[PHOTO: Stephen Pond]

With the US Open behind us, it means the golf calendar has entered what I consider the best part of the season: links season. The time of year when regular golfers fly away to their mates trips abroad that they’re so excited about, and professional golf begins rolling through Scotland.

So, to get us excited for the start of links season, I wanted to point to a useful chipping tip for the rest of us along the way.

Look at your loft

You’ve probably heard the term “bounce” before. Oversimplified, bounce is a term for the angle and width of the sole of the club. The more bounce you have on your wedge, the less likely your wedge is to dig into the ground – it’ll bounce off it instead.

More bounce is generally helpful because it can prevent chunked shots, but on the dry sandy turf that links golf is played on, it can make life more difficult. The more some golfers reach for their high-bounce lob wedge, the more they find their wedge bounces off the turf and leads to skulled shots.

Grind vs Bounce: A pair of important wedge concepts, explained

So instead, learn to chip with a lower lofted wedge like a 52-degree. With less bounce and less loft, the 52-degree wedge helps dig the club more into the ground, which creates a low, driving ball flight with lots of backspin and crispier contact.

The next time you’re on dry, linksland turf, try reaching for a lower-lofted wedge. It’ll probably help.

The post It’s a driving chip shot with saucy spin – and it’s perfect for links golf appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

Conquering the greens – and the green surrounds – this week at Pinehurst No.2 will be a huge part of surviving this US Open, let alone winning it.

From an Australian standpoint, few golfers in the world own a better short game than Cameron Smith. During his practice round ahead of the year’s third major, the Queenslander provided a six-minute insight into his approach to chipping and pitching to the “upturned saucepan”-style greens at the famed No.2 layout. Check out his fascinating discussion with Golf Channel’s Johnson Wagner:

That footage had a bit of everything – technique, wedge bounce, even a mis-hit and a jovial moustache comparison with Wagner.

We’re not saying Cam’s gonna win this week – we can’t say that… yet – but he has the right tools to figure out the maddening greens Pinehurst is known for.

MORE GOLF DIGEST US OPEN COVERAGE

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[PHOTO: Getty Images]

Breaking 80 is one of those major golf benchmarks that can be so hard to surpass. If you’ve been on the cusp of breaking 80 and just can’t figure out what you need to do to finally sign for a number that starts with a 7, this tip from LPGA Tour winner Linn Grant might help.

“Any player that has a handicap over 5 shouldn’t have a more lofted club than a sand wedge in their bag. I think that’s a big issue,” Grant says. “People always tend to think that, ‘Everyone on tour uses their 60-degree, so I need a 60-degree,’ but from what I’ve seen, it causes way more problems.”

Digging into the sand, getting under it and not advancing the ball when you’re in greenside rough, sculling it across the green by having the leading edge too exposed, difficulty with distance control: the common misses with the 60-degree are common for a reason. Grant says that to be able to handle the extreme loft of the 60-degree wedge, you have to practise with it a lot and a lot of amateurs simply don’t have enough time to do that.

I’m unsure of how many wedges to carry in my bag. What’s the best set make-up for an everyday player like me?

Katie Dixon-Brady, a Golf Digest Best Young Teacher, agrees with Grant and says a lot of amateurs struggle with the 60-degree because they don’t know how to use the bounce.

“Many amateurs lean the handle too far forward, negating bouncing and causing the club to dig in the turf resulting in a chunk or thin shot,” Dixon-Brady says.

Instead of using a 60 degree, Grant says a 56 or 58-degree sand wedge can take care of a lot of the shots you’re trying to hit with your 60. In fact, for better results around the green, Grant says to use higher-lofted clubs whenever possible.

“If you have an easy chip where you don’t need the height, that should always be a pitching wedge, maybe a 9-iron,” Grant says.

Grant’s advice gets to a fundamental issue a lot of amateurs have around the greens: They make it too complicated. Hitting the easiest shot for the situation will take the big miss out of the equation, and help keep those big numbers off the card – which is necessary if you’re going to break 80.

This top teacher’s go-to drill will help every golfer get their swing back in sync

The post LPGA winner: If you’re trying to break 80, get rid of this club appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

Tiger Woods started his US Open week with a star-studded practice round. The 15-time major champion was one of the first players on the course on Monday morning (US time), playing the back nine alongside Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler.

Except for Tiger, at least around the greens, his practice round looked slightly different. Unlike most practice rounds, Tiger hardly took his wedge out of his bag. Yes, Tiger used his wedge for bunker shots. But outside that, Tiger spent most of his time around the greens practising bump-and-run shots.

