Learning the Short game

[JohnF92]

I am not a golfer, I just try real hard to learn as much as I can about the game by reading books and websites, watching DVD’s and talking to people.

I have a daughter who is a very good golfer for her age of 15. I try to help her the best I can. I also have her working with a golf professional.

What I think she needs to work on now during the winters ( soon here in Cleveland, OH ) and next spring and summer is her approach shots ( 150 yards and in ).

I have purchased your DVD on short game. I have read your articles. But I am unsure on how best to approach this with her.

Do you believe in the “clock” method for the approach shots ? In other words….hit your 9 iron so many yards if you take your arms back to 8 o’clock and follow through to 4 o’clock, etc.

I have people tell me it’s a “feel” thing. Well that’s great once you know what to feel and how it feels, but if you are trying to get better in this area, I just have to believe there is a teaching/learning method to get better to get the “feel “.

Is there another method?

I would appreciate any help you can be.

[Bobby_Eldridge]

Finally, someone has asked me the HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION...Is FEEL learned from the proper mechanics or is it learned from doing?

WOW...For the past 50 years there are many examples of both. Some players have hit thousands and thousands of shots (behind trees, over bunkers, slopes, rough, hard pan etc.) and over time become some of the best short game players that ever lived.

On the other hand some players have learned the mechanics of the short game and then gone on to become great also.

For me personally I hit thousands and thousands of shots around the short game area where I grew up.

I do have a theory. I can teach mechanics but I can NOT teach TOUCH and FEEL...You can NOT HAVE GREAT TOUCH UNLESS YOUR MECHANICS ARE PERFECT...

Twenty five years ago there was a little room for error around the greens. Not anymore. You have to be a genius. The conditions have changed and from 100 yards and in, life is tough.

In closing I have to share something with you personally. If your daughter wants to improve she will find a way. The focus on golf has been on hitting the ball further and the short game got lost (with the amateurs), not with the pros.

Working on your short game is really hard. There is no instant gratification. The best short game player that ever lived (TIGER), is constantly working on his short game. My mom, a golf professional let us kids take only one club when we played golf after dinner. She got it.

Tell your daughter that in 2010 if she spends one hour (putting, chipping, pitching, bunker and trouble shots) for every hour she plays, she will be a genius by October. So, old school math. If she plays a round of golf on Monday then she has 5 hours of short game work to do.

It won't take her long to figure out what is important.

Bobby