Mental Pictures playing golfs short game
The golfer with an effective short game, the man or woman who can consistently lay those little pitch and chip shots close enough to the hole for a single putt, really does have a tremendous advantage. Confidence in one’s short game gives a tremendous edge at all levels of competition.
The sad thing is that so few people command a sound short game when, whatever their standard with the long shots, it is well within their reach. Here is the area of the game where the fellow who booms the ball 300 yards off the tee is pulled back to equal terms with the chap who can never manage more than 170 yards. This is the department of golf that calls for nothing more than good mental imagery and “touch”.
The techniques for pitching and chipping are simple, but first let’s see the imagery factor. You should never play a short shot until you have a clear mental picture of how you want the ball to behave. This really is the secret of a strong short game. Until you decide how far and high the ball should fly, where it should land and how much it should roll, you cannot select the right club for the job. And what prevents so many people from developing a good short game is their illogical use of the same favorite club for every shot. There is no way that one club will get the ball close to the hole in every situation when you miss a green.
By using the wrong club for the particular shot at hand, you introduce a needless variable. If you choose a club with too much loft for a little chip from the fringe, in some way you will have to de-loft it during the stroke. Conversely, if you choose a too-straight-faced club, there will be a tendency to scoop at the ball to get it into the air. Selection of the correct club will allow you to play the same, simple stroke under all circumstances, with the club’s loft automatically governing flight and roll.
Watch the extreme care with which the pros think out and plan these little shots in tournaments and you will get an idea of how important it is to “picture” the shot, then select the club that will match the picture.