As we break down here, pro golfers love taking the low route around the greens, especially this week. For two reasons.

1. Pinehurst has little rough and lots of sloping, turtleback greens. The best way to navigate them is to use them, rather than try to avoid them.
2. Going low and rolling the ball up, statistically, takes the worst-case scenario off the table way more than chipping – especially from the kind of tight lies you get around Pinehurst’s greens.

We get into both in more detail in the video below.

Anyway, Tiger spent lots of time hitting bump and runs. Here’s a close-up.

Tiger hardly hit any normal chips during his first nine-hole practice round. Just a million of these low-fizzy bump and runs.

Using a 4-iron here: pic.twitter.com/KQLc1fUwGw

— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) June 10, 2024

Let’s break it down.

Tiger’s Pinehurst go-to shot

First you’ll notice that Tiger is choking down significantly on his club. That’s because he’s standing closer, which also pitches the shaft more up. As Golf Digest Best in State Joe Plecker explains, reduces mobility in his wrists.

You can see that here. Tiger essentially makes a putting stroke stroke-style motion. His shoulders rock his arms and club together.

Also, if you’re wondering what club Tiger’s hitting to hit this shot, it’s a 4-iron.

At impact, Tiger is hitting down onto the ball, almost like he’s stubbing the ball into the turf.

“That’s to control the low point, and make sure you get ball-first contact,” Best in State coach Matt McCullough, who coaches US Open amateur Ben James, says. “Into the grain you really want to make sure you hit the ball first to avoid catching the turf first and hitting chunks.”

Right here is the frame Tiger’s ball first makes contact with the ground. As you can see, it’s very close to where his ball started.

The goal of this shot is to give your ball enough juice so that when it does bang into earth, it skips through the fairway with enough speed to get it to the green, then starts rolling gently once it touches the surface.

It’s Tiger’s go-to this week, so watch for it. Come back to this article if you’re looking for your own bump-and-run refresher.

MORE GOLF DIGEST US OPEN COVERAGE

The post US Open 2024: Tiger Woods’ go-to greenside shot, explained appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

At most golf courses, it’s hard to avoid sand shots. To make it even more challenging, some bunker sand is fluffy, but a lot are pretty firm. That means you can’t play every bunker shot the same way. Maybe your course has a mix of fluffy and firm. If so, you need to adjust your stance and swing to the bunker’s firmness.

Finish low from firmer lies

For packed-sand lies, which are more common on linksy or dried-out courses, you need a steeper downswing than you would for a normal bunker shot. If you come in too shallow, you risk the club bouncing off the surface and sending the ball over the green. For the same reason, be careful not to open the clubface too much at address.

Instead, lean the shaft slightly towards your target and set more weight into your front knee. This will increase stability and help you get a little steeper [above left], making contact with the sand just behind the ball with a little digging action. These shots don’t require a big swing or a lot of speed. Go with a shorter backswing than normal and hold off your finish. Think, halfway back, halfway through. Your arms should finish low, but your upper body should be pointing at your target [above right].

Keep your speed out of fluffy sand

If you do encounter a fluffy-sand lie, don’t make the mistake of digging in too much with your feet. That makes it easy to take a lot of sand and leave the shot in the bunker.

For success from these lies, play the ball a few centimetres forward of centre in your stance, and set your club’s shaft more perpendicular to the ground. The face should be slightly open as it enters the sand to get the club skimming through it and splashing the ball out. You need to create more speed and commit to a full shot when the lie is fluffy. Make a longer, wider backswing with less wrist hinge, then keep your speed up in the through-swing, finishing with your upper body facing the target.

The post Remember these 2 swing thoughts for firm and soft-sand bunker shots appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

[PHOTO: Sam Hodde]

A PGA Tour course is like a riddle: it has an optimal way for a given player to make his way around. The strategy to do that starts with the player understanding his tendencies and getting real data from a stats expert about the danger areas off the tee and on approach shots – and it ends with diagnosing the challenges of each green complex.

The risk-reward discussion begins at the tee. Where can you be off the tee and still have a reasonable shot at the green? Is it better to be in the fairway bunker on the left or in the rough on the right? Which pins allow some opportunity to get close, and which ones force you to aim at the centre of the green? If you do make a mistake, which greenside areas offer a simple recovery and which ones do you need to avoid?

Why practice on tour looks way different on Tuesday than on Friday

Meticulous tour caddies will keep a record of where pins have been placed during previous events, which gives practice rounds a more focused approach. Given the hole location, where is the easiest place to get up and down? When judging that, you’re looking at everything from the amount of landing area and available run-out to grass thickness to green contours that can help or hurt you. At Augusta National, for example, there are banks and bowls that can send a shot towards the pin or reject it away. Understanding that topography can give a player a much different (and much larger) potential target.

When a course has tight run-off areas and short rough, the ball will behave a certain way based on the firmness and speed of the greens. But if the rough is thick and deep, like at a US Open venue, you have to get in there and practise not only the technique you’ll use to get the ball out but how the ball will release from given locations. Because conditions are always changing, your intel has to change as well. A foot more or less of run-out really does matter in the scheme of things, as shown in the make/miss percentages from different putting distances.

Individually, these little details might seem trivial, but I stress to my players that good golf is a compounding of positive, sensible micro-decisions. Just being a tiny bit better in where you leave your full shots and a touch closer to the hole with your short-game shots is how you save a stroke here or there or gain an eighth of a stroke on the field. That can make a significant difference over 72 holes.

If you play most of your golf on a home course, there’s no excuse not to have a good “book” on each green. And before you say that course management is easier for players who flush it, it’s actually more important the more shots you hit that are less-than-perfect. Your club selection and aiming strategy should be taking into account your own particular scouting report of the greens. For example, is it flat and plush short and left on a given hole? If so, you should favour that area versus, say, the steep-faced bunker on the other side – no matter where the pin is.

If you follow an organised approach to “reading” green complexes, you’ll start shooting better scores not because you hit fewer bad shots, but because the bad ones you’re hitting aren’t biting you quite as fiercely.

The post What a tour player is really looking for when he scouts a new green complex appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

Phil Mickelson was famous for his incredible wedge game. He could get up and down from anywhere with his trusty 60-degree in hand. And it was Mickelson’s short game that led him to his career-best, four-victory season in 2005.

Of his four wins that year, Mickelson’s most memorable was the 2005 PGA Championship where he hit his pitch on the 72nd hole to a foot and made the tap-in birdie to secure his second major victory.

And Mickelson’s precision around the greens wasn’t just limited to his famous flop shots. During the 2005 season, every aspect of Mickelson’s short game was lethal. He ranked 12th on the PGA Tour for strokes gained around the green, ninth for scrambling and 15th for sand saves.

So who better to take some greenside advice from than Mickelson in his prime?

Since I’ve been struggling with my own short game, I went digging in the archives for a Mickelson short-game tip from 2005 in hopes that it would fix all of my greenside issues. To my surprise, I found a bunker tip from Mickelson that’s simple, yet genius.

In an article from August 2005, Mickelson explains that most bunker technique is taught with fluffy sand as the standard, but when that’s applied to firm or wet conditions it doesn’t always work.

“In packed sand you don’t want your wedge to hit the ground too early and bounce into the middle of the ball,” Mickelson said.

When that happens, it results in an inconsistent strike, like the dreaded skulled bunker shot.

Tilt spine towards the target

“To prevent that, set your weight forward and tilt your spine towards the target,” Mickelson said, “From there, you’ll automatically hit closer to the ball. You’re playing this shot with an open clubface, so you won’t have any trouble getting the ball up.”

Mickelson goes on to say that the most crucial part of this adjustment is maintaining the forward weight position.

“I can’t emphasise enough that your weight has to stay forward on bunker shots from firm sand,” Mickelson said.

Keep your weight forward

Keeping your weight forward allows you to enter the sand just behind the ball and take the right amount of sand every time.

“To get a feel for this setup, exaggerate by lifting your back foot slightly off the ground as you practise shots,” Mickelson said. “With no place to shift your weight, you’ll be forced to keep it forward. Repeat this feel when you hit shots from firm sand on the course.”

Now that you have Mickelson’s legendary knowledge of how to hit a firm sand shot, you can approach these lies with more confidence on the course – and hopefully leave yourself a nice putt for par.

Head over to the Australian Golf Digest archives for more instruction from golf’s greatest players and teachers.

The post ‘I can’t emphasise it enough’: Phil Mickelson’s bunker basics from his best season appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

Breaking down Viktor Hovland’s chipping technique. 

In 2023, Viktor Hovland had an unbelievable run, one which started at the Memorial Tournament. One of the keys to his impressive season was a marked improvement in his short game. In this tutorial, we’ll discuss Hovland’s short-game technique, which made him so successful around the greens.

Common faults

One of the things you see when amateur golfers struggle with the short game is the bottom of the swing occurs behind the ball, or in other words, the low point is at the back of the ball.What commonly happens when you swing the club down, it gets shallow [photo 1] and the upper body moves down and back [photo 2], which causes the club to hit behind the ball (a fat shot) or if it misses the ground as the club is coming up, a ‘skull’ (top) the ball across the green.Typically, these mistakes happens because the bottom of the swing is behind the ball because the right shoulder is too low and with the weight too much on the back foot.

Simple remedies

Hovland made changes to his short-game technique with a few simple fixes. As he takes the club back, he is now taking his head and upper body and moving them forward [photo 3], which then moves the low point in front of the ball and steepens the angle of attack [photo 4]. This way, he will strike the ball first with more solid contact and then the ground, as opposed to the ground and then the ball.

You will also notice he is getting ‘taller’ through the ball to avoid sticking the club into the ground [photo 5]. As the club is now coming down steeper and his arms are extending, Hovland’s body pushes up to create room [photo 6] as he comes through the ball to shallow out the divot.

If you’re struggling around the greens, try to implement what Victor did – get your upper body moving forward, promote a steeper angle of attack and feel taller as you hit through the ball. This should help you strike the ball first with solid contact and chip it closer to the hole. 

Todd Anderson is the director of instruction at the PGA Tour Performance Centre at TPC Sawgrass, home of the Players Championship. The 2010 PGA of America Teacher of the Year has seen his students amass more than 50 victories across the PGA and Korn Ferry tours, including two FedEx Cup titles. He is currently rated by Golf Digest as one of the top 20 golf instructors in the United States. In this tutorial, Anderson breaks down reigning FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland’s chipping technique, which helped him win the Memorial Tournament 12 months ago en route to two other victories at the BMW Championship and Tour Championship.

Official content of the PGA Tour

Getty images: Michael Reaves

The post Viktor Hovland: When The Chips Are Down appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

[PHOTOS: Jensen Larson]

If you aren’t yet familiar with the golf skills of rising LPGA Tour star Ruoning Yin, an introduction is in order. “Ronni,” as she’s called, went from missing the cut in more than half the events she played in her first LPGA Tour season in 2022 to winning a major (the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship) and rising to No.1 in the Rolex World Golf Ranking in 2023. She also won the DIO Implant LA Open and had eight other top-10 finishes last year. That’s a pretty big upward move in a short amount of time – and somewhat historic. Yin, 21, is only the second Chinese golfer to reach No.1 in the Rolex ranking, joining Shanshan Feng.

One of the reasons she improved so quickly is that she learned how to routinely recover from bad shots. Yin, who ranked second on the LPGA Tour in strokes gained/scrambling last season, got up and down two out of every three times she missed the green in regulation. What’s her secret?

She’ll share some technique tips in a moment. First, Yin says, you might want to think about your mind-set. A big part of improving comes from knowing you’re going to miss the green – a lot. You have to be prepared to save par from a less-than-ideal lie. You need a smart plan to get the ball close to the hole and the familiarity and confidence to pull it off.

“Having a good short game is about consistently hitting the ball with the centre of the clubface,” she says. “But I see amateurs trying to hit really technical shots around the greens, even though they don’t have enough time to practise and develop the feel and skill necessary to hit those shots. Instead, go with the simplest shot for the situation.” An example: putting instead of chipping from just off the green in the fringe or fairway.

With input from her coach, Gareth Raflewski, here are Yin’s thoughts on getting out of a couple of the most common, yet tricky, jams all golfers face from just off the green.

TRICKY SPOT No.1

When you have to fly the ball over something

Ronni says: If you’re in the rough and there’s something between you and the green that you have to carry, resist the urge to try a flop shot. It’s too tough to consistently execute.

Instead, follow what I’m doing in these photos [above]. Grab your most lofted wedge, set up with the clubface and your stance a bit open, and set more of your weight on your front foot. This adjustment in weight will help steepen your angle of attack, which in turn helps you strike the ball with less interference from the grass. That’s key if you don’t want to leave these shots short. Don’t worry about the steeper angle lowering your ball flight. Opening the face slightly at address counters that. You’ll still have enough loft to fly the ball over whatever is between you and the green.

When you swing, keep pressure on that front foot. It’s a short shot, so there’s no need for any weight shift; all the power you need will come from rotating your torso towards the target. Also, keep your wrists firm. Hinging and unhinging your wrists will make quality contact much harder to get.

Here’s one more thing to remember: when picking your target, know that the ball will come in high and soft. You won’t get a lot of roll, especially on a shot where you’re chipping into an uphill green that is pitched towards you [above].

TRICKY SPOT No.2

When you have to chip the ball uphill

Ronni says: When the ball is sitting below the green, especially when it’s on a tight lie like this [above, left], it’s common for amateurs to dig their wedge into the turf. The result is a chunk that doesn’t get to the green and, a lot of times, rolls right back to where you’re standing.

If this shot is tricky for you, start by making a few adjustments at setup. One of the reasons you might chunk this shot is because you’re leaning the shaft way forward, a prime digging position. Instead, I open the face a bit and then lift the heel end of the clubface off the ground slightly. This sets the shaft more vertical than usual, but more importantly, puts the club in a much better position to slide along the turf instead of digging into it. Just know that you’ll probably strike the ball higher on the face, which means it will launch higher [above, right]. Be sure to factor that into how far you want it to carry before it starts rolling.

Here’s another thought that should keep you from leaving this shot short: as you swing back and through, feel like your arms and torso are moving together. This will make your motion more consistent and controlled. To help you stay connected all the way past impact, think about the grip of your club going towards your left pocket. Also, don’t release your wrists. Any time you do that, you automatically make quality contact much harder to achieve.

Now make the putt

To capitalise on your great recovery shot, be sure to hold your finish when you putt – just like you would for a full swing. It’ll keep the ball on the line you chose.

I also do this drill [above] to build confidence. Try to make a putt from each tee station around the hole. If you can’t make them all consecutively within 20 minutes, tap out. This is about keeping your focus on makable putts. Do that, and you’ll save a lot of pars.

The post How a rising star gets up and down from two tricky spots appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.

I’m not a professional player (not even close), and I’m not immune to making mistakes. But every time I play with my fellow amateurs, I can’t help but notice that golfers make the same greenside mistake on repeat: the second they get around the green, they grab their wedge.

Yes, sometimes it works, and they succeed in hitting a nice, high shot onto the green and near the hole. But more often than not, things go horribly wrong. They hit a chunk that doesn’t go more than a few steps, or a thinned shot that sails way past the green.

Which brings me to last week’s RBC Heritage, where all week I noticed pros doing this. From various points around the lower-cut runoff areas around Harbour Town’s greens, time and time again pros were opting to putt from off the green. And we saw it often, because Harbour Town’s greens rank as the second-smallest on the PGA Tour (behind only Pebble Beach).

Yes, putting from off the green may not be as glamorous as floating a high wedge onto the green, but it’s almost always the smarter play. It’s not always possible, but whenever it is, go low – as two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal told Jon Rahm.

For two good reasons:

1. Disaster avoidance

First, and most importantly, taking the low route effectively takes the worst-case scenario off the table. You’re *hopefully* not going to chunk a putt, or thin a chip long of the green. As the cliché goes: your worst putt is better than your best chip. That may not be true all the time, but it’s mostly true, most of the time.

Chipping your ball close is nice, but from tour players down to amateur golfers, the most important goal of every chip is far simpler than that. It’s to hit the green.

As golf strategy genius Eduardo Molinari explains:

“Priority No.1, for every golfer, is that when you’re in a bunker, just hit the green. If you leave it in a bunker, that’s a stroke lost right away. The same is true chipping around the greens. I see this in pro-ams every week. They’re three yards short of the first green, and they pull out a lob wedge and they’re thinking, ‘Hit it close’ when they really should be thinking: ‘Hit the green.’”

Hitting the green is the goal, simple as it sounds, and rolling it up there will help you do it.

Putting proximity and make rates. pic.twitter.com/ux1lDQFJNU

— Lou Stagner (Golf Stat Pro) (@LouStagner) December 12, 2020

2. It’s more effective

It’s hard to find clean-cut, one-to-one comparisons for putting from off the green vs chipping from off the green, but there’s lots of evidence that shows going low is generally better than going high. One easy way to tell: looking at putts and chips hit from roughly the same distance.

Again, it’s not perfect, because hitting chips usually means the ball is resting in rough with less green to work with, whereas putting (or hitting bump-and-runs) from off the green almost always suggests the ball is in shorter grass. So, take all the below with a big, heaping handful of salt. Nevertheless…

The stats!

• Tour players average a make rate of between 7 percent and 2 percent on putts from 30 to 60 feet.
• From this distance, they two-putt (or less) about 85 percent of the time.
• When chipping from 30 and 60 feet, tour players take two strokes (or less) on average 65 percent of the time.
• On chips from 30 to 60 feet, pros hit their first shot on average about seven feet away.
• On putts from the same distance, they hit most of their putts to a zone between two and six feet away.

Again, it’s not a perfect apples-to-apples scenario, but hopefully it’s a somewhat helpful illustration. Putt whenever you can. The pros do. You should, too.

The 10 rules for putting from off the green

The post Why pros use this disaster-avoidance greenside strategy – and you should, too appeared first on Australian Golf Digest.