Short Game Strategy – Pick a Spot or Trust Your Feel

Hi, Robin here. So when you’re chipping or pitching, do you choose a spot on the green where you want to land the ball, and you’re judging how much the ball is going to run from that spot? Or do you look at the pin or the hole and then simply try to react?

Now for me, I think most people, when they start playing golf, it’s the second one. We look at the hole; we look at the ball, and we hit the shot. But then as we start playing more often, and we get some advice from friends or have a lesson, we normally start trying to pick spots.

Well, for me, for a lot of players that’s a benefit, it helps them. They chip better.  They get up and down more often, but it’s not for everybody. Personally, I find that I chip better, I get up and down more often, if I simply look at the hole.  I visualize myself trying to make the shot, then I hit the ball. I react.  I trust my instinct. And I think there’s other players out there as well who will chip better that way. But you think you’ve got to pick a spot; that’s the standard method.

What I suggest to my students is you’ve got to work this out for yourself. And a good way to do that is play a game; Spot versus Hole. Take two balls. With the first ball, pick the spot, trying to visualize how much the ball is going to run, what flight you need when you hit that shot. It’s a combination of a few things when you’re picking a spot.

Actually, I hit my spot there, but I judged it wrong. Second one, look at the hole, trust your instinct, and then react.

Now, that would be common for me.  I definitely worked out that I chip better when I just look at the hole.  I trust my instinct. But I know that’s not for everybody.

So take two balls, play a game, maybe 20 different spots around the green. Don’t always play the first ball spot. Vary that. Maybe the second ball, you’re going to play the first ball aiming at the hole, because always the second ball is a little bit easier.

But if you play a game, spot versus hole or pin, within a short amount of time you’re going to start to see which one works better for you. That’s really what this video is aimed at; to get you thinking that maybe, maybe there’s a different way than just looking at the spot on the green. We’ve got instinct.  We’ve got ability. Sometimes you need to trust that natural instinct.