I once had a golf student that I took out on the course and I told him “whenever you think you should chip it, you should probably putt it.” The bottom line is that you want to get the ball on the ground as soon as possible. If you can putt it, you should putt it. If you can’t putt it, you should chip it. And if you absolutely can’t chip it, then you might have to pitch it. It should be the last option though.

Here’s the reality. Most amateur golfers if they are just off the green and they have a decent amount of green to work with, they are probably going to go to their golf bag and grab their wedge and their putter. If you are a higher handicapper or you don’t play a ton of golf, your wedge more often than not will get you into trouble. If you hit it well, most of the time it will not be exceptional. When you don’t hit it well, it can often be catastrophic. In order to hit the shot well, I need to have good technique: weight forward, hands forward, square club face, etc as well as the experience and skill to make decent contact (not to mention the mental fortitude to hit the shot under pressure).

On the other hand, if I grab my fairway wood or my putter and hit the same shot, the only thing I really need to focus on and figure out is how hard to hit it. So that means that all I need to practice is how hard to hit it. Even myself, who is fairly skilled, knows the technique, and practices, I still will always opt to take the shot that requires the least amount of skill especially if the stakes are high. In order to play your best golf, you need to play to your skill level. You should also be practicing the shots that require the least amount of skill.

I have played with a lot of higher handicappers and I can’t tell you the number of times they have hit their tee shot into the woods. All they would need to do is punch out of the woods in order to make a bogey and they can’t seem to get out of the woods. These are easy shots and you should be able to execute these shots most of the time.

And always remember around the greens, the less loft you use, the less skill you need!

We have a lot of recreational golfers coming to us who are frustrated about slicing their driver. Ultimately what is going on when someone is consistently slicing is that their club face is open relative to the path. This is sometimes called and out-to-in path or and over-the-top swing.

It’s pretty easy to see when you are slicing your driver and the need for a launch monitor isn’t really necessary. However, when you are working on “fixing” your driver, it’s MUCH easier to work on these drills with a shorter iron like a 7. So for this fix, grab a shorter club.

First of all, it is IMPERATIVE that you set up with good alignment. It’s pretty tough to figure out what’s going on in your swing if your alignment is bad. 99% of people who don’t practice with alignment sticks do not have good alignment. Make sure when you set up with the alignment aids, they are parallel.

Second, make sure you are setting up with a proper grip. Now you can focus on your swing path. If you are swinging the club out-to-in, chances are you feel like you are swinging the club straight at the target. So start trying to swing the club more in to out or to the right for a right handed golfer.

Chances are, the first couple of times that you try to swing the club more to the right (for a right handed golfer), you won’t make great contact. Part of the reason for this is that when you try to swing the club out to the right, you may throw your hands out away from you. However, when you do that, your entire club will be farther away from you and it’s really hard to connect with the center of the club face. So another way to think about this is to try to keep your back pointed at the target a little bit longer in your backswing as you unwind toward the target. This will help you unwind with your lower body first. This will help you shallow the club under the previous plane. Try this without a ball first to get the feel for it.

Another thing you can do is start to get more aware of the club face and feel like you are moving the toe of the club past the heel.

I’ve been playing the game a really long time and chances are, if you are new to the game, this will not come easy to you. However, if you keep working at it, it will become easier and will definitely help to fix that slice!