deloft it. I focused on a slow takeaway. I thought neutral thoughts. And while I might have scooped it just a touch, the ball ran out towards the hole.

There was no way my second attempt would have lived up to the first, so I went one-and-done. But watch Celine’s advice above and feel your own approach simplify. Even if your up-and-downs are slightly lower stakes.

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https://golf.com/?post_type=article&p=15508969 Tue, 28 Feb 2023 22:08:54 +0000 <![CDATA[I played pickleball against two LPGA pros — here's how it went]]> We flipped the script on our Pros Teaching Joes series as a couple GOLF.com staffers took on LPGA pros in a game of pickleball.

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https://golf.com/instruction/pickleball-joes-teaching-pros/ We flipped the script on our Pros Teaching Joes series as a couple GOLF.com staffers took on LPGA pros in a game of pickleball.

The post I played pickleball against two LPGA pros — here’s how it went appeared first on Golf.

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We flipped the script on our Pros Teaching Joes series as a couple GOLF.com staffers took on LPGA pros in a game of pickleball.

The post I played pickleball against two LPGA pros — here’s how it went appeared first on Golf.

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It’s not often you can force a pro golfer outside their comfort zone. After all, part of being an elite athlete comes from adaptability to adversity. Operating in high-stress environments is an integral part of the job description. Largely, these players are unflappable.

But on a sunny Monday morning in Orlando last month, we tried flipping the script.

The venue was the USTA Training Center. The sport was pickleball. And the unflappable experts (at least in theory) were a couple GOLF.com staffers — not the professional golfers.

For the last couple years, our brand has featured an ongoing video series called Pros Teaching Joes, where professional golfers teach us a thing or two about playing the game at a top level. But for this outing we decided to flip that idea on its head. What could the Joes teach the Pros?

That’s how we ended up on a pickleball court in central Florida with LPGA pros Danielle Kang and Celine Boutier. They’d just finished playing in their season opener the day before, but before they left town, they agreed to drop by the USTA Training Center to take a lesson from us on the mastery of pickleball.

The catch, of course, is that “expertise” would be far too generous a term for our own pickleball excellence. Kang and Boutier were complete newbies to the sport, but they picked up on it quick. And once they got the rules down, their competitive instincts kicked in and they were out for blood. We might’ve been the “experts,” but our lack of experience in pressure situations came back to haunt us. Not long after we introduced Kang and Boutier to the sport, they were celebrating a victory over the GOLF.com squad.

“It was supposed to be the joes teaching the pros something for once,” my partner Dylan Dethier lamented. “But it just didn’t work out that way.”

Results aside, the best part of the day came in a break in the action, when we got to chat with Kang and Boutier at the net. We might not have gotten them out of their comfort zone — but we did get them having fun, talking trash and reflecting on how their lives away from the golf course intersect with their on-course work. That was worth the on-court defeat.

Check out the entire video above.

Content created in partnership with ADP.

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https://golf.com/?post_type=article&p=15503747 Wed, 14 Dec 2022 21:57:30 +0000 <![CDATA[6 things I learned about lag putting from Gary Player]]> Gary Player's simple and effective tips to stop three-putting helped my game, and they can help yours, too.

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https://golf.com/instruction/putting-lesson-with-gary-player/ Gary Player's simple and effective tips to stop three-putting helped my game, and they can help yours, too.

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Gary Player's simple and effective tips to stop three-putting helped my game, and they can help yours, too.

The post 6 things I learned about lag putting from Gary Player appeared first on Golf.

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I pretty much gave up all hope on ever becoming a good putter sometime in 2021. I could go a few consecutive holes per round without any big mistakes, but once the wheels fell off it was game over.

To know me is to know that I’m a three-putter, and I had just about fully accepted that until I met up with Gary Player this fall at the Berenberg Invitational. It turns out all I needed was a few minutes with The Black Knight to improve my game on the greens.

Player’s tips to stop three-putting were simple and helpful, which is exactly what a golfer like me needed. And I’m sure they can help you, too.

I’ve spent years of my life lining up the line on my ball with my putt, but Player offered a much simpler suggestion: put the logo of your golf ball right where you strike the ball. Focus on striking the logo and you’ll make more solid contact.

2. Keep your head down through impact

Player says that most weekend golfers follow the ball with their eyes the second they make contact with the ball. We should all be keeping our heads down instead.

3. Study the grain for smarter reads

This one was new to me. Player explained that by looking at the color and shine of the green, you can get a better idea of what your putt will do. For instance, if the green looks white and shiny from where you are standing, it means you’re going down grain and your putt will be quicker. On the other hand, a dark green color means you’re putting into the grain and will have a slower putt.

Then we talked about pre-shot routines on the green and Player gave me three more steps to follow.

1. Nail the read

Make sure to account for the grain.

2. Feel the distance

Look at the hole while making practice putts to get a feel for how far you need the ball to roll.

3. Focus on tempo

Player delivered the line, “If you putt fast you won’t last, but putt slow, and you’ll make the dough” as if he’s said it thousands of times. I’m sure he has. He highlighted the importance of making a smooth stroke in order to keep the feel in your hands while you putt.

